Tim continues to stare out of the back window with the goggles. He swings his legs but suddenly stops. He feels something. He pulls off the goggles and turns back. He moves into the back seat with Lex, who is tapping her hat, and reaches forward to still her hand.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Tim: “Can you feel that?”
She doesn’t answer.
Tim leans over to the front passenger seat and looks at the two plastic cups of water that sit in the recessed holes on the dashboard. As he watches, the water in the glasses vibrates, making concentric circles… then it stops… and then it vibrates again. Rhythmically. Like from footsteps.
Boom. Boom. Boom...
Fans of Jurassic Park will recognise this scene from the film’s screenplay, written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, and directed by Steven Spielberg. And they will agree that it is arguably the best science-fiction action-adventure movie ever made.
Twenty years down the line, it is easy to forget what a perfect example it is of its genre. It offers two hours of pure, unadulterated escapist entertainment; a true rollercoaster ride of a movie which packs more thrills and spills in five minutes than most films nowadays manage in their entire running time.
The film is set on Isla Nublar, a tropical island near Costa Rica. The island houses Jurassic Park, a theme park populated by many species of dinosaur cloned from fossilised mosquito DNA.
The park’s owner, millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) invites renowned palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and palaeobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), together with eccentric mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum, always ready with a funny quip or two), to visit the island before its grand opening.
The weekend is disrupted when, to cover up an attempted theft, computer programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) deactivates the island’s power and shuts down the park’s security systems, setting the dinosaurs loose from their secure pens. The hapless humans who are trapped on the island discover that the dinosaurs have not forgotten their 65 million-year-old hunting instincts.
Packs more thrills and spills in five minutes than most films nowadays manage in their entire running time
Master storyteller Spielberg effectively created a film in two parts. The first half is full of breath-taking moments, as the park and its inhabitants are greeted with awe and childlike wonder by the protagonists – Neill and Dern, doing a remarkable job as Grant and Sattler, realise the true purpose of the park and what its occupants are. “It’s… it’s a dinosaur!” are the only words Grant can muster. You just have to see the expression on his face.
Once we have taken in the beauty of the island’s incredible landscape, and the dumbfounding appearance of the majestic dinosaurs (created by Dennis Muren and Stan Winston, combined with some incredible visual effects and computer graphics that do not look at all dated), Spielberg ups the ante considerably.
The now iconic scene referenced initialises a sequence that overflows with suspense, excitement and terror. The director effortlessly ties three story strands together. Not for a single moment does the pace flag. (Spoilers ahead, for the two of you who haven’t seen the film. What are you waiting for?)
At one end of the island, the aforementioned kids Tim and Lex (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards) and Grant take refuge from a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex. They escape a car trapped in a tree; evade a herd of stampeding Gallimimus; and hurdle an electrified fence – among many other perils. In the meantime, Nedry tries to carry out his nefarious plan, while Ellie, Hammond and Ray Arnold, the chief engineer (a chain-smoking Samuel L. Jackson) try to get the power back on.
These scenes are intercut with amazing flair by the film’s editor Michael Kahn. The omnipresent urgency and danger is underscored by perennial Spielberg collaborator John Williams. The tension heightens relentlessly to breaking point, until the final heart-in-mouth moments when the final credits roll and you can finally breathe again, and you want to stand up and applaud with childlike glee. Pure cinema magic.
The film, which opened in Malta in September 1993, received a rapturous welcome by critics and audiences alike.
As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, a fourth film (two inferior sequels followed in 1997 and 2001) has been announced for release in 2015.
Whether it will capture the spectacle and the spirit of the original remains to be seen, but that the original Jurassic Park remains so exciting and exhilarating after all these years makes it an exceptionally hard act to follow.