The film opens on Isla Nubar, an island 120 miles off of Costa Rica where something huge is moving through a collage of palm-like leaves. The object is guarded by a group of men armed with machine guns, wearing curiously adorned “Jurassic Park” hard hats. Momentarily, an enormous crate held up by a crane breaks through the trees.
The audience knows what we paid to see. We know we are here to see dinosaurs, but we don’t know just how real they’ll be. We don't know that we'll never look at film the same way again.
In this jungle, the beast snorts and heaves as it is released from the crate (its form carefully hidden from our eyes). We still haven’t caught a glimpse of the creature when it swiftly grabs one of the workers and drags his flailing body inside the enclosure and we first see that ferocious eye of what can only be a carnivorous dinosaur.
The lesson of the first 10 minutes of the film is as clear as day: We are not in control.
As frightening, frenetic and exciting this scene is, for many viewers, it is not the movie's most awesome. For the aspiring paleontologist, or just the average dino-aficionado, the re-created ferocity of a Velociraptor is only a part of the intrigue of Jurassic Park. The real excitement may come watching the group of paleontologists carefully collecting a dinosaur skeleton in the Badlands, or when we visit the island's laboratory and hear the fantastic story of How Dinosaurs are Cloned.
The excitement may come for you, as it did for me, when the team first arrives on the island to check out this new dinosaur theme park. The Jurassic Park branded Jeeps roll up to an expansive grassland, and instantly witness an impossibility. Not a 100 yards from their faces, a Brachiosaurus lingers peacefully. After a lifetime of only seeing the two-dimensional forms of dinosaurs in picture books at the library, the living, breathing, moving form of a 40 ton creature was inspiring. This is the best moment in my entire cinematic memory. I can imagine that my slack-jawed face was exactly what Spielberg was envisioning when he imagined Jurassic Park.
What was the best moment in Jurassic Park for you?
More on How Jurassic Park Was Made, Spielberg’s Dino-rific Film Past, and What Jurassic Park Got Right (and Wrong) in future posts.
You forgot to mention the John William's score! That scene where the Jeeps roll up on the lagoon filled with brachiosaurs and hadrosaurs would not have been the same with that simultaneously swelling and graceful score.
ReplyDeleteI left school early in 8th grade so I could go see Jurassic Park with my best friend. We had a count down to its June 11th release date and for months ahead of time would greet each other with "...On June 11th, the gates will open... to Jurassic Park."
What a completely fantastic movie. Thanks for retrospective ;)
I have to agree - the moment when Grant stands up, tears his sunglasses away from his face, then reaches forward to turn Ellie's head all building up to our first glimpse at the dinosar walking by is probably the best moment of movie magic.
ReplyDeleteI have probably seen this movie more times than necessary, but this scene always gives me chills! Looking back, the breakthrough of technology is astounding - and it still holds up. There aren't many movies, today, that use CGI as effectively as the first Jurassic Park.