AndyDursin wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:00 pm
It's also not the first time JP has done this, as THE LOST WORLD ended with that unforgettable interview between CNN's Bernard Shaw and Richard Attenborough's John Hammond.
The great part about these European theatrical premieres (for us at least) is when one of these movies sucks, you have little incentive to pay to see it by the time it gets here.
Actually surprised they didn't go the same route they did with the first JURASSIC WORLD and withhold it from screenings, then dump it out worldwide simultaneously. The reviews are not doing it any favors, and I can see this having a sizable dropoff because a lot of JW's revenue was sheer interest for the original movies. At some point -- just like we're seeing with SOLO -- the product has to "perform", though I do think the opening will be robust as it's been 3 years inbetween installments. Beyond that...I think this is going to end up a weak summer and the film will end up adding to it.
Here's Leonard Maltin's review, typical of most reactions:
Dinosaurs are dangerous and people are greedy. Got that? It’s the foundation of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and if that mantra sounds way too familiar (and obvious), it’s the answer to why this film isn’t better. Kids who aren’t familiar with the series or overly jaded may find it fun, at least for a while. By the two-thirds mark I was bored.
I actually enjoyed the last episode in the seemingly unstoppable series, in spite of its familiar tropes, but this time it’s all too obvious that the filmmakers are repeating themselves. How many times can we watch slimy entrepreneurs fool some wide-eyed heroes before revealing their not-so-hidden agenda to exploit these prehistoric creatures for profit?
No one was bored when Steven Spielberg gave us Jurassic Park twenty-five years ago. Built on the template of the 1933 King Kong (and its predecessor, 1925’s The Lost World), it presented vivid and exciting new visual effects—including complex puppets devised by the late Stan Winston—in a slick, entertaining package. Twenty-five years later, we’ve become so accustomed to CGI that we can almost take the lifelike creatures for granted. They are still scary but in the context of a shopworn story their impact is muted.
It doesn’t help that the good guys and bad guys are essentially ciphers. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are likable enough but have little to work with in the hackneyed screenplay credited to Colin Treverrow and Derek Connolly. Talented director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible) does his best but can’t overcome an uninspired script. Good actors like James Cromwell, Rafe Spall, Ted Levine, Toby Jones, and BJ Wong are wasted, as is Geraldine Chaplin, although it’s always nice to see her onscreen.
Bookending the action, PG-rated violence and barrel of clichés is a half-hearted attempt to bring relevance to the Jurassic saga, as Jeff Goldblum warns a government agency about the impending danger to mankind and our fragile ecology. This adds nothing to the movie and even smacks of hypocrisy. After all, who is exploiting these prehistoric creatures (make-believe though they may be) more than the filmmakers? And in this case, it’s all for naught.
It's subjective. We ain't ever going to agree on III lol.
But either way, anything -- ANYTHING -- is better than THE LOST WORLD. I find it impossible to mine entertainment out of what was, unquestionably, one of the most disappointing experiences I've ever had sitting in a movie theater. I knew it was going to be bad when the theater emptied out from a private 10am screening (filled with Hasbro people) on opening day, who were mostly talking about how awful it was.
And yes she's bad, but I'll still watch terrible Tea anytime over Goldblum's teen daughter Power Rangers-kicking a raptor...right up there with Space Leia and other embarrassing moments in sci-fi/fantasy history. Arguably the nadir of Spielberg's career also.
That scene in WORLD where the kid kicked a velociraptor out of the tree was one of the dumbest things I have ever seen in a movie (though Leia Poppins in space topped it as worst ever) - I agree with you on that Andy! Had I not gone to see WORLD with other people I would have walked out of the theater at that point. I believe I let out a loud groan when she did her gymnastics move in the tree...lol...don't know if everyone else heard it, but I will never forget that moment.
Admittedly, my expectations were low, but I honestly had fun with this strange attempt to launch the PARK franchise into "something else." What that is in the long-term I have no idea, because I can't see another film with dinosaurs running around an isolated mansion being the kind of thing that anyone will need (or want) to see reprised. As it is, though, the oddball concept works well enough for a one-off -- though make no mistake, this one's another brainless rollercoaster ride that's at least more interesting than JURASSIC WORLD and much more capably directed by J.A. Bayona, with a few effective set-pieces. The dinosaurs are more integral to the plot of this film, and they look good -- you wish you could say the same for the humans, who basically have nothing to do. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return but have even fewer sequences to establish chemistry together. Meanwhile, Toby Jones (a Brit playing an American) and James Cromwell (an American playing a Brit) do battle for "Worst Accent of the Year" in a pair of especially weak supporting roles (Jones is also dressed up as Trump in a straight lampoon -- right down to his hair flapping in the wind).
At this point there's no expectation a film in this series is going to generate viewer emotion or dramatic depth amongst its characters -- but FALLEN KINGDOM does succeed in making you care about its creatures, so there's at least that.
As for the score, Michael Giacchino continues his descent here with another dramatically ineffective score -- this one laced with blaring, hackneyed chorus that actually made me laugh out loud on its hysterical final note in the end credits. Thumbs (or I should say claws) down!
Pretty much on the nose Andy, FK is the best of the series since the original—I know that is not saying much. I think the key to this entry working for me, other than basic competence, was that it didn’t seem to take all the malarkey in the screenplay too seriously. The plot is so absurd, that if the picture was not as light on its feet as it is, one would be forced to laugh at it instead of (I hope) with it. Toby Jones’ Trump pantomime and all.
I watched it primarily through the prism of what Theo would've thought of it (had he been old enough to be there) -- and that's entirely from the point of view of the dinosaurs. At least they had a bit of personality and were given something to do here. Nobody cares about the human characters anyway (I laughed when they said they cut the scene about Howard's co-worker being a lesbian; gay or straight, kids care more about a stegosaurus!), so I felt they were wise to try and up the "creature quotient" in the later stages. In fact, had they just dropped the scene of the "burning bronosaurus" (what is it with these last two films, killing them off in the most horrible ways imaginable), it would've been fine for kids. The routine "evil businessman" plot was so absurd it didn't bother me as I didn't take it seriously at all.
And of course it's dumb, and the fact it's played so straight is a bit bewildering -- but this at least had less pretense than JURASSIC WORLD. It's much better than THE LOST WORLD too (anything is), and I felt it was kind of in-line with III, which had some problems but the set-pieces were strong. They could've made a better film, obviously, but it was still entertaining for what it was, and I still enjoy watching dinosaurs run around, at least more than some guy pretend he's playing Han Solo and more tedious superhero fare.
