Scar
Super Freak
You probably still wouldn't think him "smart" for taking such a risk with his own life, but you would deem him brave for doing so, and it was a nice touch in the movie to illustrate the hunter becoming the hunter dynamic as the best way to combat a dangerous man-eater efficiently in the wild.
Grant's speech doesn't make Muldoon's actions unintelligent, but it does make the way in which Muldoon meets his end a conclusive affirmation of a paleontological theory which, up to that point in the story, was speculative. We could find raptor skeletons congregated in a single area, we could have them surrounding the skeleton of a single herbivorous dinosaur, but we're never going to know exactly how they hunted... unless the activity is seen in life. The movie is an excellent testament to the fact that there is value in paleontology and it may well be astonishing how, based on extant organisms, we can glean accurately information on those which are extinct. Grant's theory was probably based on the understanding of Dromaeosaurids as pack animals, and he applied existing models of relatively intelligent terrestrial pack hunters alive today to the lifestyle Velociraptors may well have led.
The story drives home that, while fascinating, dinosaurs were also agile, dangerous creatures which would have been unlike any other terrestrial organisms to study in the field zoologically in terms of hazard. For however skilled a hunter Muldoon was, for however attuned his senses, reflexes, and instincts in the hunt, not even he could hear the Velociraptor creeping up to his left, mere inches from him, as he lined its fellow pack member in his sights. It's a loss of hope in the action packed moments preceding the denouement of the film; the audience sees that the T.rex is immense and capable of a vast amount of destruction, but its every step makes its presence known. Velociraptors, on the other hand, could well be right next to you and their presence would likely not register until it is too late; these are intelligent, staggeringly lethal creatures and in an instant they take out the one character who actually seems equipped with the capabilities to kill them.
It's one thing to be a passive observer and think, "There's probably more than one of those things out there right now and those two people are going to be eaten soon." It's another matter entirely to already be out in the jungle, to already be thrown into that situation; having been around predators, Muldoon knew that if they both ran, triggering the predatory instincts of the Velociraptor, the raptor he was aware of would run them down and in all likelihood kill them both (being that the raptors are portrayed here to kill for sport as well as hunger). One of them had to get to the power shed, Muldoon's reason for escorting Ellie was to protect her and since he's hunted "most things that can hunt you" he does all that he can to ensure at least one of them reaches the shed to return power and lead to their rescue - he grabs the SPAS-12 and shells, spots at least one of the raptors, stays behind to allow the predator to interpret him as "the one cut off from the herd", and makes a sound effort to dispatch the Velociraptor in all likelihood hoping he would at least see or hear any other predator in time to make an effort at saving himself. No hole in the plot dynamic here, you just need to place yourself in Muldoon's situation mentally and see that he had no alternative.
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