JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM: Impressive Setpieces Can’t Overcome Lackluster Script

The second in this new Jurassic World trilogy, and the fifth in the Jurassic Park series overall, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, not surprisingly, suffers from franchise fatigue. Like many years-later sequels, it attempts to capture the spirit of what made the first film so wondrously memorable, yet it barely offers anything new in that direction.

That’s not to say that J.A. Bayona‘s film is a complete disaster; it mostly works as far as pure entertainment, with some impressively nail-biting sequences throughout. In addition, it sets up a potential expansive future for the franchise. Yet, as a whole, it’s hard not to think that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is just a rinse-repeat of nearly every other film in this now 25-year-old franchise.

The End of the Park

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes place three years after the first Jurassic World. Isla Nublar has been abandoned since the Indominus Rex disaster of that film, and the idea of a dinosaur adventure park has similarly been left in the dust. Now, though, the question is what to do with the dinosaurs still remaining on the island, especially since a newly active volcano is about to erupt, with the potential to put these rejuvenated creatures back into extinction.

Well, not if Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) has anything to do with it. With the backing of former partners John Hammond and Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), and with the help of a newly recruited Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and some newcomers, including IT technician Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) and Dr. Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda), they travel back to the island in the hopes of capturing the dinosaurs and relocating them to a secluded, safe location. Cue betrayal, volcano eruption, and, of course, the inevitable dinosaur escape and characters running for their lives.

Fallen Kingdom has all the pieces of a typical Jurassic Park movie, though it is perhaps closer to the franchise’s sequels instead of the spellbinding Spielberg original. First, the sequence of the dinosaurs being captured on Isla Nublar is straight out of The Lost World, with several familiar images showing the tragic outcome that results when you force these wild creatures into cages. And later on, the existence of an organization with nefarious purposes and the use of genetic altering is all-too familiar when you look at the basis of the first Jurassic World.

None of this would be a particular mistake if the film took these pieces and then formed something new with them. There are threads of potential that are hinted at throughout Fallen Kingdom, including with a family secret of Cromwell‘s Lockwood, yet it isn’t expanded upon nearly enough. The framework of a film with larger significance exists somewhere here, but it is soon clear that the script is far more interested in unwieldy action sequences than in providing any food for thought.

The characters, including Howard‘s Clair and Pratt‘s Owen from the first film, are a bit more vivacious and well-rounded this time around, but the story surrounding them still doesn’t give them much to work with, taking them from one big setpiece to the next with little time to take a breath.

Aimless, Albeit Impressive Action

J.A. Bayona is no stranger to larger-than-life action, seen in his past film The Impossible, which recreated the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami with unprecedented accuracy. Here, the action is much more based in science fiction, though it is no less impressive. By far the most gripping sequence of the film is at Isla Nublar, when the dinosaurs and humans are running for their lives from an erupting volcano. The thunderous noise, fiery visuals, and ecstatic Michael Giacchino score combine to make for a breathtaking sequence.

From here, the film progresses to more typical dinosaur mayhem, including the attack of a compound by a new dinosaur creation, and the actions of Owen, Claire, and granddaughter of Lockwood, Maisie (Isabella Sermon), to stop it. It’s predictable and long-winded, and at times a bit too dramatic as well, such as in one sequence where the dinosaur is illuminated and the score becomes more reminiscent of Mozart’s Requiem. It’s all a bit too much for a movie about dinosaurs eating people.

There are individual segments of this final sequence of Fallen Kingdom that work quite well, though, such as a slow-building attack on Maisie’s bedroom that may terrifyingly remind you of Bayona‘s past efforts in horror (The Orphanage, in particular, or the first appearance of the monster from A Monster Calls). But as a whole, nothing here comes close to the intensity or thrills of the original film.

The Future

Once Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has ended, with the idea presented that will clearly lead to a very different type of sequel, it’s hard to reconcile the fact that this appeared to have been the point all along. Like many franchises, this film exists solely for the purpose of setting up yet another movie, with a lot of filler in-between. It’s all about how to get from point A to point B but without much concern for the journey getting there.

Conclusion: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The ideas of Fallen Kingdom are nothing new, the characters either little-changed or underused, and the action fun but fleeting. Essentially, the idea of dinosaurs attacking people has maybe run its course at this point, and while I’m interested to see where it goes from here, this middle section is superfluous to the story at large. For now, I’ll go back to revisiting Spielberg‘s original, knowing that, no matter how much hope I put in the future, it’s likely that nothing will ever equal it.

What are your thoughts on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom? Has the franchise pretty much run its course at this point? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was released in the UK on June 6, 2018 and the US on June 22, 2018. For all international release dates, see here.