JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

jurassic world: fallen kingdom (2018) movie

Genre               |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   128 minutes

Released         |   21 June 2018

cast

Chris Pratt ... Owen Grady
Bryce Dallas Howard ... Claire Dearing
Jeff Goldblum ... Ian Malcolm
BD Wong ... Dr. Henry Wu
​James Cromwell ... Benjamin Lockwood

director

J.A. Bayona

writer

Colin Trevorrow ... (written by) &
Derek Connolly ... (written by)
 
Michael Crichton ... (based on the characters created by)

cinematographer

​Oscar Faura

music

Michael Giacchino

film editor

​Bernat Vilaplana

---

box office result

Worldwide             $?

Australia                 $​​​?

North America        $​​?

---

the best dialogue

Senator Sherwood: Do these animals deserve the same protection given to other species? Or should they just be left to die?
Ian Malcolm: These creatures were here before us. And if we're not careful... they're going to be here after. Life cannot be contained. Life breaks free. Life... finds a way.

Claire Dearing: [imprisoned with Owen; watches two dinosaurs, a mother and a child] Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur? First time you see them, it's like... a miracle. You read about them in books, you see the bones in museums but you don't really... believe it. They're like myths. And then you see... the first one alive.
Owen Grady: This is not your fault.
Claire Dearing: But it is.
Owen Grady: No. This one's on me. I showed them a way...

Ian Malcolm: Welcome... to Jurassic World.

---

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) IMAGES

Images

Posters

Images

Posters

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) STORY SYNOPSIS

​With all of the wonder, adventure and thrills synonymous with one of the most popular and successful franchises in cinema history, this all-new motion-picture event sees the return of favorite characters and dinosaurs—along with new breeds more awe-inspiring and terrifying than ever before.  Welcome to JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM.  

Stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return alongside executive producers Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow for Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.  Pratt and Howard are joined by co-stars James Cromwell, Ted Levine, Justice Smith, Geraldine Chaplina and Daniella Pineda.

Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, while BD Wong and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles.

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 21 June 2018
​Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐

​Five movies into this 25 year old franchise, audiences could be forgiven for thinking “How many different Dinosaur disaster stories can the makers of the these movies come up with?” 

It’s a question that is worth pondering, but not one that those who have a passing interest in seeing JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM need to spend too much time worrying about. The success of the previous film, JURASSIC WORLD, and all the elements that worked in its favour, are on show again in the new film; modified and re-engineered much like the array of dinosaurs featured throughout the latest adventure.

Fortunately, FALLEN KINGDOM is not another island-based adventure. Colin Trevorrow, who wrote & directed the 2015 reboot of Michael Crichton’s cautionary tale about science and genetics, has, with co-writer Derek Connolly, come up with an interesting instalment for the fifth movie, taking the franchise off Isla Nublar and into “Gothic Haunted House” territory. 

Enter J.A. Bayona, the Spanish movie maker, whose career to date has embraced “Gothic” lore, winning acclaim for films such as THE ORPHANAGE (2007) and, more recently, A MONSTER CALLS (2016). 

So, what’s to recommend JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM?

Reason One - The Visuals...

For FALLEN KINGDOM, Trevorrow has relinquished the Director’s chair, allowing Bayona the opportunity to indulge the Spaniard’s penchant for stunning, atmospheric visuals.

Not since Steven Spielberg’s 1993 JURASSIC PARK has a film in the franchise done justice to the majesty of dinosaurs, once again, roaming the face of the Earth. While FALLEN KINGDOM doesn’t quite match Spielberg’s revolutionary “Wow” moments, Bayona delivers visuals that will stick in the viewer’s mind well after they’ve left the cinema. One visual, about a third of the way into the movie, is one of the most memorable to have found its way into a “Popcorn Blockbuster” in recent memory...

FALLEN KINGDOM marks a significant improvement over the 2015 film as far as visual impact and cinematic scope is concerned. It’s a credit to Bayona and his cinematographer, the talented Oscar Faura, that the film’s colour palette, lighting and shot composition are not completely overwhelmed by the computer-generated beasts that are the drawcard of the franchise. Remarkably, the film exhibits more artistic sensibility than the majority of North American Summer cinematic fare.

Reason Two - the “Haunted House”...

To the credit of Trevorrow and Connolly, they manage to successfully move FALLEN KINGDOM’s action away from its remote island location and onto the mainland. This is no easy feat.

The last JURASSIC film that tried this was Spielberg’s 1997 THE LOST WORLD…

Franchise fans have never delivered THE LOST WORLD the plaudits afforded the first landmark film and the second adventure has been derided for a nonsense story with poor character development. Those are legitimate criticisms, but the film’s biggest problem is its finale. Unleashing the T-Rex upon suburban San Diego seemed like a plot point designed to create mayhem for the sake of audience spectacle and nothing much to do with the natural progression of the themes established by either Crichton’s novel or Spielberg’s earlier film.

FALLEN KINGDOM takes the dinosaurs off the island, but in a manner that makes sense more sense for the purposes of the film’s internal logic.

The film’s first half requires a return to the ill-fated Isla Nublar, but the story only lingers there as long as it needs to set-up what amounts to one extended chase sequence that is FALLEN KINGDOM’s second half.

This huge set-piece is largely contained within the setting of a Gothic mansion, but the sprawling nature of the setting allows for some genuine tension as Chris Pratt’s Owen and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire are reunited in an effort to save the remaining dinosaurs, which have been taken from Isla Nublar before its fiery demise via a newly active volcano.

The use of a volcano in FALLEN KINGDOM is a tad irksome, as fans of the franchise will question why the JURASSIC WORLD park was constructed on an island that had the potential to explode into molten lava the whole time… As Wade Wilson might say, “That’s just lazy writing”...

Reason Three - @prattprattpratt

A movie whose main drawcard is CGI dinosaurs will never be considered an “Award bait” undertaking, but the human character’s should never be ignored. Far too often, as is the case with many Marvel and DC Superhero movies, the human focus of the story disappears by the beginning of Act Three, as the need to save the “City”, the Earth or the Universe becomes a whirlwind of computer-generated blurs. 

With the exception of Jeff Goldblum’s inherent kookiness, along with Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight and Bob Peck in Spielberg’s 1993 movie, the human performers have struggled to make an impact in the first three JURASSIC outings.

One of the reasons why JURASSIC WORLD did such big Box Office business in 2015 was the post-GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY appeal of Chris Pratt. Had he not been present, Trevorrow’s film would have been lacking charisma.

2018 is a different story…

Pratt is a known quantity and his Marvel Star Lord persona is no longer “fresh”. Audiences know what to expect. There’s a lot of “Chris Pratt” in the characters that Chris Pratt plays.

His JURASSIC character - Owen - is no different.

Where Pratt wins with Owen is his ability to deliver the physical demands the role places upon him.

Owen is genuinely heroic. His motivation is driven by the love of what he has achieved with his Velociraptor training, especially with “Blue”. He also feels the need to protect the humans in his charge from the physical danger the dinosaurs represent, as most of the people in FALLEN KINGDOM seem unaware, unacquainted and unprepared for the danger the creatures represent. Pratt, through Owen, literally throws himself into the role to save every living being around him.

Unfortunately,  film’s co-stars aren’t quite in the same league…

Bryce Dallas Howard returns as Claire. In the new film,  the former JURASSIC WORLD employee has turned her back on corporate life and is dedicated to trying to save Isla Nublar’s remaining dinosaurs from the aforementioned volcano. 

Howard is an interesting actress. She appears very capable in all of her roles, but never really seems like she makes a lasting impression. FALLEN KINGDOM is no different. 

Claire is second only to Pratt’s Owen in terms of screen time, but her character feels so less important or needed by comparison to Owen. Pratt’s character even manages to supplant Claire’s relationship with the film’s only child actor, young Isabella Sermon, who plays Maisie Lockwood.

Justice Smith also fails to make an impression as Franklin Webb, a technology specialist who accompanies Owen and Claire back to the abandoned “Jurassic World” park to help track the remaining dinosaurs. Smith’s character seems to be in a perpetual “tizz” and feels like he’s been modelled on Richard Ayoade’s “Maurice Moss” from Graham Linehan’s classic British comedy THE IT CROWD!

Rafe Spall plays Eli Mills; possibly the worst “White Collar” villain to grace a movie screen. It’s hard to tell if the problem is Spall’s acting or he realised some way through the film’s shoot that he had been lumbered with an unbelievably stupid role. Spall is a very experienced performer, but the material that Trevorrow and Connolly provide him is not up to par. The longer things go on, the more his performance seems to drag on the film.

Where does the JURASSIC franchise go from here?

The opportunity for mayhem has been expanded greatly as a result of FALLEN KINGDOM. The challenge is to keep finding ways to make the dinosaurs interesting. There’s only so many times audiences are prepared to accept the T-Rex roaring its way to supremacy as it, once again, beats all other dino-challengers as the predominant dinosaur species. FALLEN KINGDOM doesn’t fall entirely into that trap, but there’s certainly a sense that Messrs Trevorrow and Connolly may have written the franchise into a corner at the conclusion of this new film. The story ends on a note of self-indulgent entitlement that sees the “individual” prioritise their wants over all other considerations.

An obvious storyline exists for another instalment with Chris Pratt, but it’s hard to see anyone else from FALLEN KINGDOM being required for future adventures.

Behind the camera, J.A. Bayona would be entitled to another turn as Director. His visual sensibilities are well matched to the JURASSIC franchise.

Perhaps a leftfield writer would be something to help inject the franchise with an entirely different story dynamic. FALLEN KINGDOM strives for change, but the film’s first half is very reliant upon the previously established JURASSIC franchise tropes to frame its two hour plus story. The park may be gone, but the writers have not forgotten how reliant the franchise has upon it to this point.

However, for the franchise to evolve, the brainstrust behind the JURASSIC films (including Steven Spielberg) need to think long and hard about how to make the existence of dinosaurs work in a contemporary setting that isn’t set in or on an isolated environment, affecting a small group of people with no relevance to the outside world.

As a wise man once said, “Life finds a way…” 

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018) USEFUL LINKS

​Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - IMDb
​Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Wikipedia
​Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - Rotten Tomatoes​

digital updates delivered

facebook

instagram