10 Movie Sequels That Turn Wimps Into Total Badasses

4. Ian Malcolm - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

The Mummy Rachel Weisz
Universal Pictures

Just stop and think for a second; what the hell did Dr. Ian Malcolm actually do in the first Jurassic Park?

Aside from his iconic laugh, ramblings about life finding "a way" and that famous sexy pose, his actions were limited to an explanation of chaos theory using several drops of water, and getting injured by a T-Rex in the first action scene.

After that, he was out for the count, spending his time recovering from his wounds before escaping on a helicopter with the Dr. Grant, Ellie Sattler and the rest of the gang at the end of the movie.

However, The Lost World: Jurassic Park - released four years after the first - gave him much, much more to do.

He was the protagonist this time around, after the incredibly positive response to the character caused Spielberg to shift him into the spotlight, and instead of spending the entire movie lying on a bed, he became a full-on action hero.

His prior experience with the dinosaurs gave him an almost grizzled, war-veteran vibe, and he keeps his cool throughout, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds.

He saves Julianne Moore's Dr. Sarah Harding when she's about to fall to her death, drives a baby T-Rex through the streets of San Diego while being chased by its father, and evades a hungry Raptor by casually sitting in a car and staring it in the face.

Yep. Badass is an understatement.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.