Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) by William F — 22 Jul 2018

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom maybe become the Forgotten Kingdom.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was very much like the popcorn I had during the film. It was filling for a bit, easy to eat, and tasted good. Also like popcorn I was hungry in a hour, felt like all other popcorn movies I've had before, and I forgot about it the next day.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom starts off a few years after the events of the first Jurassic World movie. The island that is home to the dinosaurs is about to have a volcano erupt and wipe them all out. The two protagonist are called upon by one of the founding members of the original park to help save the dinosaurs by bringing them off the island and trying to move them to a sanctuary island. After a betrayal of people thought allies, our protagonists must save the dinosaurs from being sold on an animal black market.

The plot of the movie is very basic and predictable. The weight of danger was never built up, just quickly shown and moved on from. Everything else has been seen before in the other Jurassic Park/World movies and done with more excitement and surprise. There was only one twist that caught me off guard; which was an interesting idea that expands the reach of what genetics can do in this movie, but was not fully explored or talked on. It felt like a hook to another film. An equivalent twist that was done better can be found in the original film. When Doctor Graham (The main male character of Jurassic park) discovered the eggs of dinosaurs and deduced that they were able to breed. You could see his thoughts of wonder and fear that life had figured out a way around our safeguards. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the twist is abruptly introduced and the main characters did not have much time to fully realize the weight of this discovery.

The main characters were fine in the movie. Chris Pratt's, Owen Grady was still the nice mix of snarky, serious and bad-ass from the first Jurassic World. Bryce Dallas Howard's, Clare Dearling kept her character growth from the first movie and continued to develop in this one as well. The supporting cast was well acted, but the characters could have used some more development. They had a few good moments in the film, but often were just in the background. The villains were the biggest disappointment for me. They felt very one-note and cliche. To make a parallel to Jurassic Park again; Dennis Nedry, the computer technician, did sell out his employers for money, like the villain did in this film, however you could tell that Dennis was feeling underpaid and underappreciated at his job in the park. All that was asked from him from the parks rivals was to get embryos of the dinosaurs. He is the one who wanted to sabotage the park in such a way that only he could be the one to fix it, showing John Hammond that his skills were very necessary in the park. The villain of this film is quickly introduced and put off to the side rather quickly. He is motivated by simple greed and nothing more. He tries to say that the protagonist are just as bad as he is, however this argument seemed weak to me. They were trying to make right what their actions did in the past. He is continuing to do those actions for selfish reasons.

The effects and cinematography were fantastic. When they wanted to setup a particular mood, like suspense, horror, or sadness they were more than able to deliver. The lighting, angles of the camera, music, and actors direction was able to express a lot in a very short amount of time. The dinosaurs felt like real animals and their reactions seemed very believable. The dinosaurs were very intimidating, whether they were a direct threat or not.

This was a perfectly average film. It hit all the notes it was meaning to hit, told its story and was entertaining. It just felt like it could have been more when comparing to its predecessors. This movie runs the risk of being lost and forgotten amid much better films in its franchise.