USA TODAY International Edition
‘Jurassic World’: The terror doesn’t end here
Questions will arise with ‘Fallen Kingdom’
Spoiler alert: The following story deals with the ending of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” Stop reading now if you have not seen it.
There goes the neighborhood. Actually, there goes the whole globe.
By the end of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” dinosaurs have busted out of the confines of Isla Nublar and moved onto the world stage. And a backyard near you.
Velociraptor Blue is shown checking out a seemingly idyllic suburban neighborhood. A T. rex squares off against a zoo lion and the water-dwelling mosasaur is catching a wave to snack on surfers.
“It’s a nice way of telling the audience the world has changed,” says director J.A. Bayona. “It’s not just an island anymore. It’s the whole world, as the situation with dinosaurs is spreading. The world is a very different place at the end of ‘Jurassic World.’ ”
“I have to plant the ideas for the third movie,” he adds.
“Fallen World” screenwriter Colin Trevorrow will pick up these themes as he returns to direct the third “Jurassic World” trilogy film due June 11, 2021.
As dinosaurs begin their (new) reign, future historians will note that the “Fallen Kingdom” outbreak stems from a fateful decision — moving the killer creatures off their volcano-endangered island into containment facilities on the sprawling Northern California estate of Jurassic Park co-creator Benjamin Lockwood.
Scheming Eli Mills’ (Rafe Spall) planned dinosaur auction to arms dealers is disrupted by Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard).
Owen leaves Claire with the choice — push the button to open the doors and free the animals to create global chaos, or see them perish. The dinosaur advocate refuses to push the button. It’s a decision Howard stands by.
“If there’s any moral in these movies, it’s when you’re making these choices in the moment, it’s the best choices you can make given your humanity,” Howard says. “And that’s a very human choice.”
But Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) presses the release button, unleashing the dinosaurs.
“The ultimate choice is made by a young person with innocence,” Howard says. “Adult priorities get very complicated. Whereas a younger character, Maisie, sees it with clarity: The dinosaurs are alive, just like us.”
The earlier revelation that Maisie is a human product of the same cloning technique used to create the dinosaurs plays into her decision, says Erik Davis, managing editor of Fandango.com.
“Maisie’s a clone like the dinosaurs,” he says. “She feels a bond and wants to protect them.”
Meanwhile, dinosaur DNA samples are hurriedly removed from the chaos, and the already-purchased dinosaurs head to far-flung locations like Russia. So it’s truly a Jurassic World. The final “Fallen Kingdom” postcredit scene gives a look at what’s ahead, featuring the foreboding image of two winged Pteranodons settling on the Eiffel Tower replica in Las Vegas. Screams and commotion rise up from the famed strip.
It’s all-you-can-eat buffet time, but the tourists look to be on the menu in the next “Jurassic World.”
“It certainly sets up thoughts of what it would look like to see dinosaurs stampeding through Vegas,” Davis says. “We’ll have to see in the next film.”
“If there’s any moral in these movies, it’s when you’re making these choices in the moment, it’s the best choices you can make given your humanity.”
Bryce Dallas Howard