Summary
Sequels…uh…find a way as yet another reason to head back to the island leads to running and screaming. It’s a whole theme park filled with ideas crammed into a single ride.
Let’s face it: none of the sequels to the original Jurassic Park have made a massive amount of sense. The continual attempts to harness dino-power have been perpetually fueled by the misguided avarice of corporate and military interests. Do they not have the Alien franchise as guidebooks in this universe? Even so, this sequel pushes the boundaries of logic beyond the specified parameters on the back of the box.
Director J.A. Bayona’s (A Monster Calls) follow-up to Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World sees the remaining prehistoric beasts facing annihilation at the hands of a now active volcano on Isla Nubla. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) fights for their salvation, and is given a lifeline when the ambitious Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) offers them a sanctuary. She convinces her estranged ex Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to join her on a rescure, but they are betrayed: the dinosaurs are only wanted for money and militarisation.
JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM is an often baffling collage of influences. At times it a little bit Raiders of the Lost Ark, with characters chasing the Nazi-esque mercenary Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) leaping onto trucks headed for a ship. At others, it’s a locked-house horror film, with humans hunting other humans. During these moments, dinosaurs are virtually forgotten for scene-specific thrills.
Yet there’s a lot about Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly’s follow-the-dots script that doesn’t make sense. Dinosaur abilities and sizes morph to fit the given scenario. Characters and dinosaurs can stand next to lava without consequence. The entire child character of Maisie Lockwood (newcomer Isabella Sermon), dressed in Elliot’s outfit from E.T., serves no purpose beyond bearing witness to exposition. Her ultimate payoff is so out of left field as to wonder if we’re still watching the same film.
Pratt is the one saving grace of the film. His natural charisma is always a welcome screen presence. There’s one sequence where a semi-paralysed Owen is rolling away from some lava: the physics of the scene notwithstanding, it’s physical comedy gold. Howard doesn’t fare as well, often sidelined by injury when she’s not deemed necessary. The ragtag gang of helpers are mostly perfunctory. Jeff Goldblum and an angry B.D. Wong both have brief cameos, but deserve better.
On a technical level, the film is a top notch experience. Following the opening moments, inspired by James Cameron’s underwater marvels, we get to see both a T-Rex and a giant sea-bound Mosasaurus attack a helicopter. Sweet. The entire first act, which is one long action chase, is actually a white-knuckle ride of pure fun. Even amidst this chaos, the vision of a lone dinosaur left behind in a maelstrom of fire and fury might just elicit a tear or two. Michael Giacchino’s score channels both John Williams, and occasionally Bernard Hermann, in its scale.
JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM is a missed opportunity. Covering much of the same ground we already saw in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. It might leave us with an incredibly cool setup for future instalments, but it just means this was ultimately a long and messy walk-up to another film entirely.
