“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is a well-timed thriller,
with some good twists, but also feels a bit thrown together. First, the new
director J.A. Bayona, a Spanish director known for the critical acclaimed films
“The Orphanage” from 2007, “The Impossible” from 2012, and “A Monster Calls”
from 2016, has obviously gone to the Spielberg school of timing. A lot of
scenes in this film were very well timed. There was a ton of set up and payoffs
that worked as individual scenes. I thought he was a big improvement over Colin
Trevorrow, who made the first “Jurassic World” movie, and also known for the
critical acclaimed 2012 indie film “Safety Not Guaranteed.” I thought J.A.
Bayona was an improvement over him, which will probably be an unpopular opinion,
in handling this material. Some of the scenes felt like they were out of a good
gothic film, which is unsurprising, because that’s what “The Orphanage” was.
Colin Trevorrow is returning to direct to third one, however.
This
reminds me of my reaction to Rian Johnson becoming the director of “Star Wars:
The Last Jedi”, who I thought was a huge improvement over J.J. Abrams, who
directed the first of the new “Star Wars” films “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Now, I’m not bashing J.J. Abrams or Colin Trevorrow by any means. It’s not easy
to pick up a beloved franchise from titans like Steven Spielberg or George
Lucas. I get it’s not easy to make it both your own and something new. It’s
quite a task. J.J. Abrams I am a fan of, because of his wonderful handling of the
first two “Star Trek” reboot movies. However, all these directors I give credit
for doing decent jobs making these franchises continue. Now that I filled your
ear with talk of directors, lets talk about the actual film. “Jurassic World:
Fallen Kingdom” picks up where the last one left off with our heroes no longer
working together. Owen (Chris Pratt) is no longer working on the island of
Jurassic World. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) however is working on behalf of
the dinosaurs, lobbying Congress to save them from the destruction they would
surly befall.
Congress,
to nobody’s surprise, announces they don’t really feel they need to save these
dinosaurs, as it’s private industry. Claire is devastated but is asked by the
estate of the founder of Jurassic World, which used to be Jurassic Park, but
that’s never really explained but it’s not super important, Eli (Rafe Spall) to
go back to the island and save the dinosaurs. Of course, there’s a little girl
who is supposedly the granddaughter of Lockwood (James Cromwell), who was the
partner in developing the DNA to make the dinosaurs. Because I’m somewhat an
expert in explaining fictional worlds better than the real one, lets talk a
moment to see if we can figure out the twist which I figured out in about five
minutes into the film. I won’t say it, but the series was always going to move
in the direction with it’s cloning component.
So,
basically, after going back to the island, where we keep waiting for the
Jurassic Park theme but oddly never hear it, we get to see the dinosaurs try to
escape. However, they are all kidnapped and taken back to Lockwood’s estate.
Our heroes, including Owen, Claire and two college kids (Justice Smith,
Daniella Pineda) sneak on board the ship taking the dinosaurs away from
Jurassic Park as the villain (Ted Levine from ‘Monk’) tries to escape with them.
Then they get to the big estate, and I must admit, despite some choppy
transitions, I dig how they handled having a “Jurassic Park” scenario happen
somewhere different. There’s a lot of scenes that feel less science fiction and
more gothic like a horror movie, and that was a cool new feel for the franchise.
The
dinosaurs are given a new spin with this new environment. They tend to find new
ways to trick the bad guys into their traps, and that was cool. I didn’t
dislike leaving the island for a bit, and letting the dinosaurs run a bit
wilder in a gothic environment. Now this isn’t the first time this has happened
in the “Jurassic Park” series, as it did happen in “The Lost World” from 1997,
directed by Steven Spielberg, but this was taking place in a gothic mansion,
which I thought was kind of cool. I just felt like some of that setting let the director treat this a
bit more like a horror film, and that was new for this series.
Chris Pratt
and Bryce Dallas Howard are good as usual. Also, the new ‘Jurassic Park’ kid,
Rafe Spall, who’s main function is running from dinosaurs, as is every other
kid in the series, is pretty good too. It should be noted a lot of excitement
in this film was the return of Ian (Jeff Goldbulm) from the original series,
and the trailer plays him up being in this film, but it’s more of a cameo. He
has a quick scene at the beginning and the end. Overall, though, this isn’t the
worst or best of the “Jurassic Park” series. “Jurassic Park III” from 2001 is a
lot of fun, but that is probably the weakest in the series. Hopefully this
franchise doesn’t lose it’s bite.
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