“I can guarantee your safety… more or less.”
Some things can not be beat, and they sure as heck can’t be repeated. An old vintage cola commercial used to tell us, “Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby”. And Jurassic World Rebirth is going to do anything it can for 134 minutes to try and tell you that isn’t true, but we know better, don’t we? Anyone who has seen the original Jurassic Park has their favorite moments, but one scene has always stood out for me and so many other film fans I’ve spoken to. When the camera pans to that peaceful swamp pasture and you see tons of dinosaurs walking about without a care in the world. If you didn’t know how to react there, Sam Neill as Dr. Grant showed you how. His expression matched ours, and it was a wonderful cinematic moment of magic and wonder. You can never repeat that, ever again. No matter how many Jurassic franchise movies or any other dinosaur movies might attempt to bring you that single moment, they never will. And that’s OK. There are moments in Jurassic World Rebirth where it is quite obvious that director Gareth Edwards attempts to repeat that moment. He telegraphs it, particularly in a scene where we get a wide shot of dinosaurs and we hear that old John Williams theme, and Edwards is pulling hard on our heartstrings. Sorry, Gareth. It didn’t happen for anyone there. It’s not your fault. You did everything right. But, you see Steven Spielberg already took us there, and we will never have it again, but truly, man, thanks so much for trying. You did deliver the best of the Jurassic World films and the best franchise film since the original. You’re just going to have to settle for that.
After using three films to set up the whole “dinosaurs loose around the world”, I was a little disappointed to see it was swept away in just a prologue text. We’re 17 years in the future from the last film. It turns out old Jeff Goldblum was right. The dinosaurs couldn’t really adapt to our world. They begin to die from disease and the modern climate. We’ve now reached a time where the last of the dinos are gone. But that’s not completely true. We discover that Ingen was doing some rather crazy experiments trying to create a designer dinosaur so that they could capture the world’s attention once again. Imagine a world where kids are actually bored with dinosaurs, and that’s the world in which Ingen was trying to get back on top. A really bad “accident” closed the facility, and we get treated to that information as our film begins.
Enter Big Pharma executive Martin Krebs, played by Rupert Friend. Scientists have discovered that there are three sets of the super-large dinosaurs that have something in their DNA that allowed them to live for more than a century in their day. It turns out his company plans to find this cardiac super drug and make a fortune. So he assembles a team to go back to the island where the experiments occurred and get samples from one of each group of animals. He starts with Zora Bennett, played by Scarlett Johansson who is what she calls a “situational security” expert, code for mercenary. Krebs is offering enough money for her to retire. The team includes Duncan Kincaid, played by Ali Mahershala. He owns a sweet boat and a lot of high-tech toys. Jonathan Baily plays our answer to Dr. Allan Grant. He’s Dr. Henry Loomis in a rather nice nod to Donald Pleasance from Halloween, and he runs a dinosaur museum/exhibit that is failing because of the decline in interest in dinosaurs. He closing down when Krebs hires him reluctantly to join the team as the dinosaur expert. In one of the few direct references to the original films, he was a student of Dr. Grant’s. So off they go to this mysterious island. Along the way they are chasing one of the big ocean-going titans that was tagged and can be traced. But they are not alone out on those soon-to-be-stormy seas.
Rueben Delgado, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is a sailboat enthusiast out with his two daughters and the elder daughter’s boyfriend for a sail across the seas. They encounter the sea creatures and end up hooked up with our mercenary crew. All of them end up in a shipwreck and set out on foot on the island. The rest is pretty much the amusement park ride you were hoping for as they struggle to survive and get their samples … not necessarily in that order. Plenty of the expected here, but I have to admit there really is more to this film than most in the franchise.
The first good news is the cast. This is the best cast these films have had in decades. I’m sorry, but Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt never had the cohesion and chemistry you’ll find here. These are wonderful performances, with real life in these characters, so we care a little bit more what happens to them. Honestly, Scarlet Johansson is absolutely at her best here. I love this character and the nuance and humanity she puts in her performance. She’s as good here, or better, than she was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Hands down the best new character in the franchise, and I hope we get to see her in future Jurassic films. Ali Mahershala is also quite good, and her chemistry with him is a highlight of the film. These characters are as compelling as the dinosaurs, and that’s the secret sauce to making one of these films work.
I do love the way the film calls back to other favorite films. I got a very sweet Jaws rush as they hunt the sea creature. The frantic music as the ship races to keep up with the creature as Zora tries to hit it with a samples collection dart. There’s this rush to get another one as she’s hanging on for the next shot. It brought this huge flashback of Quint and Hooper trying to harpoon barrels into the shark. There is no way these images weren’t intentional. Instead of being cheap knockoffs, Edwards takes the time to really recapture the emotion of that kind of thing. Steven Spielberg is very much on tap here as they also give us an E.T. flashback. The young daughter encounters a baby dinosaur she coaxes to follow her with candy. Haven’t we seen that somewhere before? Once again it’s a wonderful homage without hitting us on the head with it. Edwards plays these moments out and trusts us to make the connection, all the while imagining the smile these recollections will put on the faces of his audience. Edwards has a true love for the material, and it shows. He has an almost Joe Dante childhood crush on the movies, and he invites us to come on in. The water’s fine.
Alexandre Desplat does the score, and it’s a little disappointing that they did not tap John Williams. I know Williams is getting older, but he hasn’t missed a beat, and I think he could have handled this one with one hand tied behind his back and his eyes closed. Still, I credit Edwards for understanding how closely our love for these films is to Williams and his music. He inserts them in just the right places to serve as a transition or just an emotional beat he wants us to take. The end of the film features a piano version of the film which made me smile because my wife is fond of playing that theme on the piano from time to time. It also includes the scene I talk about in the beginning where he tries to relive that one perfect moment. He failed there, but that’s about the only place he fails us. And, again it just wasn’t his fault. It can’t be done. ‘Nuff said.
I’m not sure we needed it, but we got mutant dinosaurs when maybe that old T-Rex is still compelling today. Here the raptors are real raptors in the sense that they fly. The D-Rex, which is the big bad dinosaur here, looks too much like the xenomorph from the Alien films. I’m not sure if that was intended. Honestly, the film didn’t win me over with the whole mutant dinosaur thing. Edwards could have pulled this off with the old standbys, but I get that real life imitates these films. There’s a belief that we have to come up with bigger, badder monsters to keep our attention. You don’t. Just keep giving us compelling films and we’ll keep coming back. I know I will. It turns out that Snickers bars are worse for you than we all thought. Wait until you see how much damage just one of those things can do. Anyway … this is intended to be the start of a new trilogy. What do I say about a second film? “Maybe we should make it quick.”
