Dinosaur 13 (2014)

I'll tell you why so serious

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Blistering performances.

This film isn't really so much a documentary about the 13th Trex skeleton found, but rather, the intense legal battles and drama over this find. Basically put, their Trex discovery is so important/valuable that the land owner they initially buy the fossil from after digging it up decides to reneg on his arrangement, then the govt steps in, and then half the planet becomes involved in trying to settle the claims over the fossil. 3/4 of the film focuses on the dizzyingly boring legalities of this struggle, which could have been concluded in a single sentence. Only the very beginning of this documentary focuses on the finding of the fossil itself. This could have been a very interesting introduction to paleontology and dinosaurs, and I was expecting this very thing, but instead just gets lost in uninteresting and complicated legal drama. Who cares?

9.1 of 10. True to its title, it is not only about the 13th tyrannosaurus rex discovered, but even more so about the hard work the paleontologists put in to recover it and maintain it in as good condition as possible. This isn't just another dinosaur quickie to grab easy money.Unlike most documentaries, it has hero and villain excitement that makes everything you learn, including about the law, taxes, prison, and government appointments, that much more interesting and easily enjoyed by those without a strong interest in paleontology or who were looking for visuals, scares, and dinosaur chases.In sum, we have an educational documentary worthy of even college courses and PhDs that also provides the intrigue of a legal or political drama. It won't be surprising to see some closely-based fictional movies popping up trying to capture this with more action, music, and sex appeal. You can't, however, count on them to deliver the depth of what you already have here.

Spoiler ALERT!!! This movie is surprisingly stupid. The creator of this film is trying to show the government treading on a paleontologist discovery. But what I notice is 4 to 5 college educated people, who are not poor, educated people who also lived through the Reagan era of Reaganomics and free market capitalism ideals, decide to trust the land owner over digging up dinosaur bones on his land with $5000, no contract, and a hand shake. THAT WAS STUPID. Because when the landowner found out what was the real worth of "Sue" was he doubled back on the deal and tried to claim it as his own. The best part is that the landowner is on video agreeing to the terms and accepting a check for $5000. The landowner won the case and over 7 million dollars after auctioning "Sue'. I'm sure he had signed contracts when he auctioned her off too, not just a handshake. Final footnote, Native Americans also had a claim to "Sue" but of course the courts said they had no claim even though they had contracts with the Dept of Interior in South Dakota stating nothing will be sold off the land without the permission of the Sioux tribe people who lived there. This right was not recognized by the court. So this documentary in a nutshell is about a landowner on stolen land, stealing a dinosaur find from paleontologists, on stolen land, with the help of the National Guard but more importantly with the help of the biggest thieves ever, McDonalds and Disney. The moral of the story kids, is always get signed contracts not handshakes.

I have continually had the conversation that we live in a beautiful era for documentaries that push narratives and transcend what audiences previously believed a documentary could do. I am reinforced in this belief by a handful of films that I've seen, but another such film, Dinosaur 13, will now join those ranks. Exposing us to a narrative that few people know, Dinosaur 13 is a roller coaster of a story in the best way possible. What starts as a humble yet passionate following of a group of paleontologists becomes a conflict that is bigger than they could ever expect. I don't want to give any part of the film away because there are so many twists and turns in this story. It is documentaries like this that make me question why even bother with writing stories when there are great ones like this that are more compelling than fiction. I will highlight a few things that I resonated with. First, this is a film about small town USA, in this case Hill City, SD (in close proximity to the Badlands), and the power of community in places like this, both in good times and bad times. Secondly, this is a film about passionate people. The subjects of the film, notably Peter Larson, the paleontologist who is the primary focus, but also the many other folks involved, all share a beautiful love of what they do. Despite all adversity, carrying passion and optimism is a beautiful thing to watch.From a craft standpoint, the film is greatly benefited due to a high quantity of archival footage. Had these events transpired 20 years before, home videos would not have been commonplace and it would have to rely more on reenactments and interviews, but instead a good amount of the film actually uses footage, along with some reenactments and some fantastic interviews.I am blown away by this story and look forward to watching it again in theaters. Paleontology is essentially the study of history and uncovering the truth in the past: Dinosaur 13 has done the same for this powerful story that should be heard by all. 10/10