8. Jeff Goldblum Takes The Lead - The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The most interesting character in the original
Jurassic Park was without a doubt Dr. Ian Malcolm, as imbued with the right amount of obnoxious nerd by one Jeff Goldblum. Though Malcolm was great in that movie (and a character who out-shined all the others), he was still reduced to a passive bore at the movie's mid-point. That's to say, he loses his ability to walk and just spends the second half of the picture doing nothing. It felt like a waste, which is why the decision to have him in full-on protagonist mode for the sequel seemed like an instance of inspired genius. Yes, in the months building up to the release
The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the hype train left the station at approximately 400 miles per hour, and absolutely everybody was waiting on the edge of their seats for the next installment in this iconic franchise - with Jeff Goldblum poised to lead the proceedings! Alas, it wasn't meant to be: the script tweaked Goldblum's formerly sardonic character to the point that he barely resembled the Ian Malcolm we knew and loved. What we got was a bland, straight-man incarnation of the original movie's best character. Super disappointing.