"Jurassic World Rebirth: Enter At Your Own Risk"
Jurassic Park installations aren’t very innovative. Usually someone wants power, wealth and thinks they can achieve that by manipulating gigantic pre-historic creatures. There’s someone who has worked closely with the species or studied them heavily who gets pulled in to an adventure or nefarious task. There’s always the cool rebel who has street smarts and perhaps a military background. Probably most importantly, there’s some kid in the mix. Jurassic World Rebirth is the same formula, different mission, but still has elements of spectacle.
Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that it takes place in a world where people don’t care about dinosaurs anymore. They’re no longer flocked after by the masses in zoos or theme parks. In fact, they’re dying in climates outside of the equator. Rather than stay in a community where extinction is happening, Zora Bennet (Scarlett Johansson) is propositioned to go to a dangerous island where dinos are thriving to retrieve blood from some of the oldest dinosaurs to try to eradicate heart disease. The gun for hire is desperate for one last job that will allow her to retire, having spent most of her life on special ops, she’s the best person to lead the team being pulled together by pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend). From there, they pull in Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and some more rag tag mercenaries to round out the group.
Simultaneously, a family is crossing the Atlantic in the middle of nowhere. In yet another place that writers Michael Chrichton and David Koepp miss the boat (hehe), this family dynamic is explained just enough for us to fill in the blanks on their current relationship but is barely developed over the course of the film. Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) has his daughters, Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) on this once in a lifetime trip. Teresa’s boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono), is a lazy stoner who seemingly may have made the voyage under a condition for Teresa to go. Xavier is another character who is underwritten but may be one of the most captivating of the group.
With that we have our characters for the film. Director Gareth Edwards does well when he seemingly pays homage to the Spielberg style of filmmaking. He uses camera angles that show the scale of the dinosaurs versus humans. He pushes in for close-ups to give characters a pivotal line or to show the intensity of a moment. Cinematographer John Mathieson helps in these moments with the golden glow of light that captures a character in the frame. This is all counterbalanced by the visually alarming CGI that’s used. It felt more like the special effects from The Lost World (1925). A perfect example is a scene with a T-Rex waking up to come after the Delgados. The initial camera work and suspense of the scene will have you hold your breath, but you can breathe out once the dino gets moving alongside the family. It looks like they’re superimposed in the frame.
This film brings into question the length of movies made today. Rebirth could have started at sea (about 25 minutes in) and still worked. Why do we have to assemble a team for twenty minutes? What if we meet the team in progress and learn about them during the mission? There is a two to three minute expositional dialogue between Bennet and Kincaid on the ship that is a drag. However, maybe it wouldn’t have been so boring if that was the background info we received on the characters instead of the drawn out set up prior.
Jurassic World Rebirth is predictable and carries a nostalgic familiarity. There are glimpses of brilliance followed by segments of mundanity. It doesn’t know the film style it wants to rely on and is certainly two films in one that come together in the end. It’s entertaining for the moment and forgotten once you hit the lobby of the theater. I couldn’t justify the price for my family to see it in theaters, but nothing beats seeing a dinosaur on the big screen. Enter at your own risk.
Rating: D+
