Jurassic World Rebirth movie review: As far as a reason to go poking dinosaurs goes, this is more altruistic than a theme park. A greedy big pharmaceutical corporation (there is no other kind) is hoping to source blood and tissue samples from live dinosaurs, as big as can be found, to develop a solution to heart attacks. Bigger a dinosaur equals bigger coronary muscles, and so on.
That means going into a forbidden dinosaur zone around the equatorial region, and hence a team comprising the pharma firm employee, a scientist and some mercenary special operation types must come together for an expedition. The goal is to collect a sample each from a dinosaur species that lives on land, in water and in air, to cover all the bases.
On screen, this translates into a chance to wrestle the big, heaving, snarling creatures three different ways. It also provides a chance to a pretty impressive cast, in front and behind the camera, to showcase their skills.
Director Gareth Edwards has been polishing his craft in special effects and special dangers (Monsters, Godzilla, The Creator) for more than a decade-and-a-half now, while writer David Koepp was associated with the original Jurassic Park (circa 1993, circa Steven Spielberg), and has written other franchise starters such as Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible.
Together, they have a film that keeps the heart both pounding and beating. The emotions seem real, the friendships are tender, a family of a father, two daughters and a boyfriend is not awkward at all, and even the tropes of the nerdy and the greedy, you can live with. As for the dinosaurs, they are mostly “mutants” here, the results of genetic fiddling gone wrong. And so they are large, and scary, and angry, attacking with their beaks or teeth or jaws or claws, overturning a raft and trampling a jeep. But if they are relentless and tireless most of the time, there is also a quiet moment in the sun, in a field full of tall grass, when two of them are necking and, subtly and gently, one can see their arousal.
Johansson and Ali play the special operation experts, both bringing a special something to their battle-hardened personas. They are hired by the pharma shark played by Friend to sail to somewhere near Suriname, in pursuit of the dinosaurs. Bailey is a dinosaur expert caught in a dead-end job at a museum, who jumps at the chance of seeing his beloved creatures in their real, natural habitats; he gets at least one teary-eyed moment on seeing the creatures up close. Garcia-Rulfo, Blaise, Iacono and Miranda are together the family whose small boat trip crosses paths with the film’s big adventure.
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Given that these waters are known to house dinosaurs, it is reckless in the extreme for father Reuben to be sailing alone with his teenage daughter, her lazy boyfriend and another daughter who is just a child. However, it provides Rebirth the child who will then be put in harm’s way, a running theme of Jurassic Park/World films.
This is the seventh film in the Jurassic series, and the wonder of seeing dinosaurs stride across the screen has naturally worn off over the past 30 years. The best Edwards and Koepp can hope for is awe, and Rebirth does capture that – till it decides to go on and on, and starts repeating itself.
The one thing we have not seen earlier, and wish there had been more of, happens right at the beginning. Humans are so used to dinosaurs by now that no one is even coming to the zoos for a glimpse. Then, one day, a bored sauropod decides to plonk itself right in the middle of a crossing in Manhattan, leaving New Yorkers in a jam, cursing and honking.
“Ooh, ah. That’s how it always starts. But then later, there’s running and, umm, screaming,” so said Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm in one of the first Jurassic Parks. Bet he didn’t see a road jam coming.
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Jurassic World Rebirth movie cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda
Jurassic World Rebirth movie director: Gareth Edwards
Jurassic World Rebirth movie rating: 3 stars
