The Lost World (1998) Reviews

• The other reviews are for a different movie.

  hughjoe2006-05-24

  Most reviews you read about this movie are actually about a different version of 'Lost World'. Usually the reviewers are talking about the pilot for the series 'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World' that has the blonde with a perm in it. I understand the confusion, there were about 5 different versions of this made in the late '90's including Spielbergs 'Jurassic Park Lost world'. Even the TV Guide was confused, it listed 'The Lost World: with Patrick Bergin' but they actually broadcasted the one with the blonde with a perm that was the pilot for the TV series for TNT. Patrick Bergin's 'Lost World' was a very good version, personally I liked it the best out of all the 'Lost Worlds'.

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• worth a look

  loosid_dreamers2009-01-10

  I kind of agree with Matthew: "...I would probably buy it if I had the chance, but not because I thought it was a good movie, it would be because of the fact that there were two things I enjoyed: the unpredictability of the story, and how Malone deals with the T-Rex in the ending. " I have never read the original and I should before commenting on any of the movies, but this one was oh so dark, right from the beginning and all the way to the end. It's the only version I know of where everyone dies and the last person is marooned. NOTHING like any of the other versions. Now that's a courageous idea but unfortunately it was very badly executed. And what was Bergin thinking? He was so awesome in Mountains of the Moon.

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• Probably the worst film I've ever seen

  iansat2006-05-07

  This film starts fine but once the mission to find "The Lost World" starts, it goes from not so good, to bad, to terrible and is very quickly farcical. I would imagine that this was a box office flop and if so, I'm not surprised. Mind you, on the budget it was clearly made on, they (the Financiers) can't have lost very much money, I think my Children's pocket money for a year could have paid for better special effects. The inaccuracy too is ludicrous. Since when did the original location of Conan Doyle's masterpiece transpose from South America to Mongolia? And since when did Mongolia look so much like Canada? If you've never seen another version of this film or read the book, you might enjoy it. Bon Chance!

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• Patrick Bergin goes to the Lost World

  unbrokenmetal2008-10-25

  The choleric, maniacal and bearded Challenger (as Doyle described him in the book) is, by a strange choice of casting, portrayed by a polite, serious Patrick Bergin after a shave here. However, this movie still is way better than the almost simultaneously produced kiddie version for Berlusconi's TV with John Rhys-Davies. It is the darkest among the many adaptations, more reminding me "King Kong" or an Indiana Jones adventure than "Lost World", but it is moving fast and surely entertaining. My main complaint: I didn't like the mad mercenary David Nerman made out of John Roxton. The creatures were not too exactly following today's palaeontological knowledge, but hey, they're movie monsters! Special FX aren't top of the crop, but obviously they didn't have the big budget for more. Michael Sinelnikoff as Summerlee returned a year later for the TV series with the same title (otherwise, this movie is not related to that production). Not a good movie, all in all, but not too bad either.

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• Faithful, albeit gritty and adult, retelling of Doyle's story.

  Clark Holloway1999-12-07

  Not to be confused with the 1999 TV pilot movie of the same name (a mistake made by many of the reviewers on this site). Although made by the same production company, the 1999 version has a different cast (except for Michael Sinelnikoff, playing an endearing Dr. Summerlee in both versions), takes place in South America, introduces the bikini-clad jungle girl, Veronica, and the female adventurer, Marguerite Krux, sanitizes the violence, has cheaper effects, and lacks an ending (as may be expected in a TV pilot episode). In contrast, this 1998 version is a direct-to-video release that adheres more closely to the spirit of Doyle's novel, contains adult violence and gore, packs considerably more emotional wallop, and has a dynamic climax. Other than inexplicably transposing the "lost world" discovered by Maple White from South America to Mongolia in the mid-1930s, and adding the character of Amanda (White's daughter--a character roughly parallel to the one created by Bessie Love in the 1925 silent version), this movie is a fairly faithful, albeit gritty and adult, retelling of the boys' adventure story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912. Despite the introduction of adult character motivation, explicit violence, and a perhaps justifiable alteration of the ending, the majority of the action and dialogue, including a delightful exchange between Challenger and Summerlee that's lifted almost verbatim from Doyle's novel, suggests that the screenwriters were at least somewhat familiar with their source. Patrick Bergin plays an effective, though whisker-less, Professor Challenger, Julien Casey is believable as the reporter, Ned Blaine, and Michael Sinelnikoff is well cast as Dr. Summerlee. David Nerman makes a surprisingly dastardly John Roxton, Jayne Heitmeyer is fine as a somewhat anachronistic Amanda White, and Gregoriane Minot Payeur is sympathetic as one of the local guides whose family has an unfortunately high mortality rate. The dinosaur scenes, while not quite up to the standards established by Jurassic Park, and not quite as prevalent as one might wish, are generally convincing, exciting, and gruesomely violent. This movie is available on videotape (though currently at a prohibitive cost), and has been shown on Showtime and Cinemax (the version originally aired on TNT was the 1999 TV pilot). It's the best sound version of Doyle's novel filmed to date, and well worth a look for fans of the genre. 7 out of 10 stars.

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