JURASSIC PARK III (PG)
JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (12)
D: J.A. Bayona
Universal/Amblin/Legendary (Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley & Belen Atienza)
US 2018
128 mins
Adventure/Science Fiction
W: Colin Treverrow & Derek Connolly [based on characters created by Michael Crichton]
DP: Oscar Faura
Ed: Bernat Vilaplana
Mus: Michael Giacchino
Chris Pratt (Owen Grady), Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), Rafe Spall (Eli Mills), Justice Smith (Franklin Webb), Daniella Pineda (Dr. Zia Rodriguez), James Cromwell (Sir Benjamin Lockwood), Toby Jones (Gunnar Eversoll), Ted Levine (Ken Wheatley), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm)
If 2015's Jurassic World is considered a weak retread of the original Jurassic Park, then Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is an incredibly weak retread of The Lost World, with added stupidity, cringeworthy dialogue and pointless subplots shoved in for good measure.
Bryce Dallas Howard reprises her role as Claire Dearing, the annoying CEO from Jurassic World, except in this film she runs a charity for dinosaur rights (seriously), campaigning for the lives of the various species abandoned on the island site as a volcano threatens a violent eruption that will kill anything left behind.
She teams up again with old flame Owen Grady, when she accepts an invitation to return to the island to save the dinosaur species, and they are both told that saving a velociraptor is key to their mission.
Cue bad guys who want to bring deadly dinosaurs back to the United States for no other reason except money and the rest of the plot is pretty much paint-by-numbers.
Director J.A. Bayona, with his background in horror, brings a darker vision to the franchise, and although there are a handful of interesting moments, you're likely to have already seen them in the trailer.
This is easily the weakest of all the Jurassic Park movies, full of irritating characters and terrible dialogue to the point that it's become clear that big Hollywood studio blockbusters are more concerned with having a diverse and inclusive cast rather than having an exciting storyline.
Even Jeff Goldblum is wasted in a cameo role which is completely separate to the main story and one of the (ridiculous) plot twists seems to be wedged in for no reason as it goes absolutely nowhere except to set up yet another sequel.
Definitely one of the worst films of 2018.
3/10