Posted by The behemoth rolls onwards with the fifth film in the series Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, directed by J.A Bayona. Set four years after the events of Jurassic World, the dinos are in big trouble; their island home Isla Nublar is also home to an active volcano likely to blow at any minute. Of course animal rights activists, headed by Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), are calling for the poor ickle dinosaurs to be saved. Eventually she gets hired to do just that, roping along Owen (Chris Pratt) to play the Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neil) esque local guide role. Hmm, nothing could possibly go wrong here…
Low and behold, things do go wrong – with the volcano erupting and then after a fraught but successful rescue mission, Claire and Owen discover certain people are not who they seemed to be (Shock! Horror!). In a film which commendably tries to recreate the dark, pseudo horror atmosphere of the first film but instead ends up duking it out with Jurassic Park III for the worst in the series. Whilst it looks impressive and contains some decent action, the eruption scene notably amongst them, it is ruined by a boring plot and riddled with cliches.
Another detrimental thing is the characters. Aside from the all to brief cameo of Jeff Goldblum’s Dr Ian Malcolm, the muscle bound charm of Chris Pratt’s Owen and Isabella Sermon’s inquisitive little girl Maisie Lockwood you do not care for any of them. Despite Toby Jones’s delightfully hammed up acting, Mr Eversol is too bland, so too are the sea of goons floating around the island and the estate. With the fate of Claire’s and Owen’s Dino loving hirer Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) so obvious from the start it is almost laughable.
4/10 – Fallen Kingdom is a poor film with a stupid premise, dull characters and a moronic ending – just stick Jurassic Park on instead.
Lofty Music and Film 