'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' was without a doubt my most anticipated film this year, and Universal has pulled out all the stops giving it even more attention than the 2015 sequel and given that 2018 also marks the 25th anniversary of the original Spielberg classic, it's was really hard to NOT see dozens of merchandise and advertisements for this film. So after all the waiting and anticipation leading up to it, did director J.A. Bayona and company deliver a solid movie?
Picking up three years after the rampage of the Indominus Rex that ultimately shut down Jurassic World for good, a group of dinosaur rights activists led by Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are now desperate to save the remaining animals on Isla Nublar before a now active volcano threatens to wipe them all out for the second time. With the help of a previous friend and colleague of John Hammond's, Claire convinces Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to help in order to rescue the dinosaurs with special regards to the Velociraptor "Blue" who is the last of her species. Those of you who've seen a 'Jurassic Park' film knows what happens next: the rescue is a double cross, with a sleazy money hungry man (Rafe Spall) wishes to use the dinosaurs for a more nefarious purpose and it's up to Claire and Owen to protect them.
Okay, let's go scene by scene with this one (No Spoilers of course) something I usually don't do with my reviews, but with this one feels necessary to get my critiques across. The film's opening is a great way to start a 'Jurassic' movie and one of my favorites of the series. It's eerie and quiet, building up the tension as a group of men run around in the rain bringing that feeling from the first two films back strong. On top of the editing, music, pacing, and overall being full of tension and excitement it has one of the best little Easter eggs that you have to listen for but rest assured that it gave a big JP fan like me a smile. We then get into what I think is easily the weakest aspect of the entire film: The island rescue. This not only has very little action other than the final scene with the volcano itself, it feels too much like a demo reel of various new animals we've yet to see in the series but they serve as little more than cameos here. For having multiple toys and other products being produced of them, the Baryonx, Dilophosaurus, and others are either non-existent or hardly in the film.
This first act also goes by so fast with little to no time to catch your breath or even find enjoyment out of most of it. By far the best scene here involves a tearful encounter with a tall herbivore that comes straight from Crichton's original novel and like that scene it is very strong and emotional, but it's a shame that it comes far too late. Then we really have no second act here, which I don't think I have ever seen before but really this film has no second act whatsoever. It goes from island rescue to final act in the Lockwood Mansion which has been the main source of most other critics issues with this film. For me however, while I do find the lack of a second act distracting and harmful to the overall film the final act at the mansion is by far the best part of the entire movie. It has the Gothic horror and darker atmosphere that the director promised us and the Indoraptor is a very vile monster that has some impressive scare and action scenes.
But just because it's a better part doesn't make it free of problems and it really comes down to the writing and the characters here. It's always nice to see B.D. Wong return as Dr. Wu but he has two scenes in this film. Two. And only about a paragraphs worth of lines before he is taken away for the sequel. Rafe Spall didn't bother me as much as he seemed to with other critics who found him generic and cartoonish. This really is nothing new to the 'Jurassic' franchise but that's also the main problem with his character Mills. It's almost a carbon copy of 'The Lost World's' Peter Ludlow, a greedy corporate man who took over from the elderly predecessor and wishes to recycle the previous assets for money. It's the same villain and that's why I disliked him, though he got a much better punishment than Ludlow and this time it comes from the 'Lost World' novel. Where he is cartoonish and over the top is during his interactions with James Cromwell's character of Benjamin Lockwood and his granddaughter Maisy, though we sadly can't discuss that here for fear of spoilers.
Speaking of spoilers, there's an attempt at a big twist near the end of the film that will no doubt divide Jurassic fans severely. It's such a left turn for the franchise for some while others may have predicted this as inevitable but for me it was a bit too much and a bit too silly, and that's in a movie with a genetic hybrid monster that eats people. The film overall feels a bit too much like a middle ground movie, with the finale film in 2020 being the true film they want us to all love and this is merely a holdover which even 'Jurassic Park III' didn't feel like despite it's obvious rushed value. What I do like about 'Fallen Kingdom' is the characters here are a little better than the previous film. Franklin, the comedic relief was just as annoying as I expected, but thankfully he only lasts the first half of the film for the most part. Zia Rodriguez, played by Daniella Pineda is by far the best new character with some funny lines, and a take no crap attitude that wasn't over the top. Claire's character is much better this time around (they even play with the audience by throwing in a joke about her shoes early on) and she has the biggest arc of the film but there's still some very important aspects missing from her history that we've yet to see. Why did she change so severely? Does she feel responsible for the animals because of the damage she caused at Jurassic World? These and many other questions ran through my head and while they do mention some of these things in passing, they amount to little more than throwaway lines mostly from Mills and it's such a missed opportunity to give her some great character development.
Chris Pratt here sadly disappointed me, returning with almost none of the enthusiasm seen in the previous film. He seems really bored and it could be because he has absolutely no change in his character throughout the two hours. We really learn nothing more than what we already knew between him and Blue despite a really sweet scene showing the raptor as a pup. He's the exact same character and learns nothing and at times can be outright antagonistic and creepy for no reason. Most people who know me will find this a little strange for me to say that he was being creepy but the scene in question has him smelling Claire's hair while she sleeps. It's not charming or funny like they seemed to think it was and it made me dislike Owen a bit. He also does nothing but bitch and moan this whole movie which makes me hope that with the final film they'll give him something more to do. Cromwell's Benjamin Lockwood is a character that has some intriguing story aspects to him that harkens back to the original but he's not in the film enough to really get anything from his performance. Jeff Goldblum returns in a cameo, and why people thought he was in the movie more I will never know. A little Goldblum goes a long way people, remember that. 'Fallen Kingdom' is the best looking film since 'The Lost World' and is the best aspect overall. The clean blues and silvers of 'Jurassic World' were very unpleasant and felt too clean even for that film but here we get the darker colors, with fire red and blacks dominating the cinematography. Michael Giacchino returns with a superior and epic score that perfectly complements every scene. He makes good use of the horror like strings and the epic choirs while keeping the best themes from the previous 'Jurassic World' and this time they actually throw in the original John Williams theme in a lot more which was sorely missing from the 2015 film.
So overall, here's the summary. 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is a disappointing middle ground sequel much like 'Jurassic Park III'. It's enjoyable and watchable, but has little to none of the importance nor seems to want to have the thoughts and messages of Crichton's work instead going for a fun roller coaster action film. The end of the film sets up what should be a truly bat shit crazy finale but if this film was merely a lead up to that, they should have attempted something a little more scaled back. The cast is pretty weak except Zia and Claire, the cinematography and direction is amazing and some of the best in the series, and the score is one of my new favorites. But the screenplay really let's this film down and has me extremely worried about where exactly Colin Trevorrow is headed for 'Jurassic World 3'. If you are a casual fan, relax and enjoy the fun monster movie. JP fans will be more mixed on their feelings.
3.5/5
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