In a Nutshell

Owen and Claire are back to save the dinosaurs from extinction but meanwhile, back in the lab scientists are cooking up another hybrid dinosaur hybrid, when will they ever learn?

[imdb]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/[/imdb]

Review

I’m really surprised to find myself saying this, but I kinda liked Fallen Kingdom, I didn’t love it and I have a lot of problems with it, but it’s still a serviceable blockbuster, nothing more, nothing less! I’m not expecting to see my name on the film’s poster anytime soon (It’s Fine’- Jim McClean BanterFlix), but maybe I just went in with so much diminished expectations after my lacklustre response to Collin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World that I just couldn’t bring myself to hate it.

Or maybe I’ve just accepted that the franchise hasn’t just jumped the shark with this instalment; but more so ridden the aforementioned shark (genetically modified of course) down the side of an erupting volcano, whooping and screaming like Major Kong in Doctor Strangelove.

Make no bones about it, Fallen Kingdom is a great big silly blockbuster, it’s the type of film you’d expect to find yourself watching late night on the Syfy channel after having a few beers: albeit one with a bigger budget, better special effects and Chris Pratt.

So I was left with two options, either sit there in my cinema seat and actively hate the film or just go with it. I chose the latter, well sort of….

LIfe Uh… Find’s a Way

Set three years after the events of Jurassic World, the film deals with the prehistoric inhabitants of Isla Nublar now facing certain destruction from the imminent eruption of a volcano on the island. Humanity is forced to ask itself whether they should idly stand by and let these man-made creations die, or intervene and save these endangered animals from certain extinction (again).

It’s an interesting premise, one that at least serves up a believable reason for getting our two leads back to Isla Nublar, with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard’s characters returning to the island as part of a privately funded rescue mission. But it’s not too long before the film switches its focus from saving dinosaurs to genetic manipulation, as once again we see scientists cooking up yet another hybrid creation (when will they ever learn?).

But then, if you’ve seen the film’s trailers, you’ll know this already!

Let’s Start With the Positives

I’ll start with the positives, visually the film looks great: the action sequences are well put together, including a fantastically choreographed underwater sequence near the film’s halfway point and there’s a great scene where Owen and Claire attempt to get blood from a sedated T-Rex (spoiled by the trailers). J.A. Bayona at least brings some slickness to the film that for me was absent with Trevorrow’s ‘what would Spielberg do’ approach in  Jurassic World.

There are plenty of call-backs to the original film for all the fanboys to enjoy, some are better than others and just like in Jurassic World these ‘knowing nods ‘ work best when they’re nice and subtle. Like the overturned car Tim was in during the T-Rex attack in the first filmmaking an appearance, rather than the lazy ‘remember this reference’ moments like Jeff Goldblum’s Doctor Ian Malcolm popping up for a cameo just to pretty much say his character’s ‘Life finds a way’ quote ( I still love you though Jeff).

The performances from both the film’s leads are fine, thankfully there’s much better chemistry between Pratt and Howard this time around: Pratt continues to get as close to being Indiana Jones as he’ll ever get to be onscreen within this franchise and thankfully Howard, now thankfully wearing much more sensible shoes this time (because apparently that was a thing last time around) is given more to do throughout the film, particularly during the film’s many action sequences.

Scientists, When Will They Learn?

Whilst the action sequences are great and the performances are fine, the film’s central problem is the narrative that links them all together. It’s just so terribly clunky and formulaic, the writing is lazy and formulaic and just like the genetically modified dinosaurs the franchise itself has become so obsessed with, it feels like a hybrid of different ideas spliced together in a desperate attempt to form something coherent: sadly the result is a movie that feels like you’re watching two films smushed into one.

I’ve absolutely no problem with Chris Pratt’s character having a Velociraptor for a friend if the Rock can have a giant guerrilla for a friend in Rampage, why can’t Blue be his chum in this movie. I do however have a problem with the writers continued obsession with the ‘genetically modified dinosaurs’ shtick.

I just found it so boring, the gimmick kinda worked for the last film where we saw a theme park creating a terrifying new attraction to boost its visitor numbers, but this time around we’ve got a genetically modified raptor being created for military purposes…….Nah not for me, I’m out!

A Changing Cinematic Landscape

I get that the cinematic landscape has changed so much since Spielberg’s original was released back in 1993. Back then Jurassic Park was cutting edge, a film that broke new ground in special effects and raised the bar for summer blockbusters (I promise I’ll take those rose-tinted glasses off one day), but 25 years later (god I feel old) putting dinosaurs on the big screen just simply doesn’t have the same ‘wow’ factor it once did.

Back then Spielberg was competing against Willy the whale in Free Willy and Harrison Ford’s pursuit of a one-armed-man in The Fugitive for cinemagoers attention, now Fallen Kingdom has to compete against a glut of special effect laden blockbusters at the box-office. So it’s not surprising that the writers have tried to recreate some of the original’s ‘wowabiliy’ (trust me It’s a word) with this genetically modified dinosaur gimmick to get bums on seats.

I’ve no problem with a franchise trying to retool itself; The Fast & Furious series managed to do it, Ridley Scott has tried to do it with the Alien Franchise, shifting the focus away from Xenomorphs and face-huggers to an Android with a god like complex. So there’s no reason why the Jurassic Park series can’t evolve into something else, you could even argue these hybrid creations are merely an extension of the core ideas at the heart of Michael Crichton’s original novel: scientists playing God with genetics without really comprehending the consequences for their actions.

I get that, but I still find it boring!

A Serious Final Act Problem

Much like The Lost World, this film really loses its way in its final act, The San Diego set finale in Spielberg’s 1997 sequel, with its heavy nods to King Kong, felt anti-climactic even when I was 15 years old and the same can be said here about Fallen Kingdom’s finale. It works best when it’s on the island, but slowly falls apart when we’re back on the mainland.  The dark and gloomy, gothic horror aesthetics just felt so off kilter with the bright and shiny blockbuster visuals of the film’s first half.

At least Bayona manages to make the Indoraptor slightly scary, something the Indominus Rex from the previous film never was. He treats this hybrid creation like Frankenstein’s monster, keeping it locked away in a darkened cage for most of the film before finally letting it loose in its final act to stalk the darkened corridors of the Lockwood estate and munch on the film’s pantomime villains. Honestly, I love you Toby Jones, but panto season isn’t until mid-November.

With its heavy nods to the finale of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Fallen Kingdom at least sets out a clear path for where this trilogy’s final act will go from here. There’s a sense we might actually be done with the whole hybrid dinosaur thing for now and the next film might be something much more straightforward (well hopefully anyway).

Verdict

I expected to hate this, I mean really hate this, but it’s just okay! A serviceable blockbuster, that suffers from an overly revealing marketing campaign and a screenplay that needed to be so much better!