If you know me then you know I love this franchise. Despite what others think of Jurassic Park's sequels, I love each one and have a blast each time I watch them. Jurassic World was one of the best theater experiences I've had and the original is my all time favourite movie, so this new entry was easily one of my most anticipated films in recent memory. I've read and heard pretty mixed things on this film, which had me honestly quite nervous going in, but I'm happy to say that I loved it.
This film takes place a few years after the events of Jurassic World, as the conflicted issue of how to deal with the dinosaurs left on the island grows as a now active volcano threatens them with a second extinction. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing are back to aid in the evacuation of the animals, but are not prepared for what follows.
Owen and Claire are once again played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard respectively. Pratt is good as usual, and despite me not loving her the first time around, I found Howard really elevated her performance in this one. The performances are solid, I just would have liked a bit more development of their characters, as there is so much going on not much development happens. Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda play two young volunteers with the Dinosaur Protection Group that work with Claire. Smith is alright but his character can be quite annoying, however Pineda gives a badass but cool and collected performance in her role as a paleoveterinarian. Rafe Spall plays Eli Mills, whom helps an old friend of John Hammond's that helped him create the science behind de-extinction. Spall gives what I thought to be a really good performance, with a character that took a pretty interesting ark. The young granddaughter of Hammond's friend, Maisie, is played by Isabella Sermon, making her film debut. I honestly found her to be a highlight of the film at times. Compared to other Jurassic Park kids she isn't overly annoying, and brings some really great emotion and fear to her role. Her character is given a weird twist I wasn't huge on but I thought Sermon did great. Now onto the god amongst men himself, Jeff Goldblum. As expected, pretty much all his screen time is in the trailer. While that was expected, I was saddened by it, because no movie can have too much Goldblum. As I said in my Hotel Artemis review, this isn't a critique on the movie but cinema as a whole, WE NEED MORE GOLDBLUM.
Now onto the technical elements of the film. This is a weak script. The dialogue at times is rough, some storylines aren't built up to properly, and some things are rushed quite a bit. So when people critique the script I can mostly agree. However I think the work done by everyone else more than elevated the quality of the script. I've only seen one of JA Bayona's other films, A Monster Calls, and that was enough to have me very excited by his involvement with the film. I think he did a great job here. The tone of the film changes midway through the film and that change is handled really smoothly, and the pacing is consistent throughout. Some moments of this almost feel like a horror film and are built with very strong tension. The film is beautiful. While the cinematography is mostly standard with the exception of some really cool shots, the effects are done magnificently, and the colour scheme of the film works really well. Take the beautiful brightness of the first film and give it a slightly darker look and I'd say that's how this film looks and I loved it. The central dinosaur of the film, the IndoRaptor, is menacing and honestly terrifying, taking the general look of the Indominus Rex but making it smaller and more agile, and a dark black colour. I absolutely adored the film's score. Through this and the first Jurassic World Michael Giacchino beautifully composes music that takes beats from its predecessors, while also acting as its own and fitting the world the rest of the creative team has created. I also want to commend this film for making me cry a bit. There are many scenes with dinosaurs going through some tough shit and it's honestly hard to watch. One other thing I really liked about this film is that it was quite different and breathed fresh air into the franchise. This isn't the remake of The Lost World a lot of people thought it might be. It takes the franchise into new territory and I really loved it.
This film may have many issues that I just can't recognize for some reason, but I'm okay with that. I think die-hard Jurassic Park fans such as myself with have a blast, and even if you have issues with it, there's dinosaurs which make up for it all. This may not be a fantastic film but I really loved it and I can't wait to see another one of these films in a few years.
Rating:3.8/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
This film takes place a few years after the events of Jurassic World, as the conflicted issue of how to deal with the dinosaurs left on the island grows as a now active volcano threatens them with a second extinction. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing are back to aid in the evacuation of the animals, but are not prepared for what follows.
Owen and Claire are once again played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard respectively. Pratt is good as usual, and despite me not loving her the first time around, I found Howard really elevated her performance in this one. The performances are solid, I just would have liked a bit more development of their characters, as there is so much going on not much development happens. Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda play two young volunteers with the Dinosaur Protection Group that work with Claire. Smith is alright but his character can be quite annoying, however Pineda gives a badass but cool and collected performance in her role as a paleoveterinarian. Rafe Spall plays Eli Mills, whom helps an old friend of John Hammond's that helped him create the science behind de-extinction. Spall gives what I thought to be a really good performance, with a character that took a pretty interesting ark. The young granddaughter of Hammond's friend, Maisie, is played by Isabella Sermon, making her film debut. I honestly found her to be a highlight of the film at times. Compared to other Jurassic Park kids she isn't overly annoying, and brings some really great emotion and fear to her role. Her character is given a weird twist I wasn't huge on but I thought Sermon did great. Now onto the god amongst men himself, Jeff Goldblum. As expected, pretty much all his screen time is in the trailer. While that was expected, I was saddened by it, because no movie can have too much Goldblum. As I said in my Hotel Artemis review, this isn't a critique on the movie but cinema as a whole, WE NEED MORE GOLDBLUM.
Now onto the technical elements of the film. This is a weak script. The dialogue at times is rough, some storylines aren't built up to properly, and some things are rushed quite a bit. So when people critique the script I can mostly agree. However I think the work done by everyone else more than elevated the quality of the script. I've only seen one of JA Bayona's other films, A Monster Calls, and that was enough to have me very excited by his involvement with the film. I think he did a great job here. The tone of the film changes midway through the film and that change is handled really smoothly, and the pacing is consistent throughout. Some moments of this almost feel like a horror film and are built with very strong tension. The film is beautiful. While the cinematography is mostly standard with the exception of some really cool shots, the effects are done magnificently, and the colour scheme of the film works really well. Take the beautiful brightness of the first film and give it a slightly darker look and I'd say that's how this film looks and I loved it. The central dinosaur of the film, the IndoRaptor, is menacing and honestly terrifying, taking the general look of the Indominus Rex but making it smaller and more agile, and a dark black colour. I absolutely adored the film's score. Through this and the first Jurassic World Michael Giacchino beautifully composes music that takes beats from its predecessors, while also acting as its own and fitting the world the rest of the creative team has created. I also want to commend this film for making me cry a bit. There are many scenes with dinosaurs going through some tough shit and it's honestly hard to watch. One other thing I really liked about this film is that it was quite different and breathed fresh air into the franchise. This isn't the remake of The Lost World a lot of people thought it might be. It takes the franchise into new territory and I really loved it.
This film may have many issues that I just can't recognize for some reason, but I'm okay with that. I think die-hard Jurassic Park fans such as myself with have a blast, and even if you have issues with it, there's dinosaurs which make up for it all. This may not be a fantastic film but I really loved it and I can't wait to see another one of these films in a few years.
Rating:3.8/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
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