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I feel like people will never really have that moment like they did with the first Jurassic Park. The awe and wonder is gone with the amount of VFX oddities people can do these days. Those were my thoughts while I watched this sequel. There are times that director J.A. Bayona is clearly going for the “iconic” shots to try and capture that wonder again, but it falls flat. I’m thinking about the moment we see the T-Rex roar in front of the exploding volcano or when we see the deep sea creature’s shadow in the tidal wave. Do our eyes widen with excitement or do we think to ourselves “oh, well that was kinda cool”. Dinosaurs on the screen running away from an exploding volcano are “kinda cool”. Giant robots fighting each other in a city that is being destroyed is “kinda cool. Is our wonder gone? What was the last movie that gave you that feeling? Maybe it was Jurassic Park, or Lord of the Rings or the most recent thing I can think of, Avatar. My point is, films like this are now a dime a dozen and what would have been wonderful years ago is old-hat now. Jurassic World, or the series for that matter, is old-hat.
The island is volcanic is will explode soon, killing all those dinosaurs left behind. A wealthy man by the name of Lockwood wants to retrieve those Dinos and put them in a safe spot. Free from the cages, isolated and alive. They recruit one person who knows the dinosaurs well, Claire. Yet she can’t do it alone and they really are interested in bringing the Raptor Blue back. So let’s get the couple back together and Owen enters the scene. They manage to get the dinosaurs but as usual, the company retrieving them isn’t all they seem to be. The volcano erupts, our heroes run for their lives and then we find out the true reason for their retrieval.
Jurassic World has a lot going on and it feels like a few different movies morphed into one. The island portion is a disaster flick with a lot of special effects, thrilling sequences and edge of your seat entertainment. At least that’s what the filmmakers want you to feel. Characters we barely know tag along and are immediately pigeonholed into stereotypes. This is done so we get a false sense of knowing them, when in reality they are nobodies. All of it looks “kinda cool” but it feels hollow. The stakes are never real. We know they get off the island because there is a whole two thirds of a movie left. The most memorable shot of the film is when the boats are leaving and we get one lasting image of a dinosaurs stuck on the island with the approaching smoke engulfing it. Do we have more of a connection to these beasts than these characters? The film really tries to make you feel this way.
Fallen Kingdom takes a turn and becomes espionage. The characters need to hide to not raise suspicion, gather Intel, and try to thwart the evil deeds that are bound to unfold. Just as this happens, the film takes another turn and becomes somewhat of a horror movie. This is the classic creature in the house scenario where our characters are being hunted. The hunter is yet another DNA split dino, something that was done in the last movie. But wait, it’s more dangerous this time, right?
A side plot involving a little girl drags then stops FULL STOP to have a character deliver exposition that we already knew. The girl makes an interesting decision at the end which will result in a third film, one that I think will be a complete detour to every film that came before it and maybe it will shoot a bit of life into this series. Fallen Kingdom tries a few new things, but gets confused in the end. It wants to be a big spectacle film, while remaining small and confined. The result is a mixed film with two wildly different tones.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
I feel like people will never really have that moment like they did with the first Jurassic Park. The awe and wonder is gone with the amount of VFX oddities people can do these days. Those were my thoughts while I watched this sequel. There are times that director J.A. Bayona is clearly going for the “iconic” shots to try and capture that wonder again, but it falls flat. I’m thinking about the moment we see the T-Rex roar in front of the exploding volcano or when we see the deep sea creature’s shadow in the tidal wave. Do our eyes widen with excitement or do we think to ourselves “oh, well that was kinda cool”. Dinosaurs on the screen running away from an exploding volcano are “kinda cool”. Giant robots fighting each other in a city that is being destroyed is “kinda cool. Is our wonder gone? What was the last movie that gave you that feeling? Maybe it was Jurassic Park, or Lord of the Rings or the most recent thing I can think of, Avatar. My point is, films like this are now a dime a dozen and what would have been wonderful years ago is old-hat now. Jurassic World, or the series for that matter, is old-hat.
The island is volcanic is will explode soon, killing all those dinosaurs left behind. A wealthy man by the name of Lockwood wants to retrieve those Dinos and put them in a safe spot. Free from the cages, isolated and alive. They recruit one person who knows the dinosaurs well, Claire. Yet she can’t do it alone and they really are interested in bringing the Raptor Blue back. So let’s get the couple back together and Owen enters the scene. They manage to get the dinosaurs but as usual, the company retrieving them isn’t all they seem to be. The volcano erupts, our heroes run for their lives and then we find out the true reason for their retrieval.
Jurassic World has a lot going on and it feels like a few different movies morphed into one. The island portion is a disaster flick with a lot of special effects, thrilling sequences and edge of your seat entertainment. At least that’s what the filmmakers want you to feel. Characters we barely know tag along and are immediately pigeonholed into stereotypes. This is done so we get a false sense of knowing them, when in reality they are nobodies. All of it looks “kinda cool” but it feels hollow. The stakes are never real. We know they get off the island because there is a whole two thirds of a movie left. The most memorable shot of the film is when the boats are leaving and we get one lasting image of a dinosaurs stuck on the island with the approaching smoke engulfing it. Do we have more of a connection to these beasts than these characters? The film really tries to make you feel this way.
Fallen Kingdom takes a turn and becomes espionage. The characters need to hide to not raise suspicion, gather Intel, and try to thwart the evil deeds that are bound to unfold. Just as this happens, the film takes another turn and becomes somewhat of a horror movie. This is the classic creature in the house scenario where our characters are being hunted. The hunter is yet another DNA split dino, something that was done in the last movie. But wait, it’s more dangerous this time, right?
A side plot involving a little girl drags then stops FULL STOP to have a character deliver exposition that we already knew. The girl makes an interesting decision at the end which will result in a third film, one that I think will be a complete detour to every film that came before it and maybe it will shoot a bit of life into this series. Fallen Kingdom tries a few new things, but gets confused in the end. It wants to be a big spectacle film, while remaining small and confined. The result is a mixed film with two wildly different tones.