Peter Buchman
Alexander Payne
Sam Neill
William H. Macy
Téa Leoni </>
Kathleen Kennedy
John Williams (original themes)
Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science fiction adventure monster film. It is the third installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and a sequel to the 1997 movie The Lost World: Jurassic Park. It is the first film in the series that was not directed by Steven Spielberg nor based on a book by Michael Crichton (though numerous scenes in the film were taken from Crichton's novels Jurassic Park and The Lost World).
Synopsis[]
A decidedly odd couple with ulterior motives convince Dr. Alan Grant to go to Isla Sorna (the second InGen dinosaur lab.), resulting in an unexpected landing...and unexpected new inhabitants on the island.
Plot[]
Despite dangerous incidents being connected with Isla Sorna, tourists Ben Hildebrand and Eric Kirby decide to parasail around the island. A dinosaur of unknown species attacks and kills the boat crew when it passes through a fog bank, but Ben uncouples the line and he and Eric, bound together, go sailing into the wilderness of Isla Sorna.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alan Grant has become reluctantly famous as a result of his survival and involvement in the scandal of Jurassic Park. Struggling to raise support for his research, he believes that the creatures of Jurassic Park are theme park monsters, and not real dinosaurs. Ellie Sattler has married a lawyer named Mark Delger and has a son, Charlie, who calls Alan "The Dinosaur Man." One afternoon, while out on a dig, Alan's assistant Billy demonstrates how he can use a 3D printer to replicate the larynx of a Velociraptor. They also discuss how raptors are far more intelligent than they had previously believed, and had a complex social structure and hunting pattern.
A wealthy couple, Paul and Amanda Kirby, arrive and offer Alan some generous funding for his research if he will give them an aerial tour of Isla Sorna. Desperate for the money to fund further research, Alan reluctantly agrees. He flies there along with Paul and Amanda, Billy, plus the Kirbys' associates, Udesky, Cooper and their pilot, Nash. Once there, Alan learns that the Kirbys plan to land on the island, which contradicts what they had promised earlier. When he objects, he is knocked out by Cooper, only to awaken to the sound of Amanda calling out to someone on the island using a bullhorn. This attracts a hungry Spinosaurus; Cooper leads it into the path of the plane before he is devoured. The plane then crashes into a tree and the Spinosaurus attacks again, killing Nash. After fleeing the plane, the survivors manage to briefly lose the Spinosaurus after it gets caught between two trees. As they flee to safety, a Tyrannosaurus appears, and the Spinosaurus returns but the humans escape while the two distracted dinosaurs fight each other; the Spinosaurus kills the T.rex by breaking its neck.
The Kirbys confess they're actually a middle-class divorced couple who are using their life savings to look for their lost son, Eric, who vanished with Ben eight weeks ago near Isla Sorna. Alan is dubious that Eric could have survived eight weeks on Isla Sorna. Further exploration leads them to find the parasail entangled in a tree, with Ben's decomposing body still attached to it. A video recorder shows them Ben and Eric's final descent onto the island. When they stumble upon some raptor eggs they flee, taking the parasail with them. They find an abandoned compound and search in vain for communications equipment. After finding a broken-down vending machine and phones, they make their way to a derelict laboratory.
Amanda sees a Velociraptor and the group flees, but the pursuing raptor signals its pack mates to chase them. During the ensuing chase, Udesky and Grant become separated from the others after causing a herd of Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus to stampede; Alan grabs Billy's satchel that he dropped, and Udesky is killed by the raptors. Alan suspects the raptors are searching for something. He is rescued by Eric, who has managed to survive for eight weeks in an overturned supply truck. Eric recognizes the sound of his father's satellite phone, which was lost when Nash was devoured; they're reunited with the Kirbys and Billy before the Spinosaurus arrives again. They hide inside a small building and bar the doors until the Spinosaurus leaves.
Billy becomes possessive of his satchel; Alan realizes he has taken two eggs from the raptor's nest in the hope the contents will fund their next dig, and this explains the raptor attacks. Alan berates Billy for his careless behavior, comparing him to InGen. They make their way to a large outdoor complex, and Alan realizes in horror that the complex is a giant cage to house Pteranodon; they attack the group and fly away with Eric, taking him as food for their young. Billy uses the remnants of Ben's parasail to rescue Eric, shortly before he falls into the river below, then is attacked and seemingly killed by some of the Pteranodon. The rest of the group find their way out of the cage, leaving the door unlocked in their panic, and make their way down river using a small boat.
The group finds and retrieves the satellite phone from inside the feces belonging to the Spinosaurus. The Spinosaurus attacks and capsizes the boat as Alan is trying to contact Ellie, and he is only able to convey the words "The River, Site B" before he is disconnected. Alan and Paul manage to drive off the Spinosaurus for good by lighting the boat's fuel on fire, and the next day they start making their way toward the shoreline. Close to their goal, they are surrounded by raptors. Using the imitation raptor larynx, Alan manages to confuse them, and Amanda surrenders the stolen eggs before the sound of helicopters startle off the raptors.
Returning to the beach, they find that Ellie had called in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy to rescue them. They discover that Billy, while seriously injured, is alive. As they leave the island, they see the Pteranodon group flying free, and Alan muses that it's time for them to find their place in the world again.
Cast[]
- Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant, the world-famous paleontologist who survived the incident on Isla Nublar and has since developed an apathetic attitude towards the creatures he once admired.
- William H. Macy as Paul Kirby, the owner of a hardware store who poses as a wealthy businessman in order to lure Grant into helping search for his son.
- Téa Leoni as Amanda Kirby, Paul's ex-wife, who accompanies the group to Isla Sorna to search for her son.
- Alessandro Nivola as Billy Brennan, a young and over-enthusiastic graduate student from Grant's dig site.
- Trevor Morgan as Eric Kirby, Paul and Amanda's 12-year-old son, stranded on Isla Sorna.
- Michael Jeter as Udesky, one of the mercenaries.
- Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Degler, née Sattler, a paleobotanist who also survived Isla Nublar.