Written by Ashley Bevan
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
Well here it is folks – the final (???) Jurassic World/Park film. It’s been a long time coming for this final chapter of the series, which has spanned nearly 30 years. (No kidding, in 1993 the original was released!) The six films in total (I pray to God we don’t go down the Fast and Furious route of 10 or more) have enchanted us all for years, bringing Dinosaurs to life in a breathtaking and also terrifying way. The scene of the Velociraptors in the kitchen has haunted me for decades. While in recent times, the Raptors haven’t been a problem. Times have changed. The villains have changed. Let’s dive in here and see if that’s a good thing or not.
The Characters
Jumping on the bandwagon, Jurassic World brought back the original cast in one last hoorah for the series. As a fan of the films, this was nice to see. Anyone who loves films loves when original cast members or cross-overs happen. (cough Spiderman cough) It’s becoming ever so popular within the industry now that it might be overdoing it. I believe in a year or so this will bring more of an eye-roll than any form of excitement with fans sitting wishing the film was left as it was years prior (Matrix, I’m looking dead into your soul here.) For Jurassic World, this brought the excitement back to me for sure. Seeing Sam Neil, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern back on the screen was obviously nostalgic but the times have clearly changed. I’m not sure who is to blame here, the writers or the actors but it was slightly painful at times with some of the dialogue and the way they were given.
Ellie (Laura Dern) was way too chipper and excited for my liking considering going through the trauma of the very first Jurassic Park and refusing to take any part in the action in the third Jurassic Park, so this came off a little strange to me. Sam Neil in my opinion was near perfect and reprised his role well. Jeff Goldblum I feel doesn’t act anymore, it’s just Jeff Goldblum.
I was surprised they didn’t bring back Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards) back at all, they could have possibly been the pilot instead of DeWanda Wises’ character. Nothing against Wise, she was great in her role but to me a slightly pointless throw-away character with no ties to anyone or anything, just my thoughts.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard still brought their characters to life but with each film they were slightly more… irksome. I can’t put my finger on it but maybe it’s the arrogance that their characters portray? I’m not sure, but something makes me very unsettled.
The villain of the story played by Campbell Scott was a very strange one. I’m not quite sure what approach they were going for with this one, but compared to the previous “bad guys” we’ve had this was left short and I did not feel like the villain was at all troublesome or someone to be afraid of. The twist with his second-hand man, Mamoudou Athie, was easily foreseen. The character was played well but way too obvious. With awkward body language and dialogue, it was easy to see where the film was headed. This needed to have a scarier character who then shocked you unlike what we had here.
The real star of the film and easily the best actor was young Isabella Sermon. Reprising her role as Maise Lockwood she gave a really great performance. A few bits of dialogue again (damn these scriptwriters) not coming across the way it was probably intended but she was the only character I thought was actually afraid of the dinosaurs, which is what the whole point of the film is meant to be about, but I’ll touch on that later.
A quick mention to Dichen Lachman. Well played and scary character. Gone and forgotten as quick as she was on screen. Slightly pointless character in the end which was a shame but I digress.
The Story
Before heading into this film I had my own idea of how this film should have played out and that was to be basically Planet of The Apes. The Dinosaurs are running amok through the world and causing absolute carnage and bloody chaos. Not saying they started to talk or anything but they were slowly regaining their place as the rulers of planet earth. In my mind, a better story.
Unfortunately, my dark and scary tale wasn’t to be and we were pulled into a more pleasant world where humans and Dinosaurs co-existed, somehow? Far be it from me to know how the ecological system would handle such a transformation but a peaceful transition and “oh well” attitude is not what I picture. We are given a brief insight into the world today since the events of Fallen Kingdom and the world seems to be coping. Black Markets of dino-sales rule the underworld but that was going to be evident given the previous film but I could not shake the feeling the world was happy and carefree in their newfound situation. Life just went on. This annoyed me straight from the off. The obvious bad guys were instantly recognisable with their best take on a certain big brand with the fruit logo, you know the one. We get flashes of what the story will entail with news reports of the missing Maisie Lockwood, Velociraptor (Blue) and a Locust problem…? Excuse me, I thought this was a Dinosaur film? A few giant locusts swarms later and we have re-introduced our old beloved characters, Yay!… Who have a problem that the food is going to be going extinct as a repercussion of these locusts – Boo! This is where I instantly knew this wasn’t going to be the movie I so desperately wanted it to be.
The story progresses along two story lines with Chris Pratt playing happy families with Maisie Lockwood, Claire and Blue. Maisie is the grumpy teenager who is breaking free of her prison. (We’ve all been through Covid lockdowns we know how that feels) Blue has had a baby and is also playing happy families. Knowing that there are people looking for Maisie and Blue it is easy to see where the story was headed. Sure enough Maisie and the baby raptor are scooped up by thugs and off they are shipped to the company Biosyn. Owen (Pratt) promises Blue to get the baby back. That ladies and gents is the last time we see our beloved Velociraptor until the end. They have clearly gone on a long awaited holiday because we all know that raising a child is difficult. This really irked me as Velociraptor have been the main characters through all of Jurassic Park films, and now? Nothing. Nada. Goodbye.
Down the other story line Ellie has recruited her old pal Alan Grant to investigate the giant locusts. They quickly discover a tie with the big bad corporation, Biosyn. (Obvious multi-verse meet up happening later, who would have thought?) Arriving, they discover their other long lost pal Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is on the inside with evidence that BioSyn are in fact evil and must be stopped. Who knew?!
The movie continues in a relatively fun action filled way but more like a James Bond film, rather than Jurassic Park. Well the car chase did feature some genetically engineered Raptors but that scene was quick and over sharpish. I couldn’t shake the feeling of a typical action film though and not a dinosaur film.
The cast eventually meet up, find out the truth about Maisie Lockwood and that Biosyn were in fact trying to take over the worlds food market using these locusts. We get brief glimpses of some other dinosaurs through a few minor chases but for me it just felt like it had lost all magic and horror. The real enemy wasn’t the dinosaurs at all during this film and that didn’t sit right with me. Jurassic Park has always been edge of your seat scary and intense and this one just didn’t cut it. Even if you take a look at the previous title that had you afraid of the Dinosaur. This was all about a companies attempt at manipulation on the world, featuring a few dinos. Hell it even copy and pasted the script from the first Jurassic World where the T-Rex and other dinosaur teamed up to take down a bigger dinosaur. This was more of an eye roll than “woah!!” Moment which wasn’t surprising at this segment of the film. The whole main cast survive (minus the Villain of course) who went out in an original film related death. Annnnnnnnd Yawn.
Final Opinions and thoughts
This movie was a huge let down for someone like me who has grown up being afraid of the Jurassic Park films. As an adult you obviously know that the dinosaurs are not real but you want to be immersed into the story that makes you believe they could be and you can still be very much afraid of them. During the film i think i counted about 3, maybe 4 human casualties? Which is wild in itself. I’m not sure if the franchise has become too family friendly to incorporate too many deaths but this was something that really frustrated me as it made the dinosaurs less fearsome. As a stand-alone action film this could have been a fun film to enjoy but i believe it was all very lax and lazy writing. The dialogue could have done with a little bit of polishing and less cringe but that seems to be a big problem with any of these sell-out multiverse films. In my honest opinion I would rate the movie a 6/10 purely on some of the action scenes. As a Jurassic Park film, this doesn’t deserve more than a 3/10. It pains me to admit it but that’s where I leave my review. Hopefully the franchise is left in peace to remain an exhibit like the creatures they are based on.
Vanlife - Welsh Wanderers 