Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - Review

J. A. Bayona is by far the best creative decision made on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The way he moves and manipulates the camera throughout the film results in some really incredible imagery throughout, even from just the simplest of T-Rex attacks. He and cinematographer Oscar Faura really make the most of the script here, and create some of the best-looking sequences in the whole series - making Jurassic World look pretty bland in comparison. Under Bayona's direction, even the visual effects look much better than in Jurassic World, begging the question as to whether a return from Colin Trevorrow in the next film is really what the series needs right now.

Because regardless of Bayona's masterful work behind the camera, the screenplay from Trevorrow and Derek Connolly is pretty mediocre. Characters are one-dimensional, while whatever interesting plot turns the film could have taken have been revealed in the trailers. Strangely enough, Universal's marketing department actually spoiled the ending of the film in their YouTube spots. The dialogue throughout is quite clunky, with very little time dedicated to really developing the characters. In fact, the whole thing feels like a first draft script in which no one had quite worked out what worked and what didn't. Side characters are introduced to serve as little more than exposition devices when necessary, while an entire scene between Rafe Spall and Toby Jones is dedicated to explaining the entire plot to the audience with such a sense of clarity that I'm amazed the scene didn't end with a wink to the camera. If Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it didn't succeed.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are charming enough leads to keep the film going for the most though, but its difficult not to feel the convoluted plot dragging on quite a bit. In fact, the film's third act feels like a much more interesting Jurassic film in itself. There's a little girl in the film whose role is labelled with "big twist" but manages to be much more interesting simply through her performance - in part because the "big twist" is quite easy to work out in advance.

Perhaps my expectations for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom were a little too high. The whole thing feels like it's just running through the motions without much character or originality, aside from Bayona's wonderful direction. Even Michael Giacchino's score feels quite repetitive from Jurassic World. It makes sense to repeat cues, but there's nothing new here for fans of Giacchino's work to lap up. I don't think Fallen Kingdom is bad by any means. I had some fun with the dinosaurs, and the plot's much more interesting than Jurassic World's, but the film lacks an emotional core to really invest in. A full, uninterrupted scene between Blue and Chris Pratt is completely absent from the film, despite the film seemingly building to some big moment between the two. Perhaps the kids watching got more out of it than I did, but I just wish someone had simplified the plot and expanded upon the characters, because regardless of how much plot you cram in to 128 minutes, it's all still going to come down to running away from dinosaurs. 5/10