The Gist
A team of mercenaries are set into a quarantined zone to collect dinosaur DNA for medical testing.
The Review
One of the strange things I have noticed these days is that most film critics expect nearly every film to either make a powerful political or social statement, be new or different or to put it simply be a masterpiece. Many seem to have forgotten the fact that it is okay for movies to be just fun and entertaining.
When director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and screenwriter David Koepp (Spider-Man) sat down to work out what should happen with Jurassic World: Rebirth I’m pretty sure the last thing on their mind was making a game-changing Oscar winner. The idea behind a Jurassic World movie is pretty basic – an entertaining film that pits humans up against the biggest and baddest dinosaurs.
That is not saying that there haven’t been highs and lows in this franchise. I think many of us still remember sitting their in awe as we watched the original Jurassic Park movies and groaning with disbelief as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom tired to convince us that it is plausible that dinosaurs could be auctioned off in a mansion. To be honest Jurassic World: Rebirth is not the best film in this franchise but it certainly not the worst.
This time around the character at the centre is mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson – The Avengers) who has a knack of delivering whatever her client needs. This time around she has been hired by Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend – Pride & Prejudice) who works for one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies.
Around them the love affair with dinosaurs has waned right around the world. Now having them back is just a burden on everyday life – and exhibitions like the ones put together by Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey – Wicked) are huge failures.
With his latest exhibition closing early Zora recruits him to be on her team as her ‘dinosaur expert’ as Krebs hires her to go on a mission to find some of the most dangerous and rarest dinosaurs and collect their DNA as it is believed it could lead to cures for some of the world’s most deadly diseases – including cancer.
But as her team, which includes the tough Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali – Green Book), head into the restricted zone to find these dinosaurs, they find themselves fighting for their lives alongside a ship-wrecked family made up of Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo – The Magnificent Seven), Teresa Delgado (Luna Blaise – Manifest), Isabella Delgado (Audrina Miranda – Criminal Minds) and Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono – Cinnamon).
While David Koepp hasn’t exactly gone out of his way to re-invent the action genre with this film he has loaded it with suspense. If humans being attacked by dinosaurs left, right and centre isn’t enough to raise the audience’s heart rates the fact that one member of the team is almost killed by another who then tries to cover it up without the others knowing will certainly have them on the edge of their seat.
Koepp also puts some brilliant social commentary into the screenplay with themes including animal exploitation being explored in great detail. The fact that the popularity of dinosaurs have waned has led to Zoos discarding them is a sad example of what many zoos do around the world while the fact that many of the dinosaurs in the restricted zone are the sad remnants of what happened when many of the scientists tried to experiment with cross-breeding also resembles what has happened with many dog breeds over the years.
Of course the big social question asked here though is when Bennett is left facing the question what will happen to ‘these beautiful creatures’ if the pharmaceutical companies realise just how much their DNA is going to be worth and what experiments would be conducted on them as more research is needed. Many audience members will be left asking themselves questions on where they stand on pharmaceutical companies after watching this film.
When it comes to the acting here nobody is really tested here. Scarlett Johansson breezes through her action sequences while Rupert Friend seems to love the opportunity to play the villain. Mahershala Ali announces himself as a beefed up action hero while the best performance here goes to Jonathan Bailey who plays the conflicted scientist sensationally well.
The Verdict
Being a huge fan of the film Monsters I did expect Gareth Edwards to do a lot more with a Jurassic World movie but still I didn’t leave the cinema disappointed. If you go into Jurassic World: Rebirth expecting a simple human vs dinosaur movie you won’t be disappointed… that is really the only way to approach this film.
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