Film Review: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Director: J.A. Bayona

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall

Running time: 128 mins

I should preface this review by allowing that, for a film such as this, most people are always going to be grading on a curve.  There probably aren’t many viewers leaving the cinema with a new perspective on life, changed by having seen Chris Pratt get chased by dinosaurs for two-and-a-half hours.  But it’s the degree to which Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom provides amusement, thrills and to an extent, nostalgia that really matters.  The goals for films such as these are less to create great films of artistic merit, but to entertain, introduce enough new dinosaurs for a successful merchandise line and, most importantly, secure a sequel. 

Like some bloated, syphilitic Medieval King, desperate for a son to protect his lineage, modern Hollywood is all about the sequel (or prequel, origin tale and reboot).  With a franchise, the risks are far lower, as you’re dealing with an audience progressively less likely to visit the increasingly expensive cinema for anything other than a guarantee of entertainment, and the rewards are potentially much higher than with an original film – something made painfully apparent by the fact that this particular screening was preceded with trailers for The Incredibles 2, Hotel Transylvania 3, Mission Impossible 5 and Ocean’s 8.

In that respect, you would think that the makers would be pretty happy thus far.  A strong box office opening has more or less guaranteed that the third film of the scheduled trilogy will happen and, in terms of merchandise, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom features far more dinosaurs than any of the previous films of the franchise by some distance.  In fact, you could make an argument that there’s too many. 

The previous films, particularly the vastly superior original Jurassic Park, created such a sense of wonderment around the creatures that their appearance meant something.  Whether it was to instill a sense of awe, shock or fear, the use of the creatures was sparing and, as such, far more impactful.  Here we have numerous scenes where there are so many of the big bastards on screen at one time it just becomes white noise.  In that sense, to have made a film where Chris Pratt isn’t the most uninteresting thing on screen, the filmmakers should be applauded.

Whilst we’re on Pratt, experiencing the joy of seeing him get out-acted by a CGI brachiosaurus isn’t one I’ll forget in a hurry.  He’s joined in a fairly listless cast by Bryce Dallas Howard, and new characters that run the cliché gauntlet from the tough as nails independent woman, the computer geek boy, the grizzled tough bloke and the sneering British bad guy.  James Cromwell and Geraldine Chaplin add some much needed quality in the acting department, and an early cameo from Jeff Goldblum hits hard on a nostalgic level, but only serves to disappoint when he doesn’t appear again until the film’s conclusion. 

Good old Goldblum isn’t the only nostalgic talisman utilised, however, as the ghost of Richard Attenborough’s Hammond looms large over the central plot.  When Howard’s character is called for a meeting at the Estate of Hammond's former partner, Benjamin Lockwood (Cromwell), we see enormous portraits of the white-bearded anti-hero of the original film, as well the introduction of a new character from his backstory. Rafe Spall, playing Eli Mills, the young man tasked with running Hammond’s foundation, tasks Pratt and Howard with rescuing the dinosaurs from the island on which they were abandoned at the conclusion of the previous film.  A volcano threatens to wipe them out entirely, but Howard is now the leader of a dinosaur protection group, and naturally jumps at the chance to return to the island of death from which she barely escaped only months previously. 

The film trundles along at a fairly entertaining pace, as Pratt and Howard discover they have inevitably gotten themselves in too deep, the good guys live, the bad guys die, and we discover that, rather than being kept for entertainment, the use for dinosaurs in this crazy new world will be as objects of war.  It’s just about what you’d expect from the fifth in a franchise that has sincerely lost its luster, but is an entertaining enough romp (the brilliant opening scene in particular) that, despite its punishing 128 minute running time, is a vast improvement on its predecessor. 

Did you know? The film was shot in Hawaii and the United Kingdom under code name "Ancient Futures".

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is screening at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 21 June