Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniela Pineda, James Cromwell, Jeff Goldblum, B.D. Wong, Ted Levine
Not sure you’d necessarily class this as family friendly but I loved the original Jurassic Park as a kid so what the hell?
Set three years after the incident that brought Jurassic World to its knees, the once-dormant volcano on Isla Nublar threatens to wipe out the island’s population of dinosaurs.
With the world’s governments refusing to intervene, former Jurassic Word operations director, Claire Dearing (Howard) has taken it upon herself to campaign to save these creatures and, with the backing of John Hammond’s former partner, Benjamin Lockwood (Cromwell), she enlists Owen Grady (Pratt) on a rescue mission.
I really like the direction that the franchise is headed in.
Ever since the very first film, where Dennis Nedry attempts to steal fertilised dinosaur embryos, fans have been asking the question of what would happen if these creatures and this technology made it into the wrong hands.
Thankfully, we’re starting to see the answer to that question, something the first two Jurassic Park sequels failed to address.
I mightily enjoyed Goldblum’s cameo - it was, in my opinion, one of the most compelling performances of the whole film, vocalising the concerns of a reality where dinosaurs are unleashed on the world and Hammond’s genetic technology becomes the latest weapon proliferated by the human race.
Fallen Kingdom is more of a transitional film, the setup before we see the impact of the wider ramifications of Hammond’s technology on the world.
And in that sense it works - sort of.
I don’t actually think that this film needed to be made - I think they could have, potentially, jumped straight into the ‘what if’ scenario of widespread use of genetic technology, and dinosaurs being used for insidious means (it had been three years since Jurassic World went under and you expect me to believe that it hadn’t been targeted by all manner of illegal operations?).
I guess that I just expected more from the Jurassic World sequel - to me, the first one felt so ‘big’ and atmospheric - dinosauric. And I suppose I thought they’d try and go bigger.
Fallen Kingdom transitions quickly from the island setting, focusing on Lockwood’s home, and, for me, it makes the whole film feel really confined.
As far as performances are concerned, Pratt’s got a few decent licks in but overall I think it took itself a little more seriously than the first, which worked against it.
It was alright but not the sequel I was hoping for.
It’s a stepping stone film between Jurassic World and the upcoming third film that I don’t think was entirely necessary.
Entertaining but falls short of anything more - does the job making money and laying up for what, I hope, proves to be a sensational Jurassic World 3.
A 3 rating from Break the Film.
