Jurassic World Rebirth, 2025.
Directed by Gareth Edwards.
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein, Niamh Finlay, and Adam Loxley.
SYNOPSIS:
Five years post-Jurassic World Dominion (2022), an expedition braves isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough.
With an ominous prologue set 17 years ago on a hidden island laboratory for conducting experiments on dinosaurs, Gareth Edwards’ Jurassic World Rebirth accomplishes two things tonally: Something is more aggressively dangerous than ever before about the larger creatures (hinting at one given the name D-Rex), signifying that there is a slight horror element to the proceedings, as if the filmmaker (working from a screenplay by David Koepp, and of course based on characters created by Michael Crichton although, thankfully, there is no shamelessly out of control nostalgia pandering that plagued the last entry, Dominion) is taking a page from his work on the 2014 Godzilla and applying it to this franchise. The other noteworthy observation is that, given how much chaos a Snickers wrapper causes in what feels like a scene that could have been the basis for a Final Destination kill, Gareth Edwards is here to have fun and get playfully ridiculous with the material rather than let it become bogged down by self-seriousness.
Flashing forward to the present day, the film also has intriguing world-building in that not only are dinosaurs slowly dying off again due to climate factors that have caused the majority of them to retreat to areas surrounding the equator (where the world has been mostly left unchanged and they can better acclimatize themselves to the environments), but the average person is indifferent. Judging by an escaped zoo dinosaur blocking the roads as a workforce tries to resolve the situation and recapture it, they have become a hindrance to humanity. The shiny sheen of bringing them back has worn off to a degree that even museums, fixated on them, are struggling to draw people in. Even children aren’t necessarily in awe of them. Naturally, it also doesn’t help that bringing dinosaurs back to life has caused more disasters than anything.
However, mercenary Zora (Scarlett Johansson) has been hired by Big Pharma suit Martin (Rupert Friend) to bring along paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) on an equator expedition across land, air, and sea, extracting samples of blood from the most enormous dinosaurs of each type (which also live the longest) that can be used to further groundbreaking cures for heart conditions, which Zora’s mother has happened to die from. She insists that Martin not make it personal, agreeing to do the job for the proposed $10 million. Henry reluctantly joins the expedition to observe and learn more about dinosaurs in their natural habitat, while also being assured that they won’t be harmed during this mission.
Zora recruits longtime mercenary friend Duncan (Mahershala Ali), who has a ship for the journey, with his crew members also getting involved. Meanwhile, Martin has brought aboard additional security muscle in the form of Bobby (Ed Skrein), a more intense man opposed to Henry’s pacifist approach toward dinosaurs minding their own business. Narrowing in on the friendship between Zora and Duncan, the screenplay allows for room early on to establish regrets and mistakes in their lives, almost painting them as somewhat pathetic in their acceptance to get rich off this job considering someone like Martin has no genuine interest in saving lives, but rather controlling the market for the cure and further getting obscenely wealthy from cures.
In a decision that doesn’t entirely work regarding pacing and flow, there is also a civilian family sailing across the area, including dad Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his two daughters, the college-bound Teresa (Luna Blaise) and young Isabella (Audrina Miranda), along with the former’s slacker and often shirtless comedic relief boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono), in an attempt at joy and bonding not quite going as planned. Nevertheless, once something triggers the underwater dinosaurs, causing them to tip over the family’s boat, they must come together if they are going to survive, finding themselves crossing paths with the expedition team. There are also some pleasantly subversive elements here, namely that while Xavier is dimwitted and lazy beyond belief, he is revealed to be a good person at heart and a boyfriend who chooses to act first and think later when Teresa is in peril.
Once Jurassic World Rebirth establishes these characters, it primarily consists of a series of thrilling set pieces that alternate between these groups of characters, evoking the spirit and tension of the original Jurassic Park. While the majority of these characters are protected from danger by the nature of the plot, that’s also what makes it more impressive that Gareth Edwards keeps those dicey encounters with dinosaurs engaging. Whether it’s Scarlett Johansson harnessed over the railing of a ship, trying to fire a blood-extraction dart into a humongous underwater dinosaur (that will then self-eject with a parachute holding in the air until it’s retrieved) or a family causing distractions for one another after a dinosaur throws them all off a life raft, there is an inventiveness here utilizing the creatures in ways the franchise hasn’t yet before.
One gets caught up in the dynamism and the exciting spectacle, setting aside movie laws or the reality that, at a certain point, the film is no longer interested in its characters beyond changing allegiances and making morally righteous choices. And while there are green screen backgrounds throughout some of the set pieces, much of the action still has weight and life to it (shot through a mixture of studios and real locations), with some astonishing visual effects work on the dinosaurs.
The third act also pays off the prologue in an equally compelling fashion, this time with a dash of fright, as the results of those experiments are visibly witnessed. Long ago, video game development studio Capcom did a riff of Resident Evil with mutated dinosaurs called Dino Crisis, and the sights and sounds of what is here are more along the lines of that; one could easily envision the monstrosity that terrorizes these characters at the end fitting right in as a final boss battle there. It’s also where Scarlett Johansson is given ample time to shine in action hero mode, surrounded by characters that are actually likable.
Monster movies or not, that’s also an area Gareth Edwards has reliably succeeded in. The dinosaurs may be dying again, but here with the admittedly overstuffed Jurassic World Rebirth, the filmmaker has breathed new life into the franchise through some clever mutations of his own while understanding how to craft Spielbergian wonder and adventure.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
