It is a truth universally acknowledged that sequels are rarely as good as the original. But occasionally you'll find a sequel that is just as good, or even better, than the first film(s).
This is one of those sequels.
They brought back the skeleton logo! Yay!
Fallen Kingdom starts several years after Jurassic World. (Apparently the prologue takes place a few months after it, but the main film is set three years later.)
A group of men retrieve a bone sample from the I. Rex, and in the process set the Mosasaur free. Then the film skips forward to the news that a volcano is about to erupt on the island where Jurassic World used to be... and where the dinosaurs still are. Claire and Owen gather a team to rescue the dinosaurs. Meanwhile, we meet a little girl called Maisie, whose grandfather -- or rather Eli Mills, someone who works for him -- is sending a group to "help" Claire, Owen and their friends.
Frankly, the first thirty minutes or so of the film are pretty dull. Not a dinosaur in sight, except in the prologue. I usually skip forward to when Owen meets Blue the Velociraptor, and the group Mills sent turn out to be traitors. That's when the film becomes truly interesting.
The traitors kidnap as many dinosaurs as they can before the volcano erupts. Owen, Claire and Franklin, one of their friends, manage to get on the ship before it leaves, while Zia, another of their friends, tries to treat Blue, who's been shot. This treatment requires blood from the T. Rex. Owen and Claire have to get it.
Mills murders Maisie's grandfather and has the dinosaurs brought to his house, where they're going to be auctioned off to the highest bidders. Meanwhile, we learn that there's something in the basement.
Owen and Claire are captured, then escape with the help of a dinosaur. (Yes, really.) They meet Maisie, and she tells them about Mills and Dr. Wu's plots. The auction has begun, and the thing in the basement is properly introduced.
It's the Indoraptor, another genetically engineered dinosaur, created from (mostly) the I. Rex's DNA. And it's possibly the scariest dinosaur ever to appear in a Jurassic Park film. Most of the dinosaurs are just vicious animals. The Indoraptor has a twisted sense of humour and a fondness for hunting children -- specifically, Maisie. It even smiles. This thing is so unlike a dinosaur that I began to wonder if it's supposed to be part-human. Dr. Wu (AKA the Dr. Frankenstein of Jurassic Park) made it, so it's not impossible.
The Indoraptor is what makes this film truly great. The first half is just average; no worse than Jurassic World but no better either. But from the minute the Indoraptor tries to grab Maisie from the shadows, the film takes a turn towards Gothic horror, and becomes a much better film for it.
Anyway, a mercenary's idiocy leads to the Indoraptor rampaging through the house, while our heroes try to evade it. At the same time poisonous gas is flooding the other dinosaurs' cells. Zia and Franklin try to get the ventilation systems to work... and accidentally turn on the lights all over the house, just when Owen, Claire and Maisie were relying on darkness to escape the Indoraptor.
The Indoraptor chases Maisie up to her bedroom. Owen tries to shoot it, but apparently Dr. Wu made it bulletproof. Then Blue arrives to save the day. Owen and Maisie escape out the window and end up on a glass roof. The Indoraptor chases them. With Claire and Blue's help they make it fall through the roof, right onto the horns of a skeleton below.
A group of men retrieve a bone sample from the I. Rex, and in the process set the Mosasaur free. Then the film skips forward to the news that a volcano is about to erupt on the island where Jurassic World used to be... and where the dinosaurs still are. Claire and Owen gather a team to rescue the dinosaurs. Meanwhile, we meet a little girl called Maisie, whose grandfather -- or rather Eli Mills, someone who works for him -- is sending a group to "help" Claire, Owen and their friends.
Maisie
Frankly, the first thirty minutes or so of the film are pretty dull. Not a dinosaur in sight, except in the prologue. I usually skip forward to when Owen meets Blue the Velociraptor, and the group Mills sent turn out to be traitors. That's when the film becomes truly interesting.
The traitors kidnap as many dinosaurs as they can before the volcano erupts. Owen, Claire and Franklin, one of their friends, manage to get on the ship before it leaves, while Zia, another of their friends, tries to treat Blue, who's been shot. This treatment requires blood from the T. Rex. Owen and Claire have to get it.
Blue
Owen, Claire... and Rexy
Mills murders Maisie's grandfather and has the dinosaurs brought to his house, where they're going to be auctioned off to the highest bidders. Meanwhile, we learn that there's something in the basement.
Owen and Claire are captured, then escape with the help of a dinosaur. (Yes, really.) They meet Maisie, and she tells them about Mills and Dr. Wu's plots. The auction has begun, and the thing in the basement is properly introduced.
It's the Indoraptor, another genetically engineered dinosaur, created from (mostly) the I. Rex's DNA. And it's possibly the scariest dinosaur ever to appear in a Jurassic Park film. Most of the dinosaurs are just vicious animals. The Indoraptor has a twisted sense of humour and a fondness for hunting children -- specifically, Maisie. It even smiles. This thing is so unlike a dinosaur that I began to wonder if it's supposed to be part-human. Dr. Wu (AKA the Dr. Frankenstein of Jurassic Park) made it, so it's not impossible.
The Indoraptor
The Indoraptor is what makes this film truly great. The first half is just average; no worse than Jurassic World but no better either. But from the minute the Indoraptor tries to grab Maisie from the shadows, the film takes a turn towards Gothic horror, and becomes a much better film for it.
Anyway, a mercenary's idiocy leads to the Indoraptor rampaging through the house, while our heroes try to evade it. At the same time poisonous gas is flooding the other dinosaurs' cells. Zia and Franklin try to get the ventilation systems to work... and accidentally turn on the lights all over the house, just when Owen, Claire and Maisie were relying on darkness to escape the Indoraptor.
The Indoraptor chases Maisie up to her bedroom. Owen tries to shoot it, but apparently Dr. Wu made it bulletproof. Then Blue arrives to save the day. Owen and Maisie escape out the window and end up on a glass roof. The Indoraptor chases them. With Claire and Blue's help they make it fall through the roof, right onto the horns of a skeleton below.
Blue standing on the Indoraptor's corpse
One threat's dealt with, but poisonous gas is still slowly killing the dinosaurs. Claire considers setting them free, but decides it would be disastrous. Instead Maisie frees them. The film ends with dinosaurs running loose all over America. Suddenly "Jurassic World" takes on a whole new meaning.
So, what do I think of the film overall?
The beginning is slow and rather dull. The plot only picks up when the volcano erupts. But thankfully, the rest of the film more than makes up for the beginning. The entire Indoraptor sequence is better than the second and third films combined. (Not that it takes much to be better than the third film...) And Maisie's origin is an interesting twist that raises all sorts of questions.
A lot of people were delighted by Dr. Malcolm's cameos at the beginning and end. Frankly, those were the dullest parts of the film for me. Dr. Malcolm has always been my least favourite of the characters from the original film. Why he appeared and not Dr. Grant or Dr. Sattler -- or a grown-up Lex or Tim -- is a mystery.
Is it available online?: I don't think so.
Rating: 7/10.
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