28 Years Later, This Jurassic Park Line Is Still Confusing

As the Jurassic Park franchise continues to expand this summer with the release of Jurassic World Rebirth, many fans will want to double back over the coming months to reexamine the franchise over its three-plus-decade run. The Jurassic Park (or Jurassic World, whatever we’re calling it) franchise has had its ups and downs over the years, but fans generally flock to it for its blockbuster feel. Still, none of the films released after the original Steven Spielberg-directed 1993 classic have broken the ground that the first installment ever did. The sequels all attract bankable stars, from those with top billing to the supporting cast, but they lack substance, scale, and overall plot compared to what Spielberg did with the first film.

Speaking of the three-time Oscar-winner, it’s hard to believe that the film’s first sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, was helmed by Spielberg. A lot about it lacks his usual touch on a movie he takes on. 

Spielberg has taken some responsibility for the film’s failure, but in the end, he didn’t write the script. Not that we’re pointing the finger at who did (David Koepp, the screenwriter of the original and the upcoming Rebirth film). The Lost World was criticized for its inability to live up to such a bonafide classic first film, and it has a specific moment that, to this day, has left fans wondering about a particular choice of dialogue in a pivotal scene. 

This Dialogue From The Lost World Is Still Confusing Jurassic Park Fans

In the scene where the two T-Rexes attempt to throw the trailers off the cliff, Vince Vaughn’s character yells out, “Hang on to something!” Mere seconds later, Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm says the exact same thing. The confusing moment has fans to this day wondering if Goldblum flubbed up his line and meant to say, “Holding onto something!” and it got kept in the movie, or maybe he was just going by a script screwup.

See for yourself in the scene below.

It turns out that even at the time of The Lost World’s theatrical release, many other fans took notice of it. That moment in the film was later spoofed by a funny sketch for the MTV Movie Awards, which featured Ben Stiller, Janeane Garafalo, Mike Myers, and Jay Leno. Both Myers and Stiller say the same line in the sketch, as a giant Jay Leno tries to tip the trailers off of the ledge.

To this day, the moment in the film is still discussed in comments sections of video clips and within fandom Jurassic Park fandom threads. A moment of gross imperfection that is utterly perfect to rewatch.

Jurassic World Rebirth will be released in theaters on July 2nd.