Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Review
The time has come for the age of Jurassic Park to end. When you have seen one velociraptor open a door you have seen them all do it. Where the first Jurassic Park built the tension perfectly, every film since has struggled to capture this, and especially so when it comes to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. My interest for the Jurassic Park franchise has become less and less after the release of each film, but after the latest instalment I can confirm I am at my wits end with these films.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes place not too long after the events of Jurassic World. The cast remains fairly similar with Chris Pratt reprising the role of former Jurassic World “zookeeper”, Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard as dinosaur enthusiast, Clare Dearing. With the island which once housed the former Jurassic World theme park on the brink of self-destruction, both Owen and Clare are tasked with a mission to save the dinosaurs left on this island, by some random partner of the late John Hammond (founder of Jurassic Park), who has been literally made up for this film. I have not watched Jurassic Park in a long time, but I am positive this partner, Benjamin Lockwood, played by James Cromwell, didn’t even exist until the release of this film. Sadly for Lockwood, he is betrayed by his youthful partner, who plans to get the dinosaurs back so that he can sell them on, but also use the chemistry which created these dinosaurs and make his own hybrid dinosaur with the core characteristics of a velociraptor. I am unsure how we have entered this realm of having to make up our own dinosaurs; the last film did it and I wasn’t fond of it then, but to do it again is just lazy writing. The T-Rex and Velociraptor are incredibly scary creatures and are true dinosaurs, which is what this whole franchise is (was) about.
One thing that is tied to the Jurassic Park franchise is the iconic scored composed the the legendary John Williams. The iconic theme is a core factor to these films and something that adds the enjoyment. The theme for this franchise was used really well in the previous film, Jurassic World, with this being something I would like to say for this chapter, but sadly using Williams’ masterpiece for the end titles is a major let down for me, as someone who love film scores. Michael Giacchino composed the score for both this film and the last, but where he got it right in the previous film, I feel he was off the mark with this one. As any frequent reader of ours will know, I like Giacchino a lot, but this year I have been very underwhelmed by his work, seeing this film only cement this disappointment. I hope his work on The Incredibles is up to standard, which I’m sure it will be, as this is his work to play with.
Sadly this review is not one of my longest, as I honestly don’t have anything interesting to say about this movie. It is a film genuinely made to put cash in the studios pockets. I could not wait for it to be over and I have no interest in watching this film again or any that come after it. I am not against any movie in the future featuring dinosaurs, but when it comes to the Jurassic Park franchise it should become like the stars of the films: prehistoric.
