Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: J.A.Bayona, Universal Pictures, M, 128 Minutes.
Following the excitement generated from the action-oriented recasting of ‘Jurassic World’ it was always expected that some of the spectacular scenes seen in the origin version would reappear in the sequel but somehow it has fallen short of the mark.
However, one cannot deny that ‘Jurassic World-Fallen Kingdom’ is a fast-paced action adventure from new director J A Bayona (‘The Impossible’) that is written and produced by Colin Trevorrow (original director of ‘Jurassic World’) in collaboration with Steven Spielberg.
With the catastrophic closure of the Jurassic World theme park three years ago, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) return to Isla Nublar to save the remaining dinosaurs after the US Senate refused to have them rescued.
Claire’s involvement follows a request from Hammond’s former partner, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell –‘Marshall’) to head-up a rescue mission to the island with Owen’s help to remove the roaming prehistoric predators to a safe sanctuary before an active volcano erupts.
Unbeknown to either of them are the hidden motives of Lockwood’s devious assistant Eli Mills (Rafe Spall-‘The BFG’), determined on having the captured dinosaurs – including those species genetically engineered by Dr Wu (B.D.Wong) using their DNA – sold to the highest bidder.
No sooner has auctioneer Mr Eversol (Toby Jones –‘Morgan’) got the bidding underway than all hell breaks loose following the volcanic eruption, causing enormous havoc and resulting in both Claire and Owen barely escaping with some of the prehistoric creatures.
Bayona has certainly painted a much darker picture in his dinosaur-encountering sequel showing some disturbing scenes of slaughter being inflicted on humans as well as instances of animal cruelty that could upset younger children.
This could be one of the reasons for Trevorrow returning to direct the third instalment of the ‘Jurassic World’ franchise after his success with the original in 2015.
Despite Bayona’s somewhat harrowing direction, most audiences will still enjoy the settings, special effects and surreal storyline, not to mention the computer-generated dinosaurs that easily complement the likeable performances of both Howard and Pratt.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars×
