Dinos found a way (again)!
REVIEWED BY Ruwandi Perera
New island. New dinosaurs. New era. And good old Jurassic action.
We wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Henry Loomis (hello s****y little glasses) when he says that survival is a long shot – not only for the human race but also for a movie franchise. Being the seventh movie in a franchise is no simple task since there are too many emotions involved and plenty of expectations!
Yet, like how dinosaurs were brought back from extinction some 65 million years later, Jurassic World Rebirth has breathed new life into this beloved franchise after three decades.
Remember the absolute wonderment you felt when you first saw dinosaurs on the big screen? Recreating that feeling is what director Gareth Edwards has done.
Did he achieve it?
We feel he has, to a considerable extent…
This movie takes viewers to a lush island in the tropics with stunning landscapes, and dinosaurs on land, air and sea. While the setting is familiar, the camera angles and music amplify the nostalgia to another level.
Yet, it is the movie’s overall theme of control versus chaos that really takes us back to executive producer Steven Spielberg’s pioneering cinematic phenomenon.
The plot revolves around rather secretive efforts made by a profit loving pharmaceutical company that’s looking to commercialise a groundbreaking drug, which will heal heart disease.
And there’s a string of people who get entangled in the mess…
On the one hand, there’s the main trio consisting of Zora (Scarlett Johansson), Duncan (Mahershala Ali) and Henry (Jonathan Bailey), who form part of the team tasked with securing dino DNA from the three largest animals on and around the island.
And on the other, we have an unsuspecting family that’s in the wrong place at the wrong time.
On all sides, we have an island full of dinosaurs that were too dangerous for the original park, and are the result of modifications and experiments that have gone horribly wrong.
The movie has all the elements that make a good Jurassic adventure: an overly ambitious businessman (Martin Krebs); a hired gun who was seduced by a fat pay check but is finally coming to her senses (Zora Bennett); and a modern-day pirate (Duncan Kincaid) with a good heart and a toolkit for survival, which includes a boat and crew.
There is also the dino loving nerdy paleontologist (Dr. Henry Loomis) whose conscience and curiosity put him in grave danger; a family whose holiday turns into a horror; a string of loyal crew members; and of course, plenty of dinosaurs.
While we’re still debating how much we like and dislike the mutant dinos such as the horribly disfigured new hybrid Distortus rex (D. rex) and the Mutadons, we definitely love the lithe and lethal Spinosauruses, those graceful Titanosaurs, the absolutely terrifying Quetzalcoatlus and the horrifying yet equally awesome Mosasaurus.
The movie scores high marks for appropriate casting, amazing cinematography, dramatic music and panoramic settings. It also has lots of dinosaurs and a pretty cool storyline that’s neither too unimaginable nor repetitive when considering the rest of the franchise.
So what’s not to love about Jurassic World Rebirth?
Nothing much – except perhaps the long wait for the next movie…