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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Mr Crispy

Couldn't find a pre-existing thread for this. Anyway, the big news of the (inevitable) sequel so far, is that Goldblum is returning as Ian Malcolm. Hopefully this won't be as daft as the first JW.

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TerrorFirmer

An OK movie overall that improves as it progresses, but never comes even close to truly hitting the mark and most of the characters are just terrible charicatures of other characters that've already featured in the franchise previously - to much better effect. The 'villians' are about as Sunday-morning-cartoon as you could get, which cheapens the whole thing.

It's just tired now and limps along from one huge CGI set piece to another without much care for character development or real exploration of interesting themes the film itself sets up. But, on the flip side, it is entertaining and I enjoyed it - though I thought it was a big disimprovement on Jurrassic World (itself not spectacular either). It is to that movie, what Lost World was to the original film.

There was one scene they absolutely knocked out of the park though - the haunting scene of the dinosaur standing on the pier as they're leaving the island. God, I almost had a lump in my throat watching that! The way it was shot, and the accompanying audio, too....really stunning stuff. Pity that tone/potential was not used or realised anywhere else in the film, which is disappointing.

The last third of the movie was both absurdly stupid and hugely thrilling in equal measure. The whole auction bit really threw me off though - affordable dinosaurs? Even to the slowest mind, surely those figures were just utterly ridiculous...brings us back to the Sunday-morning-cartoon angle. Having said that, a fairly gratifying if entirely dumb scene.

Anyway, decent watch overall, just a very average and forgettable film.

Pugzilla

I enjoyed it overall, but the unrealistically low auction prices for the dinosaurs annoyed me a lot.

pixelburp

It's another one of those franchises whose B-movie potential is being stymied by the fact the franchise is ringfenced as a PG13, studio smoothed, China-friendly blockbuster. The storytelling potential is throughly squeezed out: the best thing it could do would be to let it be the trashy, horror tinged movie Fallen Kingdom clearly yearned to be.

razorblunt

Got round to this one late, as a JP fan there's alot wrong with it and little right but its decent in parts.

The dockyard scene was very well done and there's some great shots throughout (rocking horse being overshadowed by the dinosaur head etc) but jesus the two main villains were pantomine stuff. Even the Great White Hunter was an idiot, Pete Postheltwaite he ain't.

Toby Jones thought he was in a panto I'd say.

As for the ending, the still have the trackers, they'd round up the girls quite quickly.

.......

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yourdeadwright

i thought it was quite decent, but id love to see an R rated Jurassic Park movie,

pixelburp

Bumping the thread, as quite bizarrely, next week FX are airing an 8 minute short film that'll bridge the gap between Fallen Kingdom & Jurassic World 3; Colin Trevorrow will be directing it, which was the one bum note in the news as it reminded me that that hack was returning after JA Bayona's good work

It'll be titled "Battle at Big Rock" and was actually filmed in Ireland; no idea if it'll air this side of the pond, but fair to say it'll pop up at all the 'usual' online outlets

http://collider.com/jurassic-world-short-film-colin-trevorrow-interview/

COLIN TREVORROW: Battle At Big Rock is a short film that takes place one year after the events of Fallen Kingdom. It’s about a family on a camping trip to Big Rock National Park, about 20 miles from where the last film ended. There have been a few sightings, but this is the first major confrontation between dinosaurs and humans.

A lot of people are going to wonder how did you make a Jurassic World short film without anyone getting wind of it?

TREVORROW: We shot it in Ireland last winter. They have a grove of redwood trees outside Dublin that look exactly like the national parks in Northern California. I honestly never thought we’d make it this far without getting found out. The Irish can keep a secret.

Dades

That is bizarre news. Where's he talking about? Birr Castle? Don't know of anywhere else we have redwoods in Ireland.

Also, I don't understand how a stampeding herd of dinos has only had "a few sightings" in over a year.

pixelburp wrote: »

Colin Trevorrow will be directing it, which was the one bum note in the news as it reminded me that that hack was returning after JA Bayona's good work

Why is Trevorrow a hack? I thought the first JW was fantastic. I liked Fallen Kingdom but for me it is firmly in the shadow of the first.

El Duda

What 'good work' did JA Bayona do? Fallen Kingdom was an absolute abomination of a film. Unspeakably awful but still stupidly entertaining at times.

pixelburp

Dades wrote: »

That is bizarre news. Where's he talking about? Birr Castle? Don't know of anywhere else we have redwoods in Ireland.

That's my presumption: I had a quick look and all roads led to Birr. It's only 1.5 hours out from Dublin so that'd track.

Dades wrote: »

Also, I don't understand how a stampeding herd of dinos has only had "a few sightings" in over a year.

Why is Trevorrow a hack? I thought the first JW was fantastic. I liked Fallen Kingdom but for me it is firmly in the shadow of the first.

He's a hack in the sense that his work is almost devoid of creativity, originality or anything resembling a directorial voice. He's in the same pot of directors that you'd find Brett Ratner, John Moore; yes men who just point & shoot, bring no spark or flair.

Agree to disagree about JW 'cos it just was lifeless mediocrity. Like I say below, Bayona took a 0/10 script and dragged it into a mediocre film; Trevorrow took a 10/10 script and dragged it down to a mediocre film.

El Duda wrote: »

What 'good work' did JA Bayona do? Fallen Kingdom was an absolute abomination of a film. Unspeakably awful but still stupidly entertaining at times.

Yup, the film was awful and not saying it wasn't, but it was the script that was the dead weight IMO: that the movie was entertaining at all, was down to Bayona adding some pace and flourish here & there. The super-raptor & that auction was inane, but then the scenes of it stalking our heroes was tense, often infused with a distinct horror flavour. The mechanics and visuals worked, even as the script let the film down each time.

In fact my own review on this thread probably sums it up better

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=107312765&postcount=206 lol

El Duda

Good point, well made. I agree that the script is shocking.

Dades

I'd agree the script of FK is the source of the problem. Setting half the movie in an old mansion didn't leave a lot of scope for spectacle.

Won't agree on JW though! Saw it twice in the cinema and more at home as my kids love it. As is the trend these days, it was somewhat of a reboot of Jurassic Park. I'm cool with that. I've made my peace with this studio approach since this, and The Force Awakens. I'm old - I get it!

pixelburp

Dades wrote: »

I'd agree the script of FK is the source of the problem. Setting half the movie in an old mansion didn't leave a lot of scope for spectacle.

Won't agree on JW though! Saw it twice in the cinema and more at home as my kids love it. As is the trend these days, it was somewhat of a reboot of Jurassic Park. I'm cool with that. I've made my peace with this studio approach since this, and The Force Awakens. I'm old - I get it!

Right but in of itself I didn't mind that JW was essentially a retread; was always going to be inevitable if the script went with a plot of "What if Jurassic Park eventually opened anyway?"; the prospect of carnage in a fully functioning park was too tempting not to take on. It's just that the studio gave the job to a director who did absolutely nothing interesting with the concept or execution.

Agree to disagree n' all that, just thought Fallen Kingdom did more with less, while JW1 did less with more, the latter leaving me more annoyed, even if both films weren't great in the end

El Duda

Yeah, the direction in JW was very flat but the script was ok.

Mr Crispy

Available on the official JW channel on YouTube;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7kbVvpOGdQ

pixelburp

Wasn't bad for a short; not quite sure what the point of it was, given the third movie's still a good bit into the future. I suppose it's clear what the plot is likely to be, with dinosaurs now definitively back in the ecosystem.

And to think, they're only back in the wild 'cos a kid got sad they were clones like her, with Chris Pratty / Dallas Howard deciding that yes, releasing them into wild was a great idea .

OU812

pixelburp wrote: »

not quite sure what the point of it was.

I’m gonna predict one of these a year until the next movie comes out to keep up the hype.

You’ve new characters & new direction.

Plus, universal spent over €100m on updating the ride so gotta keep the crowds coming

dan1895

That Allosaurus is definitely juicing.

flangemeistro

Actually enjoyed that 7 minutes

Dades

Not sure again, what the point was, but it was a good bit of dino-action.

A classic case of Chekhov's Gun with that crossbow. Worked for me.

conorhal

Dades wrote: »

Not sure again, what the point was, but it was a good bit of dino-action.

A classic case of Chekhov's Gun with that crossbow. Worked for me.

I presume the short is designed to establish with the audience that the next film will not be a 'park based scenerio' but a continuation of the ludicrous events from the last film.

The whole '8yr old Rambo with a crossbow shtick' made me roll my eyes pretty hard. It was almost as bad as Ian Malcom's daughter using her gymnastics routine to kick a raptor out a window.
Perhaps it's just me though, and I concede that I might be the only person disappointed that Tim and Lex didn't end up Dino chum in the kitchen in the first film. I just find kids written as if they were obnoxiously know it all adults that behave in unrealistic and improbable ways really irritating.

The whole franchise has run out of steam and ideas, give up the pretense Universal and just make a Dino-riders movie already.

Sleepy

Our entire family enjoyed the that. Simple enough premise and establishes a few things for the next film: the dinosaurs are breeding in the wild and they haven't been rounded up for some reason.

gmisk

I rather enjoyed the short, the little clips over the titles as well

Dades

conorhal wrote: »

Perhaps it's just me though, and I concede that I might be the only person disappointed that Tim and Lex didn't end up Dino chum in the kitchen in the first film. I just find kids written as if they were obnoxiously know it all adults that behave in unrealistic and improbable ways really irritating.

I'd have thought the kids in the first JP were fairly realistic. Scared and (very) screamy. Doing stupid things (stop waving the f*ckin torch!) Almost totally reliant on adults.

pixelburp

The JP kids were a mixed bag. Part of the problem with writing children in general IMO, is that it's easy to end up with two variants: the precocious snots whose chirpiness is obnoxiously fake, or Little Adults who basically function as a Greek Chorus or Council for the main adult characters. Spielberg seems to have struggled with good child characters - at least I can't immediately think of any, with the only exception I can think of being Christian Bale's young lead in Empire of the Sun.

The director has a schmaltzy blindspot, that when aimed at children, veers into this idealised concept of what a child is, that ultimately never rings true. So with JP, you got Tim (although it can be argued that he was MEANT to be a shiny-eyed pain in the a$$, to act as an initial confirmation to Alan Grant that children are The Worst. Only then for his paternal instincts to kick in later)

For me, part of the original appeal of Stranger Things was that the Duffers somehow channeled more authentic personalities and tropes of children into their writing, making them likeable, but kind idiots at the same time. That unique perspective of life that only pre-teen kids posses. Of course, what it ultimately comes down to is the abilities of the actor: children are emotional works in progress in the first place, so asking them to act out emotional ranges they may neither understand or posses is a bit of a directing Hail Mary. Again, this is kinda why Stranger Things did so well, lucking out with their cast.

OU812

pixelburp wrote: »

Spielberg seems to have struggled with good child characters - at least I can't immediately think of any, with the only exception I can think of being Christian Bale's young lead in Empire of the Sun.

Drew Barrymore in ET???

pixelburp

OU812 wrote: »

Drew Barrymore in ET???

Wasn't she quite young in that? Been years since I've seen ET but I remember her as one of those doe-eyed "cute" toddlers. Kinda thinking more of child characters who have actual, distinct personalities.

homerun_homer

So this is set 1 year after Fallen Kingdom, I'd understand the smaller dinos that there were multiple of getting out of hand in the real world, breeding and becoming a pest, but the bigger ones surely would be handled easier by an army. Wasn't there only one T-Rex released at the end of FK? I can imagine the sequel trying to pass it off as there being more, and new baby Rex's.

I thought the short film was as cheesey and hammy as the newer films and I really wish that a good filmaker and writing team were behind them. Trevorrow is a hack.

Dades

pixelburp wrote: »

The director has a schmaltzy blindspot, that when aimed at children, veers into this idealised concept of what a child is, that ultimately never rings true. So with JP, you got Tim (although it can be argued that he was MEANT to be a shiny-eyed pain in the a$$, to act as an initial confirmation to Alan Grant that children are The Worst. Only then for his paternal instincts to kick in later)

Not seeing what was wrong with Tim. I assume what you reference was his role - the whole "This is why I hate kids... but then this is what happens when you bond with them..." Totally part of the charm of the movie.

Compare this to the pair in Jurassic World *shudder*. I love that movie, but it's in spite of those kids.

Every kid is different in real life, so there's no correct way to depict a child. If filmmakers regularly pick a particular personality type to further a story I'm fine with that if executed well.

And as you say - a LOT depends on the casting.

OU812

pixelburp wrote: »

Wasn't she quite young in that? Been years since I've seen ET but I remember her as one of those doe-eyed "cute" toddlers. Kinda thinking more of child characters who have actual, distinct personalities.

Henry Thomas then. Her older brother.

I’d have to go back through his catalogue, but I’m pretty sure Spielberg is one of the few directors who gets kids right