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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

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The Jurassic Park franchise has long been plagued by a special irony: a concept rich with potential for bigger, grander sequels often gives way instead to underwhelming follow-ups. Unfortunately, after Jurassic World successfully capitalized on the idea of showing a fully-functional park and the subsequent chaos that ensues, Fallen Kingdom falls in line with the preceding sequels of the original trilogy as a disappointing follow-up. After the grand size and scope of the previous film, this one feels small by comparison. It also feels like the product of several underdeveloped concepts melded together: a straightforward island encounter in the vein of The Lost World; a haunted house film with dinosaurs – and plagued with dumb plot developments and a twist that feels like it deserves far more attention than the brief lip service the narrative provides; and a fantastical story involving a mysterious child (which, not surprisingly, is the territory where A Monster Calls director J.A. Bayona seems most comfortable). The character development is lacking and none of the returning actors get as much material to work with as they had before, and the new character vary from the interesting but significantly underdeveloped Lockwood family to Rafe Spall’s embarrassingly over-the-top villain and a computer specialist who belongs in the Jar Jar Binks Hall of Shame of grating supporting characters. The action sequences are competently designed and occasionally exciting, but none feel particularly awe-inspiring (there’s also some comically bad lava CGI). It’s not quite the weakest entry in the franchise – at the very least, it doesn’t feel as lazy as Jurassic Park III – but it lacks the focus, energy, and heart necessary to emerge as solid entertainment.

 

C

 

Stray Thoughts - and I've got a lot of 'em, so into the tag they go: 

Spoiler

- I loved Bryce Dallas Howard's hair this time around - the bob in the last film may have fit her character, but it still looked kinda awkward. I also enjoyed the ever-so-brief callback to the much-derided decision to have her wear heels throughout most of the previous film.

 

- Franklin became marginally more tolerable when I imagined what the film would be like if he had been replaced with Franklin (and by extension, GOB) from Arrested Development.

 

- Seriously, I groaned and said "Oh, come on" when Mills revealed that Maisie was a clone of her mother. I know this is a movie about genetically-engineered dinosaurs and all, but I feel like the fact that they cloned a fucking human! merits more attention than the vague hints that set it up, the quick revelation, and the dumb line that kinda-sorta connects Maisie to the dinosaurs when she frees them at the end.

 

- I feel like there's a way more interesting movie to be made out of simply focusing on the Lockwood family and approaching it as a piece of magical realism with dinosaurs acting as the fantastical beings.

 

- Not gonna lie: the first few times I heard the surname "Lockwood," all I could think of was Mr. T saying "I'm watching you, FLINT-LOCK-WOOOOD!" in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

 

- Jeff Goldblum's cameo needed more "um"s and "uh"s, but it's still nice to see Dr. Malcolm back in the fold.

 

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This movie is kinda terrible (and a big drop-off from Jurassic World, which was hardly a masterpiece to begin with) but I can't deny that it provided me immense entertainment value in a "ridiculous dumb movie" sort of way. I think the biggest sin it commits is that it hardly even feels like a Jurassic movie at all; I was reminded of one of those junky Syfy-esque movies that has a brand name slapped onto it in hopes of making money. But it delivers the dino goods well enough, even though that's not enough to make up for the storyline being so dumb (the twist about the granddaughter is telegraphed early on but makes little sense when it's actually revealed) and the characters making idiotic choices even by this franchise's standards. Also, Franklin is the most annoying movie character in years and I was disappointed that he didn't get eaten. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are fine, if on autopilot this time around. C+

Edited by filmlover
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Just got home from this and I will say while it was fun and entertaining enough, and it helped I saw it for free, there was such much idiocy once it left the island.  I went with it because, well I just did  lol, but yeah, so much eh to meh from that point on.  I liked some parts but yeah, it's a movie I don't need to rush out to see again.

 

I still give it probably like a B probably for just nostaglia and other factors but overall, I can see people not liking it for many reasons

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Had a fun time with this movie, and the Brachiosaurus scene was stunning. The Indo Raptor was phenomenally designed, but there are some really stupid moments...but can I say...Franklin was the most annoying character in a blockbuster film since fucking ever. What should have happened was have him get eaten by the IndoRaptor. A fucking piece of shit character.

 

Pratt and Bryce have great chemistry...wish they would have explored it more, though. 

 

B

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So, I saw this Saturday......gave a few days to process it all in....

 

 

All the bullshit, to be exact.

 

My god.......I mean seriously. Where has this franchise gone? After the first Jurassic Park movie this series has fallen into shit repeatedly over and over. Studios have ruined this franchise for me, it's getting to the point where it's now Transformers level of stupid. This is coming from someone that wasn't a fan of the first Jurassic World and felt it was more of a Mercedes commercial than a movie, but was hoping with a new director that they could somewhat right the ship and get back to being at least, a decent flick. 

 

Nope.

 

The start up to the movie was probably the best part of the film, with Goldblum's character once again for what seems like the billionth time that these dinosaurs should go extinct (I mean for real, how many times do people need to see a park go down in order to get this message? How many deaths do we need?) I mean if I were Goldblum I'd just throw my hands up in the air and just say "Whatever fuck it", cause no one ever seems to listen to this guy. What makes matters worse are our protagonists, Claire and Owen, and that they WANT to save the dino because.......because they're alive......and don't want kids to live in a world with no dinosaurs cause it would be to cruel.....

 

Um.....well, then I guess myself and billions of others have had "cruel" upbringings because there were no dino's in my lifetime.

 

I mean.....what? That logic makes zero sense. We're not talking about saving a litter of puppies or kittens. We're talking about a species that at a time was above all else, they were the top of the food chain. It clearly goes against logic and nature for the two to ever co exist, dino to man. Claire's logic is just such a huge plot failure that it was hard for me to watch the film. 

 

That was until the film decided to make a plot twist......and have these so called 'villains' have a dino auction in this estate for military benefits and.......oh what the fuck is this shit? I can't even type this shit out because it's so fucking dumb. I mean.......what? Why? Just why, could someone please tell me why anyone in their goddamn minds would ever think this would be even a good plot for a 5 year old's movie? I just don't get it. And seriously, I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who caught this, Christ Stuckman on Youtube echoed my same exact thoughts during the auctioning scene. The total price they got for the whatever amount of dinos, 9-11 I believe, was somewhere around 125M total.......

 

125M.....

 

I literally looked at my boyfriend and was like:

 

This movie legit cost 170M to make.......

 

He just laughs....because I mean, what else was there to say?

 

So let me get this straight: It costs more money to make a movie ABOUT dinosaurs........but buying ACTUAL REAL dinosaurs, and oh no, not just one but 9-11 REAL dinosaurs doesn't even make the amount of money that it costs to simply make a MOVIE about dinosaurs......What in the actual fuck......I mean for real, 125M wouldn't even have been enough for even just 1 of the doctor's annual salary that MADE the fucking dinosaurs. 

 

This shit just.......I just can't.

 

I could go on and on about this movie, but there's really no point. The only redeeming quality this movie has is that the effects on the dinosaurs was good......that's about it (because that effect on the lava was pure shit). That's really the only reason why I'm not giving this movie an F, I'll give it a D- (if there's such a thing).....but man I really do want to give this movie an F.....

 

D- rating, 4.5/10 

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This movie is just really...inert and boring.

 

I don’t ask for much with human characters in creatures/monsters movies; but they should be at least serviceable. All the human characters in FK ranged from annoying to nonsensical.

 

Script was mediocre, and actions were subpar. Only highlight was some good tension building in the mansion, but then it also fizzled out pretty quickly.

 

Not much worse or better than its predecessor JW, but that one at least had an novelty hook of an operating park. This one is just empty and void of excitement.

 

C- I guess

 

(JP3 remains the best JP sequel and seems like that won’t change anytime soon)

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8 hours ago, Sam said:

This movie is just really...inert and boring.

 

I don’t ask for much with human characters in creatures/monsters movies; but they should be at least serviceable. All the human characters in FK ranged from annoying to nonsensical.

 

Script was mediocre, and actions were subpar. Only highlight was some good tension building in the mansion, but then it also fizzled out pretty quickly.

 

Not much worse or better than its predecessor JW, but that one at least had an novelty hook of an operating park. This one is just empty and void of excitement.

 

C- I guess

 

(JP3 remains the best JP sequel and seems like that won’t change anytime soon)

See, I as well liked JP3, not sure why it gets so much hate from other. Lost world was a piece of shit.

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The worst blockbuster since Independence Day: Resurgence (maybe just stay home Jeff?).

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom makes Jurassic Park III seem like Jurassic Park.

 

I cant remember the last time I was this bored by a blockbuster (seeing it immediately after Incredibles 2 didn’t help). I don’t think any of the set-pieces work aside from the opening. The stuff on the island is boring and they’re only there briefly. And anything that happens later at the mention is the worst this series has had to offer (why can’t the ultra-smart raptor smash through a dumbwaiter?). And the setup is incredibly dumb. In that reality, who in their right mind would be in favor of saving the dinosaurs? What are those protesters thinking?

 

Pratt’s charm is wasted. Howard has cleavage. I wanted Smith to be eaten as soon as he stepped onto the island. Could’ve used more of the girl in the glasses. And the villains are too cartoony even for this series.

 

And fuck the idea of clone girl right in the face. Let’s see. We need some sort of excuse to let the dinos live at the end so we can set up a Planet of the Apes sequel. No, we can’t have our leads set them free because they’re not absolute morons even though 3/5th’s of the group initially wanted to save them at the beginning of the film (which means Howard’s character is even dumber because she survived the last film). Oh, I know. Let’s create a backstory where we introduce five films in a partner that Hammond had (who has never been mentioned) who lost a daughter and was in so much grief that he took the genetic cloning technology used to create the dinos and created a replica of his daughter (does she age?). That way when it comes down to decide whether or not to let the dinosaurs die (except the one that was released at the beginning of the film) we can have her do it because she feels simpatico with them even though she’s still some sort of human and has probably fucked over the human race. Then again, we deserve it. Right Ian Malcolm?

 

Inept, boring and stupid is no way to make a blockbuster J.A. Bayonne, though I think most of the blame should fall to screenwriters Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly for writing a dumb and cynical script, and whatever asshole at Universal decided to greenlight said script.

 

D

Edited by Jmart
Fix and rewrite
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3 hours ago, K1stpierre said:

See, I as well liked JP3, not sure why it gets so much hate from other. Lost world was a piece of shit.

Same.

 

Don’t listen to @aabattery and co.

 

We are the ones who have the right opinion about JP3. And they know it, they just don’t want to accept it.

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I expected stupidity, Jurassic World was stupid but it was fun and had a charm, but this was just... kind of really dull. 

 

I nearly predicted the outcome of every scene as it happened. Just became a ticklist of trope after trope.

 

Not terrible but just a whole lot of nothing. Ian Malcolm was wasted as expected, to add insult to injury. 

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So, I've let the film digest a little in my head and basically...

 

...this movie gets worse and worse the more I think about it. So many pointless (and frankly annoying) characters, so many pointless callbacks (a lot of which are completely unjustified), cliched villains, two halves of a film that just don't gel together at all, and an overall boring plot. The first Jurassic Park isn't exactly a film I gush over but I definitely value what Spielberg did in that film and what it did for the movie industry and the summer blockbusters that followed in its path. That film had passion behind it. I don't feel like ANY of the sequels have gotten anywhere close to that. Its unreasonable to expect any of the sequels to capture the exact same wonder the first film gave but none of them seem to make the effort to do so. This film especially showcases that the franchise, to me at least, is just running out of steam.

 

To be fair, this is not the worst Jurassic Park film by far (JP3 is SyFy channel garbage) and there are definitely some entertaining moments to be found in this film. Still, this film is a massive letdown that balances between completely awful and extremely mediocre.

 

3/10

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Grade: B

 

Fallen Kingdom is a polishing up of JP: Lost World's script where the Dino's are brought to the mainland.

Some new elements introduced, the most intriguing of which is Maise really.

It has the action you want. The classic moments, the suspense and chills so as an entry in the Franchise it delivers. 

 

Unsure where they go from here as the Dinos were spreading out within that immediate area fairly quickly. The immediate conclusion is wide open for novels, video games or comics to explore. Imagine you are getting out of a late dinner/movie/concert and you look up to see a Triceratops lumbering through the parking lot.

 

The pterodactyl landing in Vegas gimmick was done once before in JP 3 and never followed up on. Will this or shall the narrative just pickup with on explanation? 

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Surprisingly I actually liked it. It doesn’t set the franchise on new grounds, but I thought that Chris Pratt was pretty fun in this movie and the Dinos were pretty good. Bryce Dallas Howard actually wasn’t too bad in it but not the big plus.

 

overall Jurassic World:Fallen Kingdom is a kinda different type of Jurassic movie and is a lot of fun, although it doesn’t replicate what the original was 25 years ago  of course. But for a enjoyable monster movie, this one is a solid entry in the franchise.

grade: B

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