ight years after his misadventure on Isla Nublar, paleontologist Alan Grant (Neill) is still a respected dinosaur expert--and still in need of funding. Though things didn't go as expected with his onetime partner and paramour, Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Grant is still studying velociraptors. And he has evolved a new theory, based in part on his firsthand experience: The vicious dinos were smarter than we think and may have even had the power of speech.
No one else believes it, of course, except Grant's eager protégé Billy (Nivola). So Grant is vulnerable to the enticements of another millionaire in need of an expert, Paul Kirby (Macy), and his wife, Amanda (Leoni). They want Grant to be their tour guide in a flyover of Isla Sorna, the "Site B" where dinosaurs still roam the Earth.
Accompanying the party in its small plane are pilot Udesky (Michael Jeter) and two mysterious men. Grant, already uneasy about flying over the island, becomes alarmed when the party appears ready to land. He's knocked unconscious before he can stop them--and awakes to discover the tiny plane is on the ground.
It seems the touring party isn't exactly what it seems. Kirby and Amanda are divorced, and the men are military weapons experts. What's more, they're not on a tour--they're on a rescue mission, to find Kirby and Amanda's young son, Eric (Trevor Morgan), who disappeared eight weeks earlier while parasailing off the coast of Isla Sorna.
Before Grant can protest, they are nearly attacked by a huge new predator, the spinosaurus, a sailbacked dinosaur larger than a tyrannosaurus rex. As the plane attempts to take off again, the spinosaurus strikes, causing a crash.
Barely escaping, the group flees--straight into a grazing tyrannosaurus. A fierce battle ensues between the two giant dinosaurs. Grant and the others make their getaway, but the paleontologist finds himself back in the middle of his worst nightmare, with no way out.
A dark, streamlined thrill ride
Jurassic Park III, the third installment in the blockbuster franchise, is the first not directed by Steven Spielberg. But Johnston--a former visual-effects designer who gained directorial notice for his family-friendly Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Jumanji--is an able replacement. Johnston offers a high-velocity take on the well-trod material that re-energizes it, though his well-cut action scenes can't do much to rescue the minimal characterizations and overly familiar storyline.
Director Johnston told Science Fiction Weekly that he scrapped the first script just five weeks before production was to commence and started shooting before the film had a solid ending. The resulting film feels a little sketchy and warmed over, though the writers--including, curiously, Election's Payne--amp up the humor and pull the rug out from under the audience every now and then.
The most welcome change is that Johnston seems to have approached Jurassic III as the dark, streamlined thrill ride it's supposed to be, and mostly dispensed with the first two films' attempts at awe or earnest moralizing. After a brisk setup, Johnston gets right down to business with the bravura plane crash and attack by the truly scary spinosaurus.
It's not long before the extraneous cast members are dispatched (with less gruesome specificity than the earlier two films) and the audience is on the run with the heroes.
Run is a key word here. Where The Lost World: Jurassic Park was a meandering stroll through the forest, Neill and his compatriots mostly speed through the underbrush, stopping only for the requisite bit of exposition. That's when the movie bogs down, but never for long: there's always a pack of sentient 'raptors just around the bend.
It's nice to have Neill back as the cranky paleontologist, but Macy's the real star as the befuddled father who isn't at all what he seems, yet rises to the occasion. The charming Leoni doesn't have enough to do as Macy's ex-wife, but she screams real nice. Trevor Morgan's spunky Eric is a nice change from the quivering youths of the first film.
