June 6, 2022
It has now been four years after the events of "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," when dinosaurs were released on the US mainland by little Maisie Lockwood. Dinosaurs were now living alongside humans all around the world, and various problems arising from such co-existence were on the rise. Maisie (Isabella Sermon) is now 14 years old, and living as the adopted daughter of Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt).
One day, Maisie and Beta (baby of velociraptor Blue who lived in the woods outside Owen's house) were kidnapped and taken to the island of Biosyn (yes, the same biotech company behind evil Nedry in first film) which wanted to exploit Maisie and Beta being genetic clones of their mothers. Claire and Owen managed to track Maisie down to Malta, where they met ex-Air Force pilot Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) who helped fly them over on her plane.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) were investigating the mutant locust hordes which threatened the world's supply of wheat. She had traced the origin of these pests to BioSyn, and took advantage of Dr. Ian Malcolm's (Jeff Goldblum) connection to gain inside access into its labs. The paths of all our heroes, plus ever-present Dr. Henry Wu (B.D.Wong), soon intersect as they went up against the imminent genetic global threat.
Of course, the main draw of this entire franchise were the dinosaurs, and they did deliver. Aside from the traditional dinos, like the brachiosaurus, stegosaurus, triceratops, velociraptors, and the T-rex, we were also introduced several types of new mutant-looking dinosaurs, like those with fur or with feathers. The Gigantosaurus (the biggest carnivore dino) and the Therizinosaur (dino with long sharp claws) get featured prominently.
The action can be fast and frenetic, like raptors chasing a truck and a motorcycle through the narrow streets of Malta, or the flying Quetzalcoatlus attacking a plane in mid-air, or that chilling Pyroraptor dino chasing Owen and Kayla over a frozen dam. And of course, there were those quiet, creepy, downright scary scenes, such as Claire submerging in a mossy pond to escape a tracking dino or Grant and company stumbling on hidden raptors lurking in a dark cave.
Easily the best thing about this film was the reunion of the original lead triumvirate of Neill, Dern and Goldblum, their first time together again since "Jurassic Park III" (2001). Neill was still as dashing as ever at age 74, and his scenes with Dern still had romantic thrills. In contrast, the "Jurassic World" duo of Pratt and Howard paled beside them. Pratt's signature style of dino-taming with his open palm practically becoming a running joke.
Joining the ongoing series of movie franchises heavy on nostalgia (from "Spider-Man" to "Ghostbusters" to "The Matrix" to "Top Gun"), there were a lot of throwbacks to the original Jurassic Park film which will sure make fans very happy. Aside from the lead actors and John Williams' theme music, there were several scenes which felt like remakes from the Spielberg originally, especially with the reappearance of deadly Dylophosaurs.
Things got really long at the start with all the dino rustlers, black market operators, mercenary kidnappers, even an exotic woman in white. Then, it was back to the same old ethical tug-of-war between genetic engineering and big business, which oddly shifted its focus on locusts of all things. However, as a fitting finale, this one still worked enough magic to end the whole franchise on a much higher note than its last two films. 7/10.
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