Spoilers for Jurassic Park (1993)
Allow me to gush a little in this piece. As it approaches the 30th anniversary of the release of Jurassic Park it’s frankly astonishing how well this film stands up. The combination of practical effects and (at the time) ground-breaking CGI means that it still looks incredible, and this is paired with great, fully invested performances by all the cast and some of the tightest, logical storytelling we’ve seen in any blockbuster.
Yes, towards the end of the film, there are some scenes that focus more on style, rather than substance – most notably during the climatic confrontation with the velociraptors – but these never detract from how exciting Jurassic Park is.
It solidified Steven Spielberg’s reputation for films that could walk the line between fast-paced set pieces and genuinely scary moments. He’d arguably mastered this early with Jaws, and there were glimpses in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. While Tobe Hooper directed Poltergeist, Spielberg’s influence as both a screenwriter and producer on the project mean that it too walks this line.
But what scene do you pick out to highlight how thrilling Jurassic Park still is thirty years after its release?
You could look at the opening scene, where during the process of moving the velociraptors, an unlucky worker is dragged into the pen and eaten alive. Shot at night, with the dinosaurs kept off-screen it’s a sequence of pure horror, only slightly tamed down so as not to scare the younger audience off too quickly.
In a similar vein, you could of course focus on that iconic scene. The water ripples in the glass, the rain pounding on the Jurassic Park branded jeeps as each of the main characters realise that the tyrannosaurus rex has escaped from its enclosure. The incredible sound design that went into creating that roar is a piece of cinema history on its own.
And what about when the velociraptors truly make their impact on the film? Hunting the game warden Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck) and Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), they operate exactly how Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) described at the start of the film. Much like with the chaos theory discussed by Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) throughout, Spielberg uses foreshadowing to quite literally tell the plot in the opening few scenes. The joy is seeing how this plays out.
All of these scenes – and many more – could be the scene that showcases how great Jurassic Park is. However, the terror that comes from the dinosaurs breaking loose in the park doesn’t actually represent what the film is about. It’s important, it certainly keeps the plot moving forward, but really the horror is a means to an end.
The real focus of Jurassic Park is awe. The spectacle of seeing these creatures. I would argue that Jurassic Park remains in the public consciousness, not because of the sequels, or the continued merchandising, but because it is one of the rare films where the audience and the characters are completely aligned.
Think of some of the recent blockbusters. The slew of Marvel and DC films, the Fast and Furious franchise, Mission Impossible or even the Jurassic Park sequels. The audience is entertained, perhaps even excited by the special effects, but they are often one step behind the characters. These characters have seen these spectacular stunts and otherworldly creatures a million times before. The awe is totally one-sided.
In Jurassic Park, the audience and characters are aligned. None of the leads really believe that John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has reverse-engineered viable dinosaurs. Dr Malcolm is only there at the behest of the investors, Dr Grant and Dr Sattler there because Hammond has offered to fully fund their research.
Spielberg maintains suspense by taking his time as we move towards the big reveal. The characters chat amiably in the helicopter to the island, and this continues as the jeeps ferry them around. Dr Sattler is distracted by the fact that extinct fauna and flora are present on the island, a neat piece of misdirection as the jeeps rumble on.
The camera stays focused on the characters as they come to a stop. Dr Grant turns to look past the camera and sees something. We hear animals of some description off-screen. The camera follows Dr Grant as he stands and removes his sunglasses, but we still don’t get the reveal. We pan back to Dr Sattler, still engrossed in the plant life. A hand enters the shot and forcibly turns her head towards whatever the other characters are seeing.
It’s only then. After building the anticipation to almost unbearable levels, that we see our first dinosaur. A brachiosaurus makes its way across the screen, rears up on its hind legs to reach the highest branch of a tree and comes slamming back down. Admittedly here, the effects are a little ropey compared to the rest of the film – in part due to the bright lighting that reveals it isn’t there with the characters – but it’s still so impressive all this time later.
If the effects still impress thirty years later, imagine the reaction in cinemas when it was released. It would have been on par with the awe that the characters feel. Dr Grant and Dr Sattler frozen with shock, tears in their eyes, while Hammond jovially tells them that he has a tyrannosaurus rex.
It would have been so easy for Spielberg to dive straight into terror. The Lost World did this; in the sequel, a young girl is attacked by the dinosaurs in the opening moments and every species encountered is treated with suspicion. For this though, he allows the audience and the characters space to appreciate how incredible the science is (both in the film’s world and through the CGI in ours).
It's hard to think of another reveal that is this effective. It’s why this scene remains in the public consciousness despite more exciting events happening later in the film. After multiple rewatches across thirty years, this remains one of the most joyous cinematic experiences in movie history.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Michael Crichton (based on his own novel), David Koepp
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough