While "Jurassic World" was a good return to form after the poorly-received and made "Jurassic Park 3", "Fallen Kingdom" sadly harkens to the lackluster second and third films in its execution.
Director J.A. Bayona follows up the events of the prior by starting at the ruined title park where InGen drones are seeking the remains of the Indominus Rex for obliviously nefarious purposes. Let's say it doesn't go well and then we shift to where our heroes, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt), have ended up since the first film; Claire is running a rescue group and Owen is building a home in the middle of the woods. Claire is soon contracted by a wealthy former business partner of John Hammond, Benjamin Lockwood (a poorly used James Cromwell), and the charming Mills (Rafe Spall). Dragging Owen along to find the missing Blue and a paleo-vet (Daniella Pineada who is actually good) and a systems analyst (Justice Smith who is beyond useless), the film goes into action for the first half and then the second half goes back to what we have seen in the past where the baddie is revealed and again we have another hybrid dino that gets loose to kill many people.
The two leads actually try to be engaging, but it shows that Chris Pratt would rather be somewhere else (likely due to shooting "Infinity War" at the same time) though his chemistry with Howard is slightly better than the first film. Dallas Howard is stronger in this outing than her stuffy shirt appearance in the prior film, but Claire is still not as engaging like Laura Dern's Ellie Sattler; Daniella Pineada comes a bit closer but still not quite either. The supporting characters are complete throwaways especially an irritating Justice Smith who screams through the first half and never really demonstrates why he is a systems analyst. Then there's the unnecessary kid in Isabella Sermon as Lockwood's granddaughter who like Smith in the first half just screams when in danger and provides no help to the heroes like Lex assisting Grant and the others in the original "Jurassic Park". Let's not even get into the utter waste of Jeff Goldblum who only shows up in the beginning and end of the film.
The screenwriters (Derek Connelly and "Jurassic World" director Colin Trevorrow) can't seem to reconcile the shifts in tone which tries to be a action-horror that doesn't hit the combination. The action on the destructing Isla Nublar is at best passable, but then falls apart until the final showdown atop the Lockwood mansion. Even Ian Malcom's final monologue is generic (especially as it is used in the initial trailer for the film) as he explains why we shouldn't mess with nature and the final shots harken back to the last half of "The Lost World" to set up for the third outing (to be called "Evolution") which hopefully will come back to a better product.
Director J.A. Bayona follows up the events of the prior by starting at the ruined title park where InGen drones are seeking the remains of the Indominus Rex for obliviously nefarious purposes. Let's say it doesn't go well and then we shift to where our heroes, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt), have ended up since the first film; Claire is running a rescue group and Owen is building a home in the middle of the woods. Claire is soon contracted by a wealthy former business partner of John Hammond, Benjamin Lockwood (a poorly used James Cromwell), and the charming Mills (Rafe Spall). Dragging Owen along to find the missing Blue and a paleo-vet (Daniella Pineada who is actually good) and a systems analyst (Justice Smith who is beyond useless), the film goes into action for the first half and then the second half goes back to what we have seen in the past where the baddie is revealed and again we have another hybrid dino that gets loose to kill many people.
The two leads actually try to be engaging, but it shows that Chris Pratt would rather be somewhere else (likely due to shooting "Infinity War" at the same time) though his chemistry with Howard is slightly better than the first film. Dallas Howard is stronger in this outing than her stuffy shirt appearance in the prior film, but Claire is still not as engaging like Laura Dern's Ellie Sattler; Daniella Pineada comes a bit closer but still not quite either. The supporting characters are complete throwaways especially an irritating Justice Smith who screams through the first half and never really demonstrates why he is a systems analyst. Then there's the unnecessary kid in Isabella Sermon as Lockwood's granddaughter who like Smith in the first half just screams when in danger and provides no help to the heroes like Lex assisting Grant and the others in the original "Jurassic Park". Let's not even get into the utter waste of Jeff Goldblum who only shows up in the beginning and end of the film.
The screenwriters (Derek Connelly and "Jurassic World" director Colin Trevorrow) can't seem to reconcile the shifts in tone which tries to be a action-horror that doesn't hit the combination. The action on the destructing Isla Nublar is at best passable, but then falls apart until the final showdown atop the Lockwood mansion. Even Ian Malcom's final monologue is generic (especially as it is used in the initial trailer for the film) as he explains why we shouldn't mess with nature and the final shots harken back to the last half of "The Lost World" to set up for the third outing (to be called "Evolution") which hopefully will come back to a better product.
