Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) Universal/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure RT: 128 minutes Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi violence and peril) Director: J.A. Bayona Screenplay: Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly Music: Michael Giacchino Cinematography: Oscar Faura Release date: June 22, 2018 (US) Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Isabella Sermon, Geraldine Chaplin, B.D. Wong, Jeff Goldblum. Box Office: $417.7M (US)/$1.3B (World)
Rating: ***
Before I left my house to see Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom this morning, I got to thinking about the summer movies of my youth- e.g. the original Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman II, E.T., Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Back to the Future and many others. They’re all great. Also, they have a special quality that today’s summer movies lack. When you left the theater after seeing Star Wars or Raiders, it felt like you saw something totally awesome. You felt 100% satisfied. Sadly, that’s not the case with today’s summer movies. Too many of them turn out to be hollow viewing experiences. More often than not, they leave me with an empty feeling whether or not they’re any good. As much as I liked Solo: A Star Wars Story, it’s nowhere near as awesome as Return of the Jedi.
The same can be said of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It’s nowhere near as awesome an experience as Jurassic Park which roared into theaters in summer 1993. Back then, CGI effects were still pretty new. It was the first time realistic-looking dinosaurs stomped across the big screen. Now it’s old hat. I wasn’t too excited for 2015’s Jurassic World. I felt the same for the sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I just couldn’t muster up a lot of enthusiasm. At the same time, teenage Movie Guy 24/7 hoped it would be cool. I admire my teenage self’s idealism. In this case, it was well-founded. I actually enjoyed it. It’s not great but it is good.
After the events of the last movie, Jurassic World is no more. Dinosaurs inhabit the island while the occasional human shows up to snatch up DNA-type stuff. The island is about to be destroyed by a volcano; there’s some concern about the living prehistoric creatures still roaming around. Should they be saved? Some people don’t think so. Jeff Goldblum, reprising his role as chaos theory expert Dr. Ian Malcolm, says that nature is correcting the unnatural course life took when John Hammond recreated dinosaurs and should be left to die. Others like Claire Dearing (Howard, the Twilight movies), JW’s former ops manager, thinks they should be saved. She now runs a non-profit organization for that very cause. It appears as though she’ll get her chance to do something about it after she’s invited to join a mission to move the creatures to a new island sanctuary.
The man behind the mission is Benjamin Lockwood (Cromwell, Babe), Hammond’s former partner and friend. His aide Eli Mills (Spall, Prometheus) briefs Claire on the mission and asks her to enlist the help of trainer Owen Grady (Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy) with whom she had a bad break-up. They’re joined by Zia (Pineda, The Detour), a paleoveterinarian, and nerdy tech guy Franklin (Smith, Paper Towns). They’re met on Isla Nublar by a group of mercenaries headed by Wheatley (Levine, The Silence of the Lambs), supposedly there to help and protect them. Since when have you known mercenaries to be good guys? Since when has Levine ever played a good guy? Of course, there’s a double cross. After barely escaping the island before it’s covered in lava, they all head back to the States on a ship with several of the creatures stashed on board.
This is when Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom shifts gears and becomes something of a thriller set in a big isolated mansion. Eli plans to do something bad with the creatures. Come on, you had to have figured out he was a bad guy. His evil plan is threatened by Lockwood’s dinosaur-loving granddaughter Maisie (newcomer Sermon) who overhears things she shouldn’t and finds something she shouldn’t. She’s a bright but mysterious little girl.
I’ll get right to the point. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a decent summer movie. It delivers the goods. It has the expected thrills with the chases, fights, stalking, hiding, jump-scares and dinosaur attacks. The effects, a combination of CGI and animatronics, are actually quite good. It’s structured nicely. The opening pre-title sequence has a couple of guys in an underwater pod looking for a specific bone. They end up being swallowed by a gigantic creature with lots of teeth. Shades of Jaws, perhaps? The first half consists of the characters running from (or with depending on which type) dinosaurs on an island about to be destroyed by an erupting volcano. I’ve already described the second half. The final 30 minutes ROCKS! Once the dinosaurs get loose in the mansion, it’s chaos.
Directed by J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom moves along at a nice clip. I’m especially happy they didn’t spend too much time on the island, one of the biggest problems with the second Jurassic Park movie (The Lost World). Bayona keeps the thrills and suspense at a respectable level. Pratt is quite good as Owen. I couldn’t help but notice how much he reminds me of a young Harrison Ford. He delivers his lines with the same kind of deadpan sarcasm. I can actually see him taking over the role of Indiana Jones someday. He’d be really good. Howard, on the other hand, is still somewhat stiff. She loosens up a bit trading in her high heels for more sensible combat boots but still doesn’t seem quite at ease in a big action blockbuster. Pineda is a riot as the tough-talking, no-BS vet expected to care (at gunpoint) for Blue (Owen’s favorite Velociraptor) after he’s shot by one of the mercenaries. There are big plans for that one. Smith also contributes comic relief as the worrisome tech guy who sees danger everywhere. Spall makes a sufficiently hateful villain. Sermon makes a great debut as Maisie.
There’s fun to be had with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as long as you don’t dissect it too much or analyze it too deeply. Unlike its 1993 predecessor, there’s no underlying message about humans playing God. I mean, the question of whether or not we should be creating new life because we can is always there. It’s only touched upon briefly here with Goldblum’s two scenes before a Senate committee. No, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is all about thrills and in that respect, it delivers. Although hollow, it is an entertaining flick.
By the way, be sure to stick around through the end credits for a bonus scene.
