Forget about life finding a way. While it always does in the dinosaur-focused film franchise that started with the moniker Jurassic Park and evolved to become Jurassic World, it’s the series’ masterminds that keep reviving an extinct critter and forcing it to lumber across the earth. 25 years since Steven Spielberg first took Michael Crichton’s sci-fi concept from the page to the screen, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom marks the saga’s fifth and latest instalment – and, showing little evidence that the powers-that-be have been paying attention to their own stories, the newest outing once again attempts to reanimate an old beast with shinier components.
Picking up where 2015’s Jurassic World left off, Fallen Kingdom sees its prehistoric creatures still prowling around Isla Nublar off the coast of Costa Rica. Humans have abandoned the attraction and clean-up efforts continually end in carnage, but it’s the island’s erupting volcano that might stamp out the planet’s dinosaur population. In the US, former theme park head turned dino rights activist Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard, Gold) is fighting to save the regenerated critters from the encroaching lava; however the government would rather let nature take its course. Accordingly, when wealthy philanthropist Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell, TV’s The Detour) offers to fund a secret rescue mission, Claire is thrilled enough to convince ex-raptor trainer – and her ex-boyfriend – Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, Avengers: Infinity War) to help.
There’s an air of schlockier fare about Fallen Kingdom’s first half, combining its already-heightened dinosaur island concept with a natural disaster in a manner that would do the Sharknado series proud. Of course, Jurassic World boasts more polish and poise than everyone’s favourite blend of ocean predators and wild winds, with director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible, A Monster Calls) taking to his task with visual flair and a finessed sense of tension. Still, in no small part due to the increasingly inane script by returning writers Colin Trevorrow (the director of the first Jurassic World, who’ll be back for the already-slated Jurassic World 3) and Derek Connolly (Kong: Skull Island), silliness roars as loudly as a tyrannosaurus rex. And yet, pitting humans against dinosaurs against lava seems positively smart compared to the feature’s later turn, which segues into haunted dino house mode.
Like the long-running Godzilla franchise, which the various Jurassic entries veer closer towards with every outing, contemplating the consequences of humanity’s quest for power and dominance sits at the heart of Fallen Kingdom. This time, however, the movie turns its gaze not only to engineering bigger and more brutal beasts – aka the particularly vicious new indoraptor – but to their control and the international weapons trade. It’s an area that might’ve hit harder if the film didn’t feel the need to stick to cartoonish characterisations, not only limited to Rafe Spall’s (The Ritual) duplicitous aide, Toby Jones’ (Detectorists) sneering auctioneer and the cute kid (debutant Isabella Sermon) creeping solo around the monster-filled mansion, but also to sassy paleo-veterinarian Zia (Daniella Pineda, The Detour) and nervous IT whiz Franklin (Justice Smith, Every Day). Indeed, as the various players all come together in Lockwood’s cavernous home, villainous returning geneticist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong, Gotham) seems nuanced in contrast. So too do the dinosaurs.
All growl and no bite, and all spectacle with little substance, Fallen Kingdom instead succeeds where most modern franchise instalments place too much of their focus: as a placeholder for the next movie. What fills the film’s frames is diverting at best, with its creatures earning more investment than its humans and Bayona’s aesthetics outshining the feature’s narrative, so it should come as no surprise that it’s the dinosaurs’ fate that piques interest for things to come. A genuinely intriguing setup for Jurassic World 3 now exists, but if only Fallen Kingdom wasn’t such a routine experience otherwise. Sandwiched between hitting the requisite nostalgic notes – complete with Dr Ian Malcolm’s (Jeff Goldblum, Isle of Dogs) reappearance and hints of John Williams’ iconic theme throughout Michael Giacchino’s (Incredibles 2) overplayed score – and paving the way for things to come lies something far less involving than any mash-up of dinos, volcanos and gothic houses ought to be serving up.
Rating: 2 ½ stars ★★☆
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Director: J.A. Bayona
US, 2018, 128 mins
Release date: June 21
Distributor: Universal
Rated: M
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