"The Dinosaurs Still
Have Some Bite Left in them."
By Jonas Schwartz
Director
J.A. Bayona has infused fresh blood into the Jurassic Park saga. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom won't
be on anyone's top ten list this year, but compared to the last film, in which
Steven Spielberg appeared to be spoofing the franchise with stale dialogue and
countless sequences of Bryce Dallas Howard beating Jesse Owen's Olympic record
running in high heels, the latest contains believable performances,
heart-racing sequences, and some exquisite shots.
Three
years have passed since the events in the Spielberg reboot. The dinosaurs roam
free on the isolated amusement park but are now facing a catastrophic event. A
volcano threatens to wipe out the species for the second time. Claire Dearing
(Howard) has become an advocate for protecting the animals and fights Congress
to remove the creatures, both herbivores and deadly carnivores, to a protected
shelter. Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell, Babe), who originally partnered
with Richard Attenborough's character John Hammond on the dinosaur's creation,
has decided to fund the removal and salvation of his creatures. His protégé,
Eli Mills (Rafe Spall, Shaun Of The Dead), hires Dearing
and raptor-whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to return to the island on a
rescue mission. Because they're lead by a mercenary (Ted Levine, acting more
callous and inhuman than as Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs),
Dearing and Grady quickly realize that the mission has a nefarious goal.
Writers
Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, who created the charming sci-fi comedy Safety
Not Guaranteed, have written a cookie cutter sequel with heroes
brimming with gold and villains dripping with drool. The bad guys are so
repugnant, the audience can't wait for them to be dino-chow. They even TWICE
rely on the Jurassic cliché of one deadly beast attacking another to save our
protagonists.
Bayona
raises the level with tightly shot horror sequences and memorable visual
images. Known for both compelling horror (The Orphanage), fairy tales (A
Monster Calls) and disaster dramas (The Impossible), Bayona brings suspense and a necessary tragedy to
the monsters who are too large for this world. His shots of the island reveal
cervices that tie the home to the inhabitants. There's a gorgeously poignant
shot of a brontosaurus engulfed in a cloud of volcanic ash, and one where a
glass wall separates a little girl from a vicious monster. We see her head and
a reflection of the dinosaur's teeth encompassing her face.
Pratt
and Howard appear to be having a blast in their roles. As imitation Indiana
Jones and Lara Croft, they never wink at the audience, infusing pathos to their
interactions with the creatures. As the villains Spall, Levine and Toby Jones
eat enough scenery that the Nexium bottles must have been flowing on the crafts
table. In a small role, esteemed actress Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie's daughter)
brings elegance to the proceedings. Young newcomer Isabella Sermon is never
cloying in the youth-in-danger role so audiences genuinely want her to remain
safe. And the film opens and ends with the prosaic warnings from Jeff Goldblum
as Ian Malcolm, grinning with an “I told you so” smirk.
Bayona
ambitiously goes for broke with the ending, launching a full apocalypse now,
which takes a
C-level film and raises it a whole grade. It's ballsy for a
popcorn film, and succeeds. The juxtapositions of ancient and modern world are
hair raising and leave audiences desperate for Jurassic World 3.
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