“Millions of years of evolution…what did we learn?” Says one of the characters of Colin Trevorrow’s “Jurassic World” (2015) before a raptor breaks his speech and mauls him to death. I guess humanity learned nothing out of that million years of evolution (what a shame) in the sequel to Universal Pictures’ 2015 billion dollars hit.
This time, Spanish director Juan Antonio García Bayona (aka J.A. Bayona) who became famous for the 2007 horror film “The Orphanage”, the 2012 drama film “The Impossible”, and the 2016 fantasy drama film “A Monster Calls” will be helming the next installment of the planned trilogy.
Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, B. D. Wong, and Jeff Goldblum returns to their roles from previous films in the series, together with new cast members Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Isabella Sermon and Geraldine Chaplin.
Showing in cinemas everywhere in the world (including the U.S) starting June 22, 2018, Filipino audiences will get to enter this new chapter in the blockbuster trilogy as it screens in Philippines theaters June 6. Welcome to “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”.
It’s been three years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles.
When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission.
Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers the truth behind their rescue operation: the creatures will be auctioned away at the Lockwood estate. Disaster strikes when an incredibly dangerous and intelligent hybrid dinosaur called the Indoraptor escapes and starts a killing rampage across the estate.
This sequel to the 2015 reboot and the second film in the planned “Jurassic World” trilogy brings back favorite characters and dinosaurs—along with new breeds more awe-inspiring and terrifying than ever before.
The story is pretty much a new take on 1997’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”. In that film (the last one to be directed by Steven Spielberg in the series), while taking some cues from the 1993 movie in some of its scenes.
The film tries to play around with the nostalgia of the original “Jurassic Park” trilogy while bringing the series to a whole new direction. To its credit, the script penned by former “Jurassic World” helmer Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly knows exactly how to lead its story into the direction that they want for the franchise to go to. And with the help of director J.A. Bayona, they managed to create a thrilling new chapter to the film series.
The movie’s heart-pounding opening scene set up the overall tone of the movie. As the film reaches its second half, the suspenseful set pieces (which are getting more sparse if you ask me) are more frightening and exciting. In one of the film’s most exhilarating moments which is heavily used in film’s promos, we watch as the Indoraptor makes it’s way into a girl’s bedroom and tries to attack her.
With J.A. Bayona’s touch, “Fallen Kingdom” almost plays like a horror film, particularly a haunted house movie with the Gothic-looking Lockwood estate and the Indoraptor as the boogeyman lurking in the dark. This actually gives the film a small-scale feel as rest of the film unravels within the confines of the sinister-looking Manor.
The Gothic mansion adds a claustrophobic feel to the film- it’s as if we are trapped in a haunted house with a boogeyman lurking around, waiting in the dark, longing to eat us.
Scifi adventure flicks like this rarely focus on the emotional aspect of the film. But like 2015’s “Jurassic World”, we get to see a bit of the character’s softer sides, particularly Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) as they witness a lonely dinosaur dying by itself in the island’s destruction. That was Bryce Dallas Howard’s finest moment from the film. Chris Pratt is still Chris Pratt.
It’s just too hard not to like him with whatever character he plays, whether a Guardian of the Galaxy or a dinosaur trainer, he just fit right into the role. He also shares some great chemistry with co-star Bryce Dallas Howard. It was so fun to see Toby Jones as Gunnar Eversoll, the auctioneer host at Lockwood Estate who sells the Isla Nublar dinosaurs for profit. He easily nails these kinds of roles and his presence really adds some menace. So was B. D. Wong who reprises his role as Dr. Henry Wu, the former head geneticist of Jurassic World. Justice Smith is Franklin Webb, a former IT technician for Jurassic World who is now the Dinosaur Protection Group’s systems analyst, hacker and the film’s comic relief (though most of his humor are hit or miss).
But the one that I was really looking forward to was Jeff Goldblum who returned as Dr. Ian Malcolm (though for a very brief moment only), the chaos theory expert who once consulted for InGen’s Jurassic Park. To be honest, I think he’s the only character who’s actually thinking straight ever since the first Jurassic movie. When would people actually start listening to him?
Inevitably, it’s hard not to find some faults in the film. One of them is its impatience in finishing one sequence and jumping to another, especially during the first half. Unlike Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 reboot which takes its time in building up the crescendo of events leading to the epic park disaster in “Jurassic World”, this sequel leaves audiences to catch up with its frantic sequences.
This is also what went wrong with 2001’s “Jurassic Park III”, wherein the audience is thrown right into the action without building up any tension at all. Yes, the film has some effective set pieces, but there’s a lot of them that fails to maximize the suspense and intensity of the scenes because they finish it off before the fun could even start.
The film may have pumped up the scare factors here but it’s actually more tame than the previous film because we barely see any blood splashing when the dinosaurs attack, unlike the first four movies. It’s a bit of a shame since there’s a lot of good kills here. Plus, the Indoraptor isn’t as scary as the Indominus Rex, from the size to its appearance. They should have at least thought about that.
Of course, one of the best things about the film is its stunning display of visual effects. From the animatronic dinosaurs to the CGI ones, these prehistoric creatures come alive on the big screen. Dinosaurs have never looked this good. But I was a bit disappointed when I got to see the film in IMAX 3D during the gala premiere.
The 3D aspect of the film kind of fell flat. I’m pretty sure that the glasses were working fine because the IMAX countdown during the beginning of the screening still has that popping-out-of-the-screen effect.
Even the trailers which were in 3D looked amazing. But when the film actually started, nothing was popping out of the screen. There weren’t even any feeling of depth on the screen. Maybe it was an issue with the projection, I’m not sure. But it really affected my viewing experience of the film.
But if I’m going to rate this film on its own merits, I’d say that this is one worthy addition to the Jurassic film series. It’s a sequel that truly delivers. Although the first “Jurassic World” movie is a bit better than this, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is still pure popcorn entertainment that keeps the thrills of the series but takes audiences to a whole new level. And with that unexpected “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” like ending, I’m excited to see where this trilogy is heading to as it enters a whole new world… or should I say, an era of dinosaurs.
RATING: 4/5
