Well, the only thing that the movies had in common was plateau's. The first movie was on 'em and the second, just near 'em. They also had white devils comin' up 'round your place and fuckin' with your lifestyle.
Irwin Allen's 1960 The Lost World is a remake of the 1925 silent film, and it's almost as bad as that poster. Who thought that was good enough to pay for, let alone commit to print. The 2oth Century Fox DVD has both films, each on their own disc. This set's version of the 1925 film is different from the Image release of a few years ago. I have a crappy copy of the old one in one of those cheap movie compliations. In this new color talkie Professor Challenger tells the Zoological Institute that he's seen real dinosaurs on a plateau near the Amazon River. They poopoo the idea but he sticks to his guns and gets up a party to take a look. It's a dumb ass bunch that joins him. A big game hunter, a reporter, a sad old explorer, an annoying rich girl and her brother. Oh, and her poodle. What an ugly fuckin' dog. Which sadly does not get eaten. So...disappointing. This group of misfits head for South America where they pick up a weak ass toadie and a big handsome helicopter pilot. It gets worse from there. You can read a blow by blow of the movie at the link above. As usual the white devils come, bringing their boomsticks, and fuck up life for the natives. At the end of the movie the plateau blows up and it just might be their fault. The dinosaurs are really lizards with horns stuck on them. Their fights are none too good. It's got a weird score. Several scenes have music that just doesn't make any sense. The story execution isn't very good, and the dialog is pretty corny at times. The movie seems to be set in the 60's but people act and talk like it's further in the past. It doesn't feel modern, even for 1960.
Jet Li's Fearless barely feels like the 20th Century. It's starts in 1910 China and meanders back through time to take a look at the life of the character that Jet Li plays. The movie, loosely based on a real character, Huo Yuanjia, starts with Jet fighting 3 white devils. He beats them. Before he gets to the final match we plunge into his eye and that starts the flashbacks. He's a spoilt kid in one, a headstrong man who doesn't listen to his mother in another, and after an inappropriate fight he's a beaten and lost soul. He's saved by farming and after his recovery he finds his way back to his home town. He starts fighting for the Chinese people's honor, instead of his own glory, and with the help of an old friend he starts a Wushu School. There was a Russian guy who call the Chinese "the sick men of Asia". He gets his ass kicked royally. Around the turn of the century the white devils, and many other pals, were pouring into China to help run the country. China is a country that sure has had a lot of troubles. Even their happy movies end with most of the people dying. This gets a little heavy near the end. The Wikipedia says that the family of Huo Yuanjia demanded an apology from the filmmakers for the inaccuracies in the film. I looked Huo on the Wiki, see link above, and there are some changes to the story, which is rather vague to begin with, but that's the sort of thing that one comes to expect froma movie bio. It's mostly a sad story, I'm not going to be rushing to watch it again. I'd rather watch a Jet Li movie with a happier ending.
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