Favorite Movies Countdown — No. 9


9. Jurassic Park (1993)

Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Richard Attenborough, Jeff Goldblum, and Samuel L. Jackson

About: "You're scientists were so concerned with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." — Dr. Ian Malcolm, "Jurassic Park."

This was one of the first big event movies I remember from my child hood, and also sparked a life-long love of Michael Crichton novels. Crichton, of course, penned the novel that served as the basis for this film from Steven Spielberg. This is the third, and final, Spielberg entry on this list. "Jurassic Park" was one of my absolute favorites when I was younger, and remains a favorite to this day.

It was a unique film in a couple ways. First, it features special effects that, at the time, were pretty groundbreaking. In fact, that's one of the reasons that, even though filmmaking has changed a lot in the last 18 years, this film still holds up well today. The action, effects, and the way the film is put together give it a strong visual style.

Second, it had a great story and characters. In a lot of ways, I think the story was ahead of its time. Crichton was a medical doctor who frequently wrote books about advancements in science, medicine, and technology. But he always took a cautions approach to the material.

This film is an argument against substituting our will for God's will. That is one of the reasons I featured this film in Faith in Film and have come back to it for an example from time to time. I love that quote from Dr. Malcolm that I used at the start of this post, because it's an example of how we need to proceed with reverence and caution when trying to explore the bounds of science and technology.

As with "Jaws," Spielberg lightened the presentation of the story from the novel. In the novel, John Hammond is literally consumed by his own creation, but the spirit of the argument still exists. And it's still a fun movie to watch.

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