Loosetooth Reviews: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Twenty-five years ago a movie phenomenon was born, Michael Crichton’s novel Jurassic Park was adapted for the big screen by mister blockbuster himself, Steven ‘The Beard’ Spielberg, accompanied by Star Wars levels of merchandise.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the fifth film of the franchise, and a direct sequel to 2015’s Jurassic World. Fallen Kingdom received it’s premiere in Madrid on 21st May 2018, released in Britain on 6th June, with an American release scheduled for 22nd June.

Jurassic Park for those encased in amber for the past quarter century followed a group of special guests invited to a preview of a new theme park, main attraction of which are real-life dinosaurs cloned from some well-preserved DNA. Inevitably the dinos break free, eat a few people and generally run amuck.

Skip forward twenty-two years, both fictionally and real world, and the bigger, better Jurassic World theme park is in full swing. Again...inevitably the dinos break free, eat a few people and generally run amuck. When will they learn?

Which then brings us to Fallen Kingdom which takes place four years after the events of <Jurassic World. Former park manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is now an activist trying to convince people to save the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar who’ve been left to roam where they please, the trouble is the island’s volcano has recently become active and threatens to make the dinosaurs extinct all over again.

Dearing is contacted by Benjamin Lockheed (James Cromwell) a former associate of original park mastermind John Hammond, who wants to relocate as many of the dinosaurs as possible to a less blowy-up island. Dearing in turn recruits former raptor wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to help in her efforts. Inevitably dinosaurs break free, eat some people and generally run amuck.

…and then the film takes a very different turn, but to say much more would give to much away and no one wants that. Internet grumblers had previously grumbled about the trailers giving to much away, although JW:FK writer/producer Colin Trevorrow later stated the trailers were only made from footage from the first fifty-seven minutes of the film, given the runtime rocks in at 128 minutes you most certainly ain’t seen nothing yet.

After those fifty-seven minutes the film takes a dramatic detour from the tried and tested formula. The change in direction also means that the third instalment of the plannedJurassic World trilogy, of course all blockbusters nowadays have to be part of a trilogy, saga or expanded universe, will be something very different from the ‘Let’s go back to the island’ scenario of all the other Jurassic Park sequels.

As with all big movies these days there’s a post credits scene, but do yourself a favour and skip it, it really isn’t worth waiting around for, unlike the likes of X-Men: Days of Future Past which teased fans of the coming of Apocalypse or Spider-Man: Homecoming which hints at future movie appearance of villain super team The Sinister Six, the JW:FK scene just further confirms what is already established pre-credits.

Have you seen Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom yet? What did you think? or are you still waiting for it’s release? Let me know in the comments below.