Sequels to bad movies usually tend to be…well…worse. Jurassic World reintroduced an old idea with updated CGI to new audiences. A bigger, better theme park than then original complete with a bigger and badder version of the T-Rex: Indominus Rex. For all the shiny new updates, the acting wasn’t very good and the plot was predictable and stale. However, it did make $650-millon, so here we are again three years later with the inevitable sequel. Fallen Kingdom certainly doesn’t shy away from spectacle while doubling down on the predictable thrills and underwhelming performances of its predecessor.
Following the events of the first film, the sequel picks up three years down the line as a volcano on Isla Nublar becomes active and threatens to wipe out every dinosaur left on the island. Bryce Dallas Howard reprised her role as Claire Dearing, only this time, rather than a shrewd company shill without much in the way of a moral compass, she’s turned dinosaur rights activist trying to secure federal funds to relocate the creatures. Meanwhile, Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady has retired to a simple life building a lakeside house. Until…of course…he’s lured back into the picture by Dearing and her listless guilt trip. Throw in an eccentric billionaire who was old friends with John Hammond, his dino-obsessed granddaughter, a smarmy businessman and a pair of volunteers who had absolutely no business going to that island…and…we’re off to save the dinosaurs.
There is a really large part of me, that just wants to say this movie was incredibly stupid, predictable, ultimately pointless and just end the review right there. But, I don’t like to be disparaging…when I can avoid it. A lot of hard work goes into large scale projects, especially big budget summer blockbusters such as this, so let’s start with the good. Fallen Kingdom is easily the cleanest and best looking version of a dinosaur laden world we have seen so far. Andy Nicholson has served as production designer on several large scale projects now (Gravity, Divergent), but this has got to be the crown jewel. His visual concepts matched the ominous tone of the film, making for a much darker experience this time around. Cinematographer Oscar Faura took full advantage. Many of the shots utilized the darkness as subterfuge, although the inherent fear in those situations never resulted in any catastrophic problems for the main cast (big surprise). Faura has a very good eye for shot making and he used that to punch up the scenes that didn’t even have dinosaurs. When the giant reptiles were on screen, his vision made for some beautiful and and painful moments using grand wide shots to manipulate foreground and background focus.
J.A. Bayona certainly wasn’t the problem, his previous films (The Orphanage, A Monster Calls, The Impossible) all had a certain level of quality to them. It’s very clear he understands how to build tension, display emotion and tell a story. Somehow, all those strong points were absent here. The one thing he could have done was pace the movie better and work with his editor Bernat Vilaplana to get it under two hours, there were plenty of scenes where the fat could have been trimmed. When a good director with a big budget can’t seem to put it all together, that usually points to two things: studio oversight and a poor script. Even a seasoned composer like Michael Giacchino couldn’t pin down where this movie was emotionally and the final showdown has a bizarre Phantom of the Opera vibe to it that felt completely out of tune. Whatever the problems behind the camera, the ones in front of it were on full display.
Pratt had better chemistry with his raptor, Blue, than he did with Howard, especially considering this is there second time around the block with their characters. It certainly didn’t help that the script from Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow didn’t dig any deeper into those characters or their motivations. The audience is just supposed to care, but there is no foundation there to care about. No effort went into it. The dialogue between them doesn’t do anything to build their relationship so *SPOILER ALERT* the kiss they do finally share isn’t even rewarding, more the inevitable outcome of predictable plot points. It’s just lazy writing all the way around. If they are going to force people to stomach this for a third time, Universal could at least get a better script for the next one.
There were some bright spots from the younger cast. Justice Smith played the tech-savvy volunteer, Franklin, who joined Owen and Claire on their island escapade. He brought some comic relief but not everything had to be a joke and even though he shouldn’t be on that island, which he repeats throughout the movie, he was still one of the only enjoyable elements. Hopefully he parlays the role into something better. Joining him was Danielle Pineda who played paleo-veterinarian “yeah, that’s a thing” Zia Rodriguez, who also served as comic relief. She was on the mission because she’s a dino-vet, but had never seen a dinosaur with her own eyes before…go figure. I wouldn’t want my life in the hands of a doctor who had never seen a human being before, but hey…we’re supposed to just go with it. Pineda was still pretty good despite that and I can’t help but think the movie could have been significantly better had she and Smith been the leads.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60177907/2482_D007_97A7812_R_CROP_01_0.0.jpg?w=688&ssl=1)
After the success of the original Jurassic Park, even living legend Steven Spielberg couldn’t produce a worthy follow-up in Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 (not Spielberg) was even worse. No matter of star power or production budget was able to recapture the magic of the initial film and each subsequent entry felt further off. Quality doesn’t seem to be of Universal’s concern as long as the franchise continues make fistfuls of cash. It released in the first week of June internationally and has already raked in $561-million from foreign markets. However, after a strong opening weekend domestically ($150-million), word of mouth isn’t going to do Fallen Kingdom any favors.
This was easily the worst film I’ve seen this year…easily. It might just be one of the worst films I’ve seen in theaters, period. There were no grand expectations on my part, so there’s no level of crushing disappointment contributing to my opinion like there was with The Last Jedi. I expected this movie to be bad, so in that sense I wasn’t disappointed. But, I was still surprised at just how low quality of a product Universal was willing to bring to market. I mean…come on…the super dinosaur literally looks at the camera and smiles before killing someone that the audience definitely wants to see die. In a world where this movie was straight to video, the awfulness of it all would be right at home. Jason Statham is about to battle a giant megalodon in The Meg later this year and that might just be really fun because it isn’t taking itself seriously. The problem is Fallen Kingdom wants to be taken seriously, but can’t seem to get out of its own way. Hopefully they try harder next time out, but I won’t be wasting my time either way.
Recommendation: Odds are, those who wanted to see this movie already have. But for those of you who haven’t, don’t waste your time or money. For those of you with kids…okay, this is a perfectly suitable summer blockbuster where you can kill a few hours. But honestly, you’d be better off going to see Incredibles 2 a second or third time. I would hesitate to watch this movie again, even if I was getting paid to do so. Wait for it to become available to you for free…and even then…wait until you have a couple hours with absolutely nothing better to do.