‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Review

I’m a simple man. I like movies. I like dinosaurs. I really like movies with dinosaurs. And yet, with the exception of the all time classic that is the first ‘Jurassic Park’, each subsequent installment in this franchise has been a little less thrilling, a little more disappointing.

Much like the original ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ opens with a scientific dinosaur disaster. Scientists experimenting with dinosaur modification end up as prey once a silly error compromises the entire security system, setting up the location for the film’s action as well as the big bad dinosaur hybrid who will threaten our main characters to come.

Whereas previous films are driven by entertainers and moguls looking to build attractions and reap profits, this one takes on Big Pharma, as personified by Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend). His company has uncovered a potential cure for cardiovascular disease, which will save countless lives and bring in trillions of dollars in profit. The only problem is the cure needs blood samples taken from the largest live dinosaurs on the planet. Martin brings together his team, including the scientist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and the mercenaries Zora and Duncan (Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali respectively) to, safely and successfully, venture to the island near the equator where dinosaurs still roam freely and retrieve the necessary samples.

Roughly 30 minutes into the movie, we are introduced to a family of four boating near the Jurassic island on a vacation. They add nothing to this movie other than runtime, spending the bulk of it separate from the primary scientific expedition. This family’s presence is legitimately baffling to me. We already have so many characters to follow, why add new ones who bring nothing thematically or emotionally to the story?

Rarely has a Jurassic World film had this level of star power, and each performer does their best with the substandard plot and characters. Mahershala Ali specifically seems to be having a good time as Duncan, while imbuing his smaller moments with empathy and deeper feeling.

As expected, there is plenty of dino thrills throughout the movie, though these scenes feel less like organic, well crafted sequences than mandatory inserts driven by a writer with a stopwatch, demanding something dinosaur related has to happen every 10-15 minutes. With so many characters, big names and otherwise, there are certainly opportunities for dinosaur carnage, and the film doesn’t hesitate to kill off characters even as the scenes are not well designed, relying too much on human stupidity and happenstance over the true terror of smart characters doing everything right and still ending up in danger that made the original film so indelible.

And of course, not all of the human characters behave heroically. Some of them take obvious turns towards villainy, even as they don’t necessarily do anything villainous. It was obvious to this viewer very early on who was going to live, who was going to die, and who was going to be a ‘bad guy’. Even as so many of the characters are money hungry mercenaries, moral ambiguity is swept away in favor of a more boring right vs wrong dynamic.

This critique isn’t to totally dismiss Gareth Edwards’ direction, as he produces some striking imagery that has been nonexistent in the recent ‘Jurassic World’ films. He knows how best to stage his performers, how to use shadows, smoke, and color to make the dinosaurs mysterious and terrifying. The imagery from Edwards and cinematographer John Mathieson elevates the film, even as the scares, thrills, and emotional arcs are lacking, concluding with a climactic battle with a horrible dinosaur hybrid monster.

With ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’, we have hit a point in the franchise where I’m no longer convinced the filmmakers like dinosaurs, opting instead to feature CGI “hybrid” creatures that look like any run of the mill B-movie monster. When did a simple velociraptor stop being a scary villain?

The filmmakers in the ‘Jurassic World’ franchise insist, through ham handed character dialogue, that audiences in universe and in theaters demand more, that the dinosaurs of old just aren’t gripping enough. But they’re wrong. Audiences aren’t demanding genetically modified dinosaurs, they’re demanding a good movie.

And, unfortunately, ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ ain’t it.

Jurassic World Rebirth
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference.
Running Time: 2 hours and 14 minutes

Director Gareth Edwards
Writers David Koepp
Stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ed Skrein
Rating PG-13
Running Time 134 Minutes
Genres Action, Adventure, Thriller