Apr 23rd, 2013 | Viewing | Comments

WHEN: 3:30pm EST, April 17, 2013 (give or take some trailers)

WHERE: The Cinemagic in Westbrook, Maine

FORMAT: 3D digital projection.

COMPANY: My brother Matt, about 6 other theatergoers.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STATE: A little worn out.

Watching Jurassic Park in 3D is a bit of a novelty, but after three viewings in this format, its effect is wearing off. After critiquing the 3D and having some fun dressing up, I’m ready to get away from discussing the viewing format, and get back to the film. It’s a good thing too, because I just noticed that Muldoon got left behind, and no one seems to care.

“They left me behind? Clever assholes.”

LET’S BACK UP:

“But wait a minute,” you say, “Muldoon was eaten by the Velociraptor. We all saw it. You’re talking crazy.” And yes, it’s true that we saw Muldoon get chowed down upon, but no one in the film did. No one could have.

Malcolm and Hammond were holed up together in the emergency bunker.

Nothing going on here…

Grant and the kids were hanging out near the electrified fence.

Hopefully nothing going on here…

That only leaves Dr. Sattler, who, while she was near where the attack took place, does not appear to have observed Muldoon’s death. The last thing we see her doing before Muldoon’s death is hobbling away from the shed-raptor, and afterwards she’s hobbling away still.

And making this face.

While it is conceivable that she could have heard Muldoon’s death screams, she seems to have been pretty distracted by her own raptor problems. We never hear her tell anyone that she saw or heard Muldoon getting eaten, and that seems like an important bit of information (seeing as he’s the guy who knows how to use the guns). From this, I would assume that she just doesn’t know.

THE HORRIBLE IMPLICATION:

If we assume that no one knows that Muldoon is dead, they must have known that there was a chance they were leaving him stranded on the island. It’s horrible. It’s heartless. But the way the movie unfolds, it’s something that must have happened. It might just be sloppy writing. It could just have been a horrible oversight. But what if it was intentional?

The children can’t be blamed. Tim had just been electrocuted, and hacker skills aside, Lex doesn’t really seem to have her shit together. Malcolm, Grant, and Sattler have no reason to want Muldoon dead. Hammond, however, is suspect.

Starting in the very first scene of the movie, and continuing till his dying breath, Muldoon wants the raptors dead. He has his reasons; they’re horrible monsters that kill for the sheer pleasure of it. Hammond has a very different relationship with the raptors. He is their father.

Not literally.

Obviously, Hammond’s “I want to bond with every dinosaur on the island” approach doesn’t jive with Muldoon’s “they should all be destroyed” stance. Honestly, it’s hard to see how you could avoid interpersonal tension under the circumstances. It’s generally not a good career move to constantly advocate killing your boss’s adopted children.

“Maybe I should work at a zoo where I don’t want to kill all the animals…”

The helicopter leaves without anyone asking where Muldoon went. Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm are all at fault for not thinking of him, but none of them worked with Muldoon. None of them were responsible for doing a headcount as the helicopter was boarded. That ball would really be in Hammond’s court, and we have reason to believe that there was some bad blood between our sweet old park owner and his park warden. It’s nothing conclusive, but it’s more than a little suspicious.

So I guess the moral is: don’t piss off John Hammond. It might be the last thing you ever do. After all, he doesn’t blame people for their mistakes, but he does expect that they pay for them…

…with their lives.