Year of Release: 2025
Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Bechir Sylvain, Philippine Velge, Ed Skrein, Adam Loxley, Niamh Finlay, Lucy Thackeray
Genre: Action, Adventure
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
Following the little seen "The Creator", director Gareth Edwards is back, reuniting with screenwriter David Koepp, who has been one of the constant creative forces across the "Jurassic Park" series, since he originally adapted Michael Crichton's book for producer/director Steven Spielberg (in 1993). The narrative focuses on the story of Zora Bennett, a consultant/fixer/mercenary, who meets with a man by the name of Martin Krebs, who works for a a titan of a pharmaceutical company. Krebs wants to hire her and a team of her choice, alongside a paleontologist by the name of Dr. Henry Loomis, to retrieve biomaterial samples from 3 distinct Dinosaurs, all of which they believe will enable them to successfully use as a baseline to develop a treatment for cancer. They know they have to move fast since they suspect that the remaining dinosaurs are going extinct due to climate changes. Zora agrees to the mission, and recruits a team of people she has worked with in the past, including Duncan Kincaid, LeClerc, Nina, and Bobby Atwater. They all travel to Ile Saint-Hubert, and while pursuing the aquatic Mosasaurus, the process isn't as straightforward as they initially thought it would be. To make matters worse, they trace a rescue beacon nearby that turns out to be from a father, his two daughters, and the boyfriend from one of the girls, whose sailboat was overturn by that Mosasaurus. While they manage to salvage the family, and collect the first sample, additional dinosaurs are in the water, Spinosaurus, who attack the ship, forcing them to abandon the vessel. The rescued family is once again on their own, while Zora, Henry, and the surviving team hit the water. Duncan stays onboard until the ship crashes the shore of a nearby island. As it turns out, the island is a former center where dinosaur mutations were being tested and created, and has been abandoned for a while. Zora informs them that a helicopter will come by to the lab located in the island to check on them since their ship has stopped communication. That will only happen the following day, which enables them to get the additional samples they need on the island. In the meantime, the family also hits the same island, and decides to follow a line of tubes that lead all the way to the central lab, in the hopes they can leverage a radio to find someone to pick them up.
This 7th episode of this franchise, tries to go back to the original source of the series, while not bringing back any of the characters of any of the prior installments. While this film isn't as mediocre as the prior installment from Colin Trevorrow, "Jurassic World: Dominion", which was released in 2022, it doesn't necessarily move the narrative any further, and ultimately it feels like a rehash of prior films, only with different players. The biggest question one eventually has to ask while watching this film, is not so much about the motivation of these characters, or even who they are, it's more why was this film even made. The film isn't offensive or even poorly rendered, it's simply something that feels repetitive and not particularly fresh. The characters that populate this film are thinly established, but they benefit from having solid actors bringing them to life, even if they are indeed clichés without much novelty to them (the days of Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm with their particularities and idiosyncrasies are long gone). The whole aspect of the lost family and the exploring team, also don't gel and mix very well, which may be the goal for the narrative, but it comes across as two distinct episodes that never find a way to mesh effectively (Steven Spielberg is definitely more deft at bringing an emotional depth to his portrayal of families in strained situations, more so than Gareth Edwards). There are some sections of the film that bring to mind the original "Jurassic Park" (the scenes with the T-Rex for instance), whereas others are a mishmash of digital effects that make the film less successful (particularly in the final chapter of the film). The cast is solid, particularly Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Rupert Friend, whereas Jonathan Bailey and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo feel a bit miscast and lost. The production team is solid, particularly John Mathieson's cinematography, Alexandre Desplat's score, and James Clyne's production design (dare I say it, quite impeccable). It's a puzzling film, mostly for its existence, not necessarily for its quality.
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