Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Review: Life Finds A Way

Director: J.A. Bayona (Society of the Snow)

Writer: Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly (Screenplay) Michael Crichton (Characters)

Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Jeff Goldblum, Ted Levine, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, DB Wong, Rafe Spall

Plot: When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

Tagline – Life finds a way.

Runtime: 2 Hours 8 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Gigantic Disappointment

Story: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom starts when the island the dinosaurs lived in Jurassic World is going to be wiped out by the volcano on it, the government are figuring out the morale side of whether to help the dinosaurs or let nature wipe them out once again with the help of Ian Malcolm (Goldblum).

Benjamin Lockwood (Cromwell) a former partner to Richard Hammond wants to rescue the dinosaurs and leave them on a safe island, he brings in Claire (Howard) and Owen (Pratt) to achieve these, with his associate Eli Miles (Spall) running the operation. Things don’t go to plan and it becomes clear that human desires have become the project and creating a new killer dinosaur is what is the most important part of the mission and now Owen and Claire must save the day.

Thoughts on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Characters – Claire is now working as a campaigner to save the dinosaurs from there next extinction, she has a small team and the connections to get her voice heard, she must connect with Owen again to complete the mission and do the right thing to make up for her mistakes from the previous film. we see her make difficult decisions, but otherwise she doesn’t have anything standing out about her character. Owen is back, mainly because he is the one that can track down Blue (the raptor), he knows how the survive dinosaurs, using their strengths to help him in difficult decisions, he is your standard hero there to save the day figure though. Ken Wheatley is the hunter sent to bring back the dinosaurs, he doesn’t seem very smart or like he has ever hunted before, he also collects the teeth, sadly this character is rubbish compared to the hunter in Jurassic Park The Lost World, who at least knew this would be a test of his skills. Ian Malcolm, gives a speech, don’t sell us on a movie if that is all her does. Benjamin Lockwood is the man trying to save the dinosaurs, he once worked with Hammond and wants the same for the remaining dinosaurs. Eli Miles runs operations for Lockwood, he has set up the mission to be what he wants it to be. The rest of the characters include the comic relief in Zia and Franklin, mostly misses, the Maisie the annoying kid and Dr Wu returning even though we knew in the last film what his game now is.

Performances – Well the performances, this should be interesting, Pratt once again shows he needs good material to shine, he doesn’t give us a memorable moment in the film, Howard also struggles to make her character as strong as it should be follow the events of the first film. My score for Goldblum is low because he is only in one scene. Ted Levine looks the part of the clumsy hunter, Rafe Spall does a good enough job in his role, while the big name actors will be getting paid well to move onto their Oscar related movies.

Story – The story will clearly have the similarities to The Lost World, we know the park has been destroyed the dinosaurs still live and what to do with them next is the question. The reluctant party return to do the right thing only to be betrayed, check and the second half of the film takes place on the main land, check. While I will stand up for the ideas in the story, because we know much like in ‘Alien’ that humans will want to weaponize and profit from anything that can be seen as more dangerous than what they have, it is tried, tested and works.

The idea that nature is destroying the island feels like it could have been a movie on its own, it is the best part of the story and ends with one of the best scenes in the Jurassic franchise. The problems start when you see the thrown in backstory characters, the paths going down man’s obsession with hunting and third act twists that make little impact in the movie.

Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi – The action should be breath taking, we have an island being destroyed, which we saw in the trailer, the dinosaur moments should be amazing, they are forgettable, sadly the action just fails to feel the tension required. The adventure seems to have been sucked out of the film too, everything on the island felt like it was played out in fast forward skipping the true amazement of what was achieved. The sci-fi side of the story shows the use of dinosaurs and as we have ran out of ideas again, making a newer deadlier one.

Settings – The have two main settings, the island for the first half of the film which I personally feel could have been the whole film, the second half is centred around the mansion which sucks all the life out of the ideas created.

Special Effects – The effects for the most part are flawless with the dinosaurs coming to life in the magical way we know.

Scene of the Movie – The final moment on the island, bought a tear to my eye, such a poetic and beautiful shot.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The bloody kid.

Final Thoughts – This was a giant disappointment for me, the two stories feel like they could have been separate films, the characters feel dull and lifeless and by the end you will be asking if you actually want to see more.

Overall: Just a let down for me.