Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Written by Colin Trevorrow, Emily Carmichael, and Derek Connolly

It was 1993, when the world of dinosaurs were brought to life on the big screen by the great director, Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park. Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, this film would smash box office records and launch a franchise consisting of now six films, video games, toys, and a Jurassic Park themed ride at Universal Studios. Worth billions of dollars this franchise will most definitely not go extinct like its main characters anytime soon.

This film we bring two groups of film franchises together. The Jurassic World group of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard is now meeting up with the folks that started it all in Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum. Bringing the old and the new together is an eventual step in the series, and the way they handled it all was actually pretty well. Giving every character their moments to shine and develop. Kudos to the two writer’s for that heavy balancing act. Especially when competing for screen time amongst actions sequences and of course the dinosaurs. The film kicks off four years after the events of the previous film where dinosaurs have left the island and are all across the globe. The montage of news stories and online video clips makes for a perfect transition to catch up the viewer on life today with dinosaurs. The plot involves a girl that is the cloned daughter of one of the men who created the cloned dinosaurs. She is wanted by many groups for various reasons, which at first are not too clear. The plot also involves a company called Biosyn Genetics who leads the research on dinosaurs for medical advancements and houses dinosaurs at a government approved dinosaur preserve in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains. That’s just the first five minutes of the film.

Here comes the spoilers.

A young Michael meets his adoptive brother Milo who both suffer form We get introduced to some neat landscapes of horses and dinosaurs running wild. We see predator dinosaurs which track prey when targeted by a laser. Dinosaur black markets was another neat scene. These scenes are great to help setup action sequences. The secondary plot involving locust decimating crops across America is where the film brings in our old crew with Dr. Ellie Sattler (Dern), Dr. Alan Grant (Neill), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum). They meet the CEO of Biosyn Genetics, Dr. Lewis Dodgson. He is essentially the main villain of Jurassic Park and the books. Yet here he isn’t played to any real level of villainy. He just sort of acts very hyper and then frustrated. Never yells. Doesn’t display any menacing actions or feelings at all. In fact any film with good versus evil typically leans the heaviest on how great the villain is. In this film it is just not much of a villain. That perhaps is the biggest let down of the film. No solid villain to fear. Henchmen…check. Evil laboratory and schemes….check. Just no real motivation to do the things he does. On top of that the scenes, where you expect him to go stark raving mad he simply doesn’t. Such a shame. This is a character that deserved a meltdown given the series of events from his perspective.

Horribly constructed villain aside, we get treated to some solid action sequences, lots of dinosaurs fighting dinosaurs, and finally a subtle love story that finally brings two characters together after all these years. Such a jam packed film to see, but this film simply lacks a real villain. A villain to make you squirm in your seat. Make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Your stomach churn. Make you turn your face away at the horror of the madness or evil they inhibit. This film will no doubt be considered a success at the box office, but as for a film worth re-watching again and again…not so much. Get the villain right and you give you heroes a real challenge and fight to the end.

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