When the island’s volcano begins to erupt, our returning survivors Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) team up once again, taking an opportunity to rescue the last remaining dinosaurs. If successful, this will give the surviving dinosaurs a fresh start after they get transported to a new island. Needless to say, when dinosaurs and humans interact, things don’t always go to plan.
I have always enjoyed the Jurassic Park franchise, with the first film being one of my all-time favourites. While the previous film, Jurassic World, takes a brave change with different characters and a new concept, the film was still enjoyable and managed to maintain enough excitement and humour to keep the series alive. But as for this new sequel, there is plenty to discuss.
The relationship between the leads Owen and Claire was considerable strength in the last film. Here…it’s a significant disappointment. Owen and Claire are truly flat and dull with each other, and any slightly romantic interaction that is shown was hard to accept. I was overall surprised by how little dialogue actor Chris Pratt had throughout the entire film. Along with flat chemistry, our heroes have no real character development, which is a missed opportunity considering their talent.
The plot is weak, tasteless and loaded with plot holes, making it seem silly and hard to accept. As the film progresses, we watch people making poor (or childish) choices. The film’s plot also has many repeated moments that have been seen previously in other Jurassic Park films, struggling to “up the game” for the fifth entry to the big franchise.
The visuals are impressive, and I give full credit to the entire CGI work. I found the sound effects rather substantial as Dinosaurs roared and munched away in the surround sound. This remains one of the best parts of watching a Dinosaur film. The film’s soundtrack was questionable and shocked me. I found the film’s soundtrack out of place and off-putting. At times, the music felt like it belongs in an episode of an A-Team TV episode. Plus, the classic Jurassic Park theme song is reprised once during the film’s credits! What a waste! If you’re a Jeff Goldblum fan, you too might also be disappointed by his presence…
Overall, this is a very disappointing entry to the Jurassic Park universe, with a recycled, painful plot and characters who make zero improvements to themselves. Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom feels like more an unfortunate distraction (or time waster) for what’s possibly to come next in the franchise. Out of all the Jurassic Park films, this was the weakest for me (I know, it was a surprise to me too!). And as for the ending…. well that’s a discussion for another time.
5.5/10
26th June 2018
Written by Peter Walkden
WALKDEN ENTERTAINMENT
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