There's a shot at the end of Jurassic Park III which will send shivers down the spines of audiences around the world.
Three dinosaurs - flying Pteranodons to be exact - glide into the sunset, away from their incarceration on Isla Sorna and towards the mainland. The implication is clear: a couple of years from now, the global box-office will be bracing itself for Jurassic Park IV. Be afraid.
The third installment of the dino-franchise is set eight years after the first doomed visit to Jurassic Park.
Dr Alan Grant (Neill) reluctantly accepts an offer from millionaire Paul Kirby (Macy) and his wife Amanda (Leoni) to act as their guide for an aerial tour of Isla Nublar, the second InGen site. Grant takes along Billy Brennan (Nivola) for the ride, but pretty soon it becomes clear that Kirby and his wife have ulterior motives for visiting the island.
Their young son, Eric (Morgan) is stranded on Isla Sorna and the parents intend to land on the island and rescue their stricken child. The plan goes horribly awry when the low-flying plane hits a rampaging Spinosaurus, and crash-lands in the dense jungle, leaving the surviving seven passengers at the mercy of the dino inhabitants.
Jurassic Park III opens more with a whimper than a bang, and takes a good 15 minutes to accelerate into top gear. Once the plane crash-lands on Isla Sorna, the pace rarely slackens, thundering from one edge-of-the-seat set-piece to the next.
Interaction between the live action and computer generated elements is seamless, and Stan Winston's animatronic creations are stunning and convincing. Only once or twice do the dinosaurs lose their sheen of realism, and betray their origins in the hard drives of the technowizards at ILM.
Performances are solid (how many ways are there to scream and/or run and/or climb at the same time?) but there's a pleasing weariness to Grant's reluctant hero.
Dern cameos for all of five minutes as feisty paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, reprising her role from the first film. Fans of the first two films will have their hunger for more dinosaurs and more carnage well and truly satiated.
