JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
Strife finds a way yet again, but how do the giant dinos hold up on the telly?
At the tail-end of Fallen Kingdom’s featurettes, there’s a telling exchange. “When you guys look back on Jurassic Park, does it look primitive to you?” asks Jeff Goldblum. Responding in the negative, co-writer/producer Colin Trevorrow says, “Unfortunately, you’re held to that standard every time. The question is, why doesn’t [a new Jurassic film] look so much better than [in] 1993?”
Ostensibly, they’re talking about the VFX; and on that front, yes, those galloping gallimimus do look a bit primitive, especially in juxtaposed clips from Spielberg’s original and this J.A. Bayona-helmed fivequel. But the remarks are pertinent to the movies per se: Jurassic ’93 remains set in amber as the standard-bearer, its sense of awe still fresh despite the ripe CGI.
Still, with Spielberg remaining in the backseat, the franchise hasn’t suffered a Jaws-like drop-off. It’s even managed to evolve, to a point. Where
the Trevorrow-directed Jurassic World re-opened the gates with an efficient imitation of Parks past, Fallen Kingdom goes more off-road.
Just when you think you’re getting Dante’s Peak with dinos, Bayona shrinks the spectacle to an old dark house. Despite suggestive use of shadows and nods to 1979’s Dracula (a Bayona fave), the fear factor peaks with the oceanic opener, which out-Megs The Meg.
The mansion section is more about runaround thrills and the familiar ritual of seemingly intelligent people making catastrophically dumb decisions (irksome if done poorly, but Bayona makes a crowd-pleasing fist of it).
Act three is also a showcase for the Indoraptor, whose lab-designed DNA appears to include a helping of skeksis. Undoubtedly b(e)ast in show, the Indo’s crocodile-eyed charisma surpasses its human co-stars. Our heroes aren’t unlikeable; they’re merely… able.
As the (bitty, breezy) extras’ Jurassic Journals attest, Chris Pratt as Chris Pratt is tons more fun than Chris Pratt as Owen Grady. Post-heelgate, we get a less calculating, more caring Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), but the series is still shy of an icon à la Ian Malcolm (brimming with anecdotes, Goldblum scores more screentime in the featurettes than the film).
The ending, meanwhile, lets loose a threequel-baiting twist that tantalises while making Fallen Kingdom feel very much a bridge to bigger, hopefully bolder things. In any case, a third World appeals because, to quote Spielberg, “The T-rex is never going to lose its bite.” That’s true of Bayona’s monster merry-go-round, but the marks don’t linger too long. Matthew Leyland