8) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997): Raptor Attack
Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, had never wanted to write a second novel. He was eventually convinced to do so though by Steven Spielberg, who had directed instant classic Jurassic Park, and who wanted something from which to direct a second film. Quite why Spielberg was so insistent on this is a mystery, given that there is about as much relationship between the novel and the movie as there is between a horse and a cheese grater. Although The Lost World was nominated at the Academy Awards (among other awards bodies) for best visual effects, it was also nominated for worst sequel at The Golden Raspberries and at the Stinkers Bad Movies Awards – with David Koepp winning worst screenplay at both of those events.
Interestingly, however, The Lost World does contain one crucial moment of (vague) loyalty to the book. This is the scene in which the velociraptors attack the humans during their journey to reach the island’s old communications building. Having scattered as a result of a T-Rex attack, half the party are hiding behind a waterfall while the other half continue to run. Despite Sidhu’s desperate repeated calls of “don’t go in the long grass!” (which, aside from Ian Malcom’s contributions, is probably the most sensible thing anyone says in this movie) – they run into the long grass, and straight into raptor territory.
It is not so much the humans being picked off one by one (is everyone suddenly deaf?) that makes this scene effective, it is the behaviour of the velociraptors themselves. An aerial shot shows us the dark streaks of the raptors as they move silently and swiftly through the grass, fanned out in a precise and clearly organised pack formation. The Lost World’s equivalent of Jurassic Park’s kitchen door handle scene, the raptors-in-the-grass sequence draws attention to a co-ordinated attack that is being executed by highly intelligent animals. It is one of those quint-essentially Spielberg moments that is all the more for being less, and, aside from the finale of the first movie in which Alan Grant et al were literally rescued from the raptors by the T-Rex, is one of the most effective scenes of the entire Jurassic Park series at demonstrating the true threat and power of these most deadly of dinosaurs.