10 OKAY Movies Elevated By ONE Phenomenal Performance
7. The Lost World: Jurassic Park - Pete Postlethwaite
The Lost World: Jurassic Park isn’t on the same level as the classic first movie, but it still shines in certain moments. Most of those moments though happen when Pete Postlethwaite’s Roland Tembo’s in the scene.
The magic from the first movie is all but gone, with audiences used to seeing dinosaurs on screen now and the darker plot doing it no favours.
It’s not just the audience who seem used to the beasts either; only Postlethwaite really convinces you that he believes he’s on an island where dinosaurs exist and not just starring in a movie with extensive effects.
The peaks and troughs the movie goes through are pretty much all linked to Postlethwaite’s screen time. Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore each do an okay job with each other, but neither really excels in the dinosaur scenes.
In the first movie, the whole cast bought into the magic Spielberg was creating. Sam Neill’s stunned wonder upon seeing the creatures and Richard Attenborough’s beaming pride were warm and genuine. Aside from Postlethwaite, the cast of the follow up just seem like they’re going through the motions.
Without Postlethwaite, this could have easily slipped into Jurassic Park III territory.