The idea of “Spoiled Cinema” is that movies, whether classic or horrible, never die. Each Spoiled Cinema entry will have updated entries on the top and the bottom half of the post. Today’s entry is a spoiler-filled look at Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Is this movie even worth your gosh darn time?
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Jurassic Word: Fallen Kingdom was worth the movie ticket and its meaty 128 minute run time. I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 review based on its sheer cheesiness and loosey goosey approach to its narrative.
So why the 3.5 rating? The action and pacing was solid enough – and I never felt bored during the entire flick. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are a great screen couple (although their banter seemed a bit more forced this time around), and Jurassic Park newbies Daniella Pineda (dino expert Zia Rodriguez), Justice Smith (tech geek Franklin Webb), and newcomer Isabella Sermon (Maisie, aka the lated kid in “Jurassic” danger) were all welcome additions to the universe.
Its lapses in logic are forgivable due to its fantastical nature, but as you will see in the spoiler section below, there is a couple of reasons why this, in my opinion, isn’t a four star flick.
****This is the Spoilers Section So, If You Haven’t Seen The Flick, Proceed W/ Caution*****
1. The Movie Buries The Freaking Lead!!!
I know the dinosaurs are the main attraction in any Jurassic Park/World installment, but the most interesting aspect of Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom centered on Maisie Lockwood’s (Isabella Sermon) realization that she’s a freaking clone!!
This “shock me” moment was actually undercut because she never had that big moment with her grandfather (Dinosaur mogul Benjamin Lockwood, played by James Cromwell). Benjamin’s pillow suffocation under the hands of money grubbing baddie Eli (Rafe Spall) may have been necessary on a plot level, but some kind of tense family standoff between the dying man and his granddaughter would have been great.
Maisie also has one of the film’s most evocative moment, as she witnesses a video of Owen (Chris Pratt) bonding with a younger Blue. This is obviously why she forms a deeper bond with Owen over Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), and while it’s understandable this aspect gets shoved under the rug, this dynamic would be interesting to explore (if Isabella isn’t written out) in the next Jurassic World flick.
Maisie Lockwood’s personal arc was obviously a secondary arc behind the bigger picture, but considering the clone reveal was such a WTF moment (plus, she pushes the Red Button to released the dying dinosaurs!!), it would behoove the filmmakers to keep her on the next film.
2. The Villains And Jeff Goldblum Were Wasted
Rafe Spall and Toby Jones, both wonderful actors, were wasted with one-dimensional parts in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Ted Levine as double crossing dinosaur wrangler Ken Wheatley, was much more fun to watch (though he was given very little).
I guess one could argue that the biggest “villain” was the genetically modified “Indoraptor” that was created by Dr. Wu (BD Wong), but since most of the second half the movie was set in the mansion, we didn’t get to see the Indoraptor fight to his fullest. The Indoraptor’s battle with Blue atop the Mansion’s glass roof, with Owen, Claire and Maisie in tow just couldn’t top Jurassic World’s climactic battle (having a T-Rex and Blue team-up agains the big baddie in Jurassic World was one for the books imo).
Having Jeff Goldblum return to the franchise was a brilliant stroke, but to have Ian Malcolm essentially serve as the dude who warns us s**t is going South was way too predictable. Goldblum could have been better utilized in his cameo.
3. Chris Pratt And Bryce Dallas Howard Are Wonderful – But The Script Sags
The reunion between Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) doesn’t match the spark or laughter elicited from Jurassic World. Their scene at a bar, when they have different versions of how their split came to pass, could have been a total charmer. Instead, the writing just didn’t do them justice, and that sequence just fell flat. Claire and Owen’s friction filled union was better served in Jurassic World, and with Fallen Kingdom there is absolutely no intriguing character development.
****These are just a couple of my complaints regarding Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, but overall I liked it (but didn’t love it). It’s a B-movie flick that was given an A-level budget, and some of the supporting characters (Zia Rodriguez’s unstoppable sarcasm and Franklin Webb’s neurotic tendencies were welcome) actually brought value to the story.
***Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was a fun enough watch even with all of its flaws (I didn’t get to the Las Vegas end credits scene – but in short I thought that was fine but unspectacular. Other members of the CinemAddicts Facebook Group (Spoiled Cinema, btw, is an extension of that group – feel free to join us) had other opinions. Check out Bruce Purkey’s Top 10 dumb things of Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom below (also check out Polygon’s spoiler post on the flick – it’s a good read)!!
What did you think of Jurassic Park: The Fallen Kingdom?? I’d love to hear your comments on the film, and feel free to spoil away!!
