Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

[Hardback247]

Please don't take franchises you love so personally.

[dgoswald]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Please don't take franchises you love so personally.

I agree.

[Show spoiler]Btw, Star Wars is crap.

[Hardback247]

I still won't miss this movie for the world.

[Groot]

People complain when you give them something different, they complain when it's more of the same. If it has dinosaurs and Pratt running around they met my expectations. I read the spoilers, everything sounds cool to me.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Groot

People complain when you give them something different, they complain when it's more of the same. If he has dinosaurs and Pratt running around they met my expectations. I read the spoilers, everything sounds cool to me.

Audiences don't even know what they want anymore. Why is that?

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Audiences don't even know what they want anymore. Why is that?

I honestly don't know. I'm almost ready to blame social media and over-saturation of media/marketing making people expect things not presented or more shut off from ideas that aren't on their hyper-focused agendas. Other than that, I can't figure it out. I don't recall the amount of complaints about movies (or entertainment in general) at the scale it goes on now even 5-10 years ago.

Not saying some films aren't just outright bad, but when you got adults getting in vile arguments over disney animation trailers something's up.

[testmon112]

I'm willing to watch this with tempered expectations, but seeing the aggregates I'm a bit gutted because I really like Bayona's work on A Monster Calls, which I thought was one of the best small films of 2016. One the few recent films that really hit me in the cinema.

[Leonidas King]

Originally Posted by testmon112

I'm willing to watch this with tempered expectations, but seeing the aggregates I'm a bit gutted because I really like Bayona's work on A Monster Calls, which I thought was one of the best small films of 2016. One the few recent films that really hit me in the cinema.

You need to see The Orphanage and The Impossible. In fact, all his three previous films are really great.

It looks as if big Hollywood movies like this one are not really his thing, bummer.

[samlop10]

Reviews are spread all over the place. I can’t remember the last movie that got these many different mixed reviews and opinions, including the specific positive and negative things. It is so incredibly inconsistent from review to review it’s almost amazing, lol. Even The Last Jedi, while very split in reactions and opinions, it was consistent within each of those groups. In this one, there is no clear split. Some loved it, others think it’s the worst in the franchise so far, others thought it was mostly good with a little bad, others thought it was mostly bad with a bit of good, and others thought it was equally good and bad. Goodness, lol. I’m just going to watch the film with an as wide open mind as possible and try to enjoy it.

By the sounds of it there is a change of tone that goes from grand disaster spectacle to more intimate, claustrophobic suspense sequences in the second half. I’m actually ok with that as I think those types of sequences are the ones that have more strength in the other chapters, and even the original had more suspense/horror sequences than grand action ones. It also sounds like a reset

[Show spoiler] with the island getting wiped off by the volcano

, basically forcing future films to do something different and away from the island.

I’m still very excited to watch it .

[Hardback247]

There seems to be no generally positive or negative consensus for new installments in geek movie franchises.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

There seems to be no general consensus for new installments in geek movie franchises anymore.

Infinity War escaped unharmed, mostly, from this. The majority of critics and fans loved it.

[Hardback247]

Originally Posted by Groot

Infinity War escaped unharmed, mostly, from this. The majority of critics and fans loved it.

Geek movie franchises aside from the MCU, I mean.

[dgoswald]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

There seems to be no generally positive or negative consensus for new installments in geek movie franchises.

In recent years, some of the most lambasted films have been enjoyable and coherent than I expected. Whether that has something to do with a subconscious lowering of expectations on my part, or critics focusing their analysis on secondary or tertiary aspects that don't apply to the ultimate quality and appeal of a piece, is debatable. I wouldn't go as far as declaring the critics are wrong, but occasionally they do miss the point. It is an opinion after all albeit one rooted in a greater understanding of the medium compared to the average Joe. Whilst it hasn't exactly become a personal rule of thumb, I'm more likely to enjoy something if it does provoke a mixed reaction.

[samlop10]

Originally Posted by Leonidas_King

You need to see The Orphanage and The Impossible. In fact, all his three previous films are really great.

It looks as if big Hollywood movies like this one are not really his thing, bummer.

Definitely agree with that about his previous films.

In regards to the second thing, one element the reviews do seem to be consistent about (and it seems to be the only thing that is consistent among them), is that visually the film is a clear winner. Perhaps the script (which he doesn’t seem to have worked on) doesn’t have the depth of his other films but visually it sounds like it’s a treat. A lot of the reviews say that the action/disaster in the first half is handled extremely well (very intense and thrilling), and the suspense/horror sequences in the second half are equally intense and thrilling, but of course, suspense-wise instead of grand action. And overall the camera work/movements are very good and add energy and excitement to the picture.

[Hardback247]

The RT rating is back to 62%.

[spanky87]

Trevorrow wrote this? Ew.

[The Dark Shape]

Originally Posted by Hardback247

Please don't take franchises you love so personally.

I don't take it personally. Burn the original to the ground if you have to, but by god, build something interesting in its place.

This is a boring movie with boring and/or annoying characters (my god, the comic relief nerd in this flick) running around a boring mansion.

[Creed]

Originally Posted by spanky87

Trevorrow wrote this? Ew.

I assume you're happy that he's not doing Episode IX.

[spanky87]

Originally Posted by Creed

I assume you're happy that he's not doing Episode IX.

Yes, I've been able to sleep easier since he got boot. JP fans are stuck with him now.

[taei]

Saw the movie last night.... Personally, I think I liked it.

No spoilers below:

1. The Love of the Franchise: I find it quite shocking that some are saying that fans are hating the movie. I think we've endured worse Jurassic movies, so it ain't that bad. Although, I will say, this movie takes a lot of liberties with 'Jurassic Park' and the lack of humility and respect displayed here is shocking. The Jurassic Park theme is barely in this movie!

2. The stories: Yes, this movie does seem like it's 2 movies stuck together in one. Sadly, I think people need to get over this. It's the norm in today's movies, and while it is not ideal nor particularly professional/creative... It is what studios want their blockbusters to be like. In the movie's defense, it tries really hard to tie the two together, and I think that with more refinement, they might have actually succeeded.

3. The Settings: Unlike everyone else, I actually preferred the mansion/manor over the island. Folks, if you've seen the trailers or even randomly saw the TV spots, you've seen every notable scene in the island. The only thing left on the island is the human-to-human interactions.. And like one or two scenes. Part of why I enjoyed the second half more is because I LOVED the Indoraptor.

Overall thoughts: Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom gets the big things wrong and gets the small things right. It's one heck of a ride. Fun, thrilling, and terrifying. Its really scary for a PG-13 movie and the kids in my screening were screaming their lungs out in fear! It was phenomenal! As a Jurassic Park fan (who liked Jurassic World), I'm taken back by the developments in this movie, but still had a good time.

Spoilers:

The Jurassic Park Legacy:

[Show spoiler]As I mentioned above, the amount of disrespect for the original movie really shocked me... and I felt that it was only done to impose a sense of ownership.. (most likely by Trevorrow...). The destruction of the island felt unnecessary, especially since it magically happens right as the human characters were about to leave the island. The lack of the Jurassic Park musical theme is inexcusable, especially when we see the Brachio for the first time. Again, ownership, they had a new theme and they wanted to use it more than the classic. I mean, couldn't they use the original theme in one of the 2 T-Rex scenes? Also, I felt that the movie tried to pander a lot to the fans by bringing back Jeff Goldblum. And lastly, the T-Rex was underused, acting more like a secondary Dinosaur rather than the queen that she was in the earlier movies.

Raptors:

[Show spoiler]Blue is in this, and just like in World, she is just a pack animal. They made a point in the movie that Raptors were the second most intelligent species in the world... But I don't see that in Blue.. She's just.. compassionate? The level of intelligence and precision shown by the raptors in Jurassic Park is still missing from any raptors outside that movie. Ultimately, Blue's role is more akin to a loyal dog fighting to protect it's owner.

Maisie:

[Show spoiler]Did not see it coming... I thought it would be revealed that she was Lex's daughter.. But also, didn't feel like it was explored properly. I did think that she made Mills be a great villain!

The Indoraptor:

[Show spoiler]The Indoraptor started out with one hell of a personality, but as the movie went on, we started to see less of that and more of a slasher monster. I mean, this dino gripped me from its first appearance. The moment it extends it's arms and plays around with Maisie's hair, it was just so expressive with just that! The scenes following when it was in the cage, were amazing as well. I loved how it was reacting to the Stygi wreaking havoc and basically begging for it to break the cage.. And the wicked smile he had on his face when he was toying around with Wheatly was sensational! But as I said, as the movie went on, it lost its personality and became a slasher monster. I don't know why they introduced the idea of Blue being his mother.. but didn't really go anywhere with it... And looks wise, he was amazing. Both when he's on all four or on two legs. And the shiny metallic scales worked really well!

The Ending:

[Show spoiler] I was FURIOUS that the marketing gave away the majority of the ending. However, I was more furious with Maisie for opening that gate. I think Claire understanding the consequences and accepting them was really good, but was completely ruined because eventually it was opened. And what will that accomplish exactly? There are currently 7 billion people on the planet and there are only like a dozen of Dinosaurs out there. Given that they still have the lysine contingency and I'm assuming Jurassic World fixed the breeding issue... Will they really survive for that long? Also, whatever happened to Site B? Isla Sorna... Why couldn't they just take them there?