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Back in New York, a rough looking Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is summoned to the bedside of InGen founder John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). Ever optimistic, Hammond reveals the presence of Site B (where they bred the animals before transferring them to Isla Nubar) and how he's protected the reserve for four long years. Still clinging to his dream, Hammond was forced from the InGen board following the recent incident on Isla Sorna. So, in order to protect his creations from exploitation by InGen, led by nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), Hammond wants to drag Site B into the public limelight. Hence the construction of a small, highly qualified team, which will conduct a low-impact study. The sting is that a reluctant Malcolm (whose career has already been destroyed once) is one of Hammond's picks. Thoroughly pessimistic, Malcolm refuses. However, the in-situ presence of girlfriend Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) acts to change his mind.
Rapidly deposited on Isla Sorna, Malcolm is accompanied only by photographer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) and equipment expert Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff). Nobody local will approach the island, for fear of monsters, and Malcolm doesn't blame them. Since Sarah is neglecting to answer her satellite phone, the first priority is to locate her (or what remains of her). Fortunately she is safe, observing stegosauri in their natural habitat. The rather bigger surprise is that Malcolm's adopted daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester) has smuggled herself aboard. Now fearful for both Sarah and Kelly, Malcolm becomes even more paranoid than usual. Before he can get them to leave, however, the evening stillness is torn apart by a swarm of InGen helicopters. It seems that Ludlow has plans of his own and, if the presence of big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) is a clue, they seem rather more brutal than Hammond's.
In simple terms, The Lost World is a perfect summer blockbuster; a pure ride of emotion that never once engages on an intellectual level. Since Steven Spielberg isn't aiming very high, he manages to knock off many of his targets and keep the masses happy. What this means for the average movie-goer is a lot more dinosaurs, added suspense, a story near-identical to Jurassic Park and the usual weakly drawn characters. Since clearly Spielberg would like to top his earlier film, yet the dinosaur effects are already familiar, he has to pull a few other directorial tricks out of the bag. The forms that these take are a handful of tremendously tense scenes where the dinosaurs are unseen, yet you know that they're there from the rustles and nudges. It's a very effective technique (particularly so during the T-Rex attack) which indicates just how talented Spielberg is. The sad part is that he doesn't maintain this level throughout most of the film. Instead he succumbs to a muddled mid-section where too many people are introduced all at once.
While personal development is minimal in The Lost World that should never be used as an excuse for unappealing, forgettable characters. Now while the movie doesn't quite lumber into that trap, there are a number of glaring weaknesses in the primary roles. The biggest of these is Goldblum, mostly because he's cast as the central figure. The problem is that while his rampant scepticism has flashes of referential humour, on the whole his is a weary performance (which relies too much on work he's done before). The love dynamic with Moore amounts to a big zero, partly because she neglects to fill out her eager scientist persona. On the other hand, while the kid is rather superfluous and haphazardly dealt with, she isn't too nauseating. As for their unwelcome allies, Postlethwaite is the most amusing while Howard is a dead loss. The upshot is that no particular performance stands out, mainly because the characters are paper thin and no one seems to be trying very hard.
A weak point of The Lost World is that it puts a lot of effort into providing for a sequel, which means loose ends. While these aren't too intrusive, they do remove the sense of closure apparent with Jurassic Park. This is only a minor complaint though and one that is easily smothered if you're out to pick fault. For instance, various people do the usual stupid things in order to keep the plot ticking; the dinosaurs act very smart sometimes, then come over all dumb when Spielberg wants them to do so. The fact is though that being this critical is entirely the wrong approach to take; The Lost World is just solid entertainment that goes on a bit too long but invokes plenty of scares. The pity is that in order to drive this point home, Spielberg raises the violence quotient by a substantial amount (even if much of this is implied rather than actual). It's not a problem unless you scream easily but it does tend to suggest that making a third instalment might be a bad idea.
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