Since I re-watched Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom I’ve been thinking. Dangerous I know, but it has led to me heavily editing this review. Usually I’d tag the new thoughts on the end, but this time they’ve changed pretty drastically.
With considered expectations in place my bar was set at ‘be entertained by Dinosaurs and Chris Pratt’, I enjoyed the film at the cinema. I admitted at the time that “this review has been kicking my backside for two weeks”. I’ve pondered the pluses and minuses of the film, and still firmly believe it’s a “fun summer blockbuster, but I’m not blind to its issues.”
I struggle with the additional backstory and clumsy twist, though blowing up the island has sat better with time and knowing that the franchise needed to change things up. Then there’s the cinematography. Spielberg always showed us the dinos from the human point of view. The Rex attack was over Grant and Malcolm’s shoulders, or from Lex and Tim’s viewpoint. We looked up at these creatures, and we felt the same awe and fear that the characters felt. Bayona goes wide and low rather than high, which may give us a great scale comparison, but loses the intimacy.
Originally in the series, the dinos were just that. They were creatures that interacted with the humans in ways true to their nature. Whether that made them bad guys like the Raptors, or heroes like Rexy, didn’t matter. With the new films, there’s a struggle between them being creatures and being characters. Rexy is a fan favourite, her scarred appearance and ninja abilities singling her out among the other dinosaurs as one with a particular character. Seeing her again in Jurassic World was amazing, but the more I see of her, and now Blue, I wonder if making them fully fledged additions to the cast makes them better or worse? If we know them do they lose their wonder?
On the plus side, there are noticeably more animatronics this time around, and that is always the best way to go. I finally got to see a few favourites of mine on the big screen too, such as Allosaurus!
The stunning opening sequence needs mentioning. It’s foreboding, tense, and definitely takes the stance of ‘creature’, which I found really exciting. Here we see a certain menace about the dinosaurs, and the lighting in particular was extremely well used.
The main requirement of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was that it be entertaining, and it is. But I have so many questions, and not much of the film really sticks in my mind. I’ve not even mentioned the Indoraptor. The film is exciting and I can see it’s trying to do something different, but that doesn’t keep it safe from criticism.
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