Genre: Action/Fantasy/Adventure/Romance.
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, Audrina Miranda, David Iacono.
Director: Gareth Edwards.
Release: July 2
RATING: 6/10
In the original Jurassic Park, InGen’s deluded CEO John Hammond assures palaeobotanist Ellie Satler that he has learnt the myriad mistakes of his malfunctioning theme park.
“Creation is an act of sheer will. Next time, it’ll be flawless,” he growls defiantly between mouthfuls of rapidly melting ice cream.
Jurassic World Rebirth marks the sixth “next time” and like so many of the sequels, falls short of the jaw-dropping spectacle and wonder of the 1993 adventure that started it all, shattered box office records and deservedly won three Academy Awards.
Screenwriter David Koepp, who scripted the original film, finally realises the Isla Nublar river raft sequence from Michael Crichton’s book.
Homages to Steven Spielberg’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and Jaws abut visual nods to Jurassic Park: a car mirror declaring reflected objects are closer than they appear, snorted hot breath from a rampaging raptor/pterosaur hybrid on cool glass, and a frantic drive down to the docks to smuggle samples off an island.
Digital effects vary wildly in quality. An open water boat chase involving two voracious species is stunningly realised but a wide shot of characters abseiling down a cliff face is glaringly absent of realistic physical movement.
Dinosaurs are slowly dying in polluted and overcrowded parts of the world and the majestic beasts that remain are consigned to environments near the equator where the climate and local ecosystems support their growth and humans are strictly forbidden from visiting.
Profit-hungry pharmaceutical representative Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) contracts covert operations specialist Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to assemble a crack team to infiltrate Ile Saint-Hubert.
The island is home to three large dinosaurs: aquatic carnivore Mosasaurus, airborne Quetzalcoatlus and hulking herbivore Titanosaurus, which hold the key to a miracle drug that can benefit the whole of mankind.
Zora enrols good friend Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) in the expedition and bookish palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) provides technical expertise and an unwavering moral compass when corporate greed rears its ugly head.
As they travel to the island, Zora and co rescue widower Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and his shipwrecked family comprising daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa’s lazy boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono).
These unplanned additions to the crew witness a titanic battle between man and genetically altered beast and become a walking buffet for a rampaging T-rex.
Jurassic World Rebirth does not deliver the creative reinvigouration promised by the title but Edwards orchestrates effects-laden mayhem on a grand scale to match his assured monster-mashing work behind the camera of the 2014 Godzilla.
An adorable Aquilops sidekick, christened Dolores, feels like a genius merchandising opportunity forcefully inserted into the story without tangible purpose.
Johansson kicks dino-butt with aplomb as an all-action hero nursing deep psychological scars and she kindles simmering screen chemistry with Bailey’s morally upstanding nerd.
Koepp’s dialogue is sharp in these early scenes, compelling us to care for characters who stand the best odds of survival.
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