Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Bayona filmed a kid’s nightmare. A dinosaur in the bedroom! I’m pleasantly surprised that this sequel wasn’t conceived just as a cash grab and that they cooked up a story that fairly original to the extent possible. Though it's full of illogical actions and human stupidity, it's also entertaining (both the opening with the volcano and the chase around the Victorian house). The ending offers an interesting promise for the future. I’m already looking forward to part 3. (07/09/2018)

I'm sorry to say that the magic of the previous film (not to mention Spielberg's original) isn't repeated this time. The dinosaurs are great and often enter the scene in a fully horror way, although the strange script makes some of them unadulterated action heroes and because of it, the film definitely has the worst (lamest) finale of the entire series. Chris Pratt is fine, but this time he's a superman rather than the cheeky sympathetic Owen from Jurassic World, the character played by Bryce Dallas Howard has almost nothing to say at all, and (except perhaps for Ted Levine) I probably won't even remember any of the villains... And I consider Jeff Goldblum's bark to be the greatest betrayal. It’s too bad, because the second Jurassic World looks really great, has some really good scenes (the one with the Brachiosaur standing on its hind legs is 100% moving) and thanks to the bombastic music by Michael Giacchino it also sounds great, but the result is quite similar to Jurassic Park III. (21/06/2018)

When you write something so perfectly stupid, you do it either out of incompetence or with creative intent. I give precedence to the second option because Bayona knows where his horror roots lie and thus deftly guides the camera and the special effects, and the actors declaiming like hell and notching clichés into the seat in front of you will stop entertaining you after an hour. However, the slight genre detour with the slamming of the ferry doors works in its favor, and while there are no surprises, it is at times as suspenseful and bloody as its rating will allow. The rain ropes have been passé for a while now, and I would have left 20 minutes on the cutting room floor, but the feeling of a high-octane ride where both lava bombing and sneaking around in the dark work, and which still finishes decently enough a couple of hours after leaving the movie theater, eventually washes it away. (27/06/2018)

In its magnificent moments, this is a tremendous experience, and in the surprisingly intimate finale, a flawless combination of an homage to the classic Jurassic Park while at the same time rectifying everything that did not work at the time in Jurassic Park: The Lost World. This seemingly impossible combination ultimately results in the second-best installment of the entire saga, confidently stepping towards a trilogy and solidifying Chris Pratt's position as the darling of the masses. 90% (10/08/2018)

I've been a fan of Jurassic Park since I first saw it years ago, so I took the return of the giant lizards in the form of a new trilogy as a great and fresh idea. I loved the first Jurassic World! The second didn't win me as much sympathy as its predecessor on first viewing, but after the second screening I found myself liking the film more. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS!) Technically, it is a work of craftsmanship and quality, which is expected for this brand. I was intrigued by the moral level of the film, dealing with whether artificially created dinosaurs have the right to live, or whether they should go extinct for a second time. While the first half of the film takes you back to the park, where I liked the idea of the erupting island (the scene with the dinosaurs and actors fleeing the erupting volcano was excellent, and I take the shot of the moaning brachiosaurus left on the dying island as one of the most powerful moments in the entire franchise), the second half relies heavily on the cramped confines of a big house, which turns into a slaughterhouse in one awkward moment. The first Jurassic World had the Indominus Rex, the second installment introduced the Indoraptor, whose presence made for some atmospherically creepy moments (the scene in Maisie's room is one that no horror film should be ashamed of, and I felt a whiff of the director's previous film, The Orphanage). Overall, I liked the sequences with the dinosaurs arriving on the scene, like the opening with the mosasaur and the T-Rex. I also enjoyed the small cameo by Jeff Goldblum, who had that moralising function in the film. As I mentioned, I had mixed feelings about Fallen Kingdom after the first screening, but after a second viewing I give the film a weaker four stars. (23/12/2018)