Jurassic World (Jurassic Park 4)

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Maybe underwritten on purpose?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Jay 37,287]

Here are some other nitpicks of the film I had

-Why is Owen a masochistic jerk in that scene where Claire comes to his bungalo, and then a totally normal dude in every other scene? They should have re-written, reshot, or just edited down this scene because it sucks!

-This film had a cliche I hate; Walkie Talkies / Cell Phones that work perfectly when the script needs them too, and not at all when the script needs them not too. Bah!

-The old "all these major things happen on the same day" schtick seemed more ludicruos than usual here. Hoskins decides to visit with his team fully mobilized the same day Masrani is visiting, the same day Claire's nephews are visiting, the same day the I-Rex is shown to Masrani for the first time, which is the same day it escapes, and in the end I guess the same day Wu and Hoskins were planning on stealing embryos? It's too much!

-They make a big deal about the I-Rex having camouflage, but then he only uses it once the whole movie?

-The aviary that houses the pterodons is seemingly made of the least structurally sound stuff there is. So many other walls stand up and keep enormous dinosaurs in place, but these walls break by one I-Rex smashing in and one helicopter hitting it hard. Lame!

-Speaking of the pterodons, they escape and for some reason decide to all head to the main location where all the people are instead of scattering? And then once that sequence is over, they are never seen again? People are outside the rest of the movie and never fear them. Lazy writing!

Seriously though, if I ignore all these niggles, it is quite a fun summer popcorn film!

And it's interesting that it completely ignores anything about film 2 and 3 (and therefore the entire existence of Isla Sorna) and is more or less a direct sequel to film 1. And even then, its only Hammond, the original park, and the original T-Rex that is referenced, not any of the other characters.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

How was he masochistic?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Jay 37,287]

Eh, it's believably a park could open anyway despite some deaths.

[scallenger 481]

I haven't reported in yet because I had a hell of an adventure yesterday! Went to Universal Studios Hollywood and spent the first 3 or so hours alone because my friends were running late. So for the very first time I was at the park alone (it is 3 hours frome me almost, so I'm not close enough to always go). And I honestly had such a great time. I thought being alone at a theme park would be depressing but you get to go in the Single Riders Line there, and I walked on almost every attraction that even had 45 minute wait times! And I of course was wearing some Jurassic World stuff at the park (but a lot were), but the Jurassic Park The Ride staff noticed the wristband I was wearing. A replica of the ones you see in the film. They could tell mine was different than the ones you can actually buy at Target. And we chatted for a moment and they gave me Front of the Line passes that I can use when my friends got there to get them at the front of rides, too. AWESOME. So we had a blast when they showed up, too. One person who met up with me got to go to the premiere in Los Angeles and shared his stories of having drinks with the director and told me all of these crazy insights on the movie (spoiler-free) before seeing it, like drama at ILM, the director going off on the marketing team, etc. So cool to hear him talk about it all and how exciting it all was. We saw the film at the Universal Citywalk IMAX, which had the actual Gyrosphere vehicle right in front of it. Took pics, and some with me in front of it. I'll share some pics if you guys want.

Anyway, I got more stuff going on today, too, so I'm actually going to keep my review brief. Especially because I want to see it again to see how I still feel about it! But simply: best JP sequel. By far. Obviously not better than the original, but it was never going to be. And while this movie has many, many callbacks to the original film, it really is its own animal. It is less serious than JP, but that doesn't mean it doesn't take itself seriously. And there is actually some great action across many of the actors. The trailers and TV spots used some awkward edits and takes of their dialogue compared to how it actually is in the film. I think my favorite performances were from Bryce Dallas Howard and the little kid that played Gray. He was so good and getting emotional without getting annoying. In fact neither of the kids were annoying and were actually helpful! No "Timmy jumping up and down while everyone is about to die" scene. The dinosaurs all looked great for the most part, especially the Indominus Rex. Clearly they spent the most time on him. And the one animatronic scene (yes, there is indeed only one) was definitely the most moving moment in the film. I saw some grown-man tears from people in the screening. Not from me of course. Dear god, no. I'm far too manly...

The music was a little awkwardly placed in a few scenes, and as noted in the other thread, there is some GREAT material not on the album, as I suspected. God damn. There were some pacing issues in the first half of the film, but nothing major. But the action scenes... oh man those delivered. They so delivered. It's really just a fun movie. So much fun. And that finale... WOW. I think if I truly had one gripe, it would be that the beginning felt rushed. I really wanted to see the park more in its heyday before things turned sour. I think we only got just barely enough of it. Especially since from the website we knew just how detailed those sets were and how cool everything was. I really hope the BluRay has some interactive set features because this is a movie where they could have an incredible time with it. Btw, speaking of BluRay, I hope it also has deleted scenes. For anyone who watched the TV spots, there is ONE TV spot that has a deleted scene. Check it out at the end of it here. I am GLAD it wasn't in the movie, but I still want to see it in full.

I have to get going for now, but yes, I have decided to endorse this park! Oh, and did anyone else love the two jabs at Jurassic Park 3 in the film? One was a bit obvious, the other was more just like a reference in a way. Poor JP3. I still actually enjoy JP3 for all the dumb that it is. This movie, however, was not dumb. It was fun.

[Jay 37,287]

Heh, that deleted scene looks funny

I have no clue what jp3 jabs you are referring to, can you fill us in?

[scallenger 481]

One is when Claire starts screaming the kids names at the waterfall and Owen is making her stop like instantly. To me that was a reference to the annoying screaming of JP3 when they belted ERIC every 2 minutes. That one is more of an indirect reference I guess. But one that definitely as an obvious one was when the T-Rex breaks through the skeleton on the main street. That skeleton is a Spinosaurus skeleton. Justice.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

How was he masochistic?

He means misogynistic, I think.

[Jay 37,287]

Yes, sorry.

He was a jerk in that scene, and then a cool dude throughout the rest of the movie!

[nightscape94 965]

Okay, fine, I'll see it this weekend.

[Damien F 1,742]

I went in with extremely low expectations and it turned out to be a mixed bag - so it wasn't the disaster I thought it would be which is a pleasant surprise at least.

I felt the first half of the movie was decent, especially the introduction of the I-Rex, its fairly tense breakout and its attack on the armed squat. The "training" of the raptors wasn't as cringeworthy as I suspected, but it still didn't feel 100% right. It was cool seeing the raptors running at full speed through the jungle, something that wasn't technologically possible back in 1993.

I hated T-Rex's treatment in JP3 so I liked how this movie treated him with reverence. The end battle wasn't very entertaining though.

The constant dialog references to the original movie got very old especially the self-aware "wink-wink" attacks about focus groups, marketing and re-imagining dinosaurs for a new generation. It felt like the script was trying very hard to justify itself.

The subplot about wanting to use raptors in warfare was so f*cking stupid, I couldn't even accept it as a basic motivation for the bad guy. Even another character says the idea is insane (which I suspect was actually the actor talking to the director but it ended up in the final cut )

To paraphrase Ian Malcolm from The Lost World, militarising raptors is the worst idea in the long sad history of bad ideas.

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

Ok, i had a great night at the movies yesterday night, along with my girlfriend, another huge JP fan. She loved it.

Me, while I enjoyed the entire film, I have some issues with it.

First, all those dinosaur deaths...the previous films did not prepare us to this kind of animal destruction... but well bigger is better

Second i had hoped the park would not be affected that much and no visitor killed (utopia..i suppose. still i dont think i saw a visitor being killed per se...I feel sad for Claire's assistant though...), i thought maybe the indominous only wreack havoc in the off limits and enclosures areas, and killed many staff and military guys. So they could make at least another sequel in the park.... As it is, i think, the sequel is going to be like the ealry rumours, the genetically engineered military dinosaurs. YUCK! I had also the hope that even if the park got closed forever (as it happens) that they could make a sequel true to chrichton's book. With the biosyn plot for robbing dino eggs. lost opportunity there. it could have been biosyn in the sequel robbing eggs to military use! (as robbing them to create another park would be unbelievable and ridiculous after film one and four) and then never fullfilled because they are all killed.
I still dont know why they didnt use the carnotaurus instead of the indominous...or at least that it had been the main dna stock for it (and resembled it extermanlly), it would have been a good nod to the novel. Well, at least it camouflages in a satisfying way! (underused effect on screen as mentioned, but the dinosaur uses it throughout the whole film...)

I would have liked that the restricted area had wild raptors... (and i almost expected a full pack swarm charge when Blue did the raptor call in its final assault to the indominous. I thought that because the 1st poster featured a wild raptor nest outside the park... And we are never told what happened to the animals in from the old film, we are not even told on screen the rex is the original one, i think.

On a scientific level. I was expecting them to address the reproduction issue in the 1st film... as if now animals were surgically neutered... But no, fucking Wu even still uses DNA frog. Come on...
Also, that there would be males and females, but no..all seem to be females again...

Also no sign of the veterinarian team...only the truck and side mention... i thought they were going to show the vet team a little...

On a technical level, there is some excellent CGI, and some less good one. I noticed in the credits that there were several sfx companies so, thanks to TFA, this was not the ILM a team and it shows. Some shots of the T-Rex looked weird to me. Also, so many dinosaurs make them look less polished, specially the herbivores. The flying of the pterosaurs was not as good as the ones in JPIII, but at least the design was more accurate. The raptors were great overall.

Oh, awful CGI thrush-blackbird on the begining... yucky...

[crocodile 7,984]

What did you think of them addressing the fact those dinosaurs could never be like actual prehistoric ones?

Karol

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

A very good statement as why the JP films will never have feathered dinosaurs

On a side note one could retcon the remaks and facts made in this film and explain why the Spinosaurus in JPIII (alongside grant's comments about theme park monsters, not in the official list, what Ingen was up to) is so vicous and persistent pursuing the small team of humans (while having plenty of dinosaur prey...) That is what i always thought, but this new film seems to comfirm it a little.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I don't want my dinosaurs to look like fuckin parrots I see in my yard every day.

[chuck 154]

Some #SetbackSaturday

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The Lost World will always be the best one.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Oh come on.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

So now people dig on Jurassic Park /// and hate The Lost World? Somehow, this...this is all wrong. This is not the way it's supposed to be.

For me, Lost World has a better assortment of characters and a cooler situation where they're all thrown together on an island without fences, stalked by Dinos and forced to work together to survive. The dialogue is sharp as a six-inch retractable claw, Roland Tembo is the best character in the series, Williams knocks it out of the park with one of his coolest scores by far, the action set pieces not only deliver, they fucking kill it with the Hatari Dino roundup, trailer over the cliff, T-Rex stepping on a guy, Raptor attack scene and, of course, Ms. Rex loose in the city!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I just found JPIII a more fun flick. I liked the spinosaurus, the talking raptors, the ringtone, and the light Swiss Family Robinson vibe.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I would have figured the Godzilla reference alone would have put TLW above JP/// for you.

I didn't like any of the characters in ///, not even Grant. I thought the CGI was rather poor as well. I remember being incredibly disappointed by the Dinos. I could not get into it. It's the first film I've ever seen that I've contemplated walking out of. I remember there was a scene where William H. Macy is talking about fishing and the only thing that kept my ass in the seat was a potential awesome Dino finale...which never occurred.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Eh all nitpicky. It's a light hearted adventure movie with dinosaurs. I liked that it didn't take itself as seriously as TLW.

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

I can't believe people are sad about Zara's death. I was literally going FUCK YES, THIS IS AWESOME. It was brutal, it was fun, it was light horror and it took great advantage of the Pterosaurus. I loved it.

I was confused though about the number of Raptors that died, at first. I remember one of them seems to explode and the others get run over by the van and two remain, but then all four return. Then Blue gets "killed" by the Indominus but then she's perfectly all right. I got so confused

And why the TLW theme for Blue? It was cool, sure, but I don't think I understand why.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I hope Blue comes back in the next one. And gets a new team.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Where's David Keopp, that unlucky bastard?

[Hurmm 91]

The first really captured that sense of awe in a way very few other movies did. The second expectedly lost of that but made up for it with some stellar action. It also kept the best character from the first. The third was easily the weakest but an enjoyable romp on its own. Very forgettable though.

If the new one is as good as The Lost World I'll be very content. All I hear now on the internet is how Jurassic World shits all over the two sequels. Somehow I doubt that and find it easier to believe that people are talking out of their asses. I'm watching the new one tomorrow.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[gkgyver 1,645]

The Lost World will always be the best one.

I tend towards this, too, actually.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yikes...

[Giftheck 916]

I personally think this is the best of the sequels so far. The others had bigger flaws in them (something a bit longer on their scripts could have alleviated, I'm sure). I'm glad they addressed the concerns of the scientific community regarding the biology of dinosaurs. I didn't realise this until somebody pointed it out to me either, but the T-Rex is the original one from Jurassic Park, just 22 years older.

[leeallen01 2,133]

I personally loved Jurassic World. I didn't expect character development on the level of a 4 hour oscar-bait drama about a paraplegic aids sufferer running for President, who lost his entire family in an unfortunate boating accident. It is what it is. Fun and spectacle. A little romance. A couple of kids in danger. Lots of nostalgia. Good stuff. I only had one problem with the film, and I guess it's a pretty big one. The character motivations were terrible. Hoskins wanting to weaponise the raptors and to take them to war to hunt down terrorists etc. This isn't Jurassic Dark Thirty. What was that about? So dumb. But besides that and of course the utterly moronic overweight guard who decided to open the massive, Indominus Rex sized door, in order to escape, instead of running around to the tiny door they came into, besides those things it was great. I'm seeing it again tomorrow. This time in 3D to get the full spectacle.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Is this thread spoiler free or not?

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Not really.

[Jay 37,287]

It's not really a film you can spoil. Its a summer popcorn flick. Dinosaurs escape and eat people, the main characters live through it. Same ole same ole

Anyone so invested in the experience they don't want to be spoiled by any details has already seen it, or isn't reading discussion of it until they do

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

weaponise the raptors and to take them to war to hunt down terrorists etc. This isn't Jurassic Dark Thirty. What was that about?

Seems legit. ISIS wouldn't fuck with this:

[leeallen01 2,133]

Oh yeah also did anyone wonder where the hell the health and safety people were and how they were letting the park stay open? I mean seriously, there were kids allowed alone in those gyrospheres, where they were given complete control of them with their own joysticks and could go almost anywhere between dinosaurs that were several tonnes and in herds... Also did I see at one point there were people kayaking down a river that had huge dinos drinking and splashing etc? Massive risk of being crushed surely? Also was the avery open to the public? Because it seemed very far away from anything on the island. Also, what did people think of the mosasaur? It can clearly dive out the water, so why were the barriers so close to the waters edge, considering the end.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Jurassic World.

The first half of Jurassic World starts off with a vision of the park that is an extension of John Hammonds. Or rather....Ian Malcolm’s nightmare.

After 3 films we’ve actually never seen a Jurassic Park in action. Open to the tourists, all of them flocking to see the dino’s. That’s a pity because for the first time we actually see how incredibly stupid the concept of Jurassic Park is. Dinosaurs, custom made for a crowd looking for a day out. So we see idiotic things like a paddock where kids can ride baby triceratopses, while the parents have a coffee at one of the many franchised restaurants, or browse at the Swarovski store.

The first half actually doesn’t show a lot of dino’s. We see them not as animals, but as attractions. A sideshow amusement for the tens of thousands of paying customers. In all its brightness and color Jurassic World actually paints a rather cynical picture of what the human race does with the wonders of science at its disposal. It uses them for entertainment, or for warfare....

Like the original 1993 film it takes man’s own vanity and carelessness, and turns it against them.

There are quite a few references to the original film, and they are well done. From the return of Wu, to the sight of the original “When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth” banner in the original visitors center. And its actually nice seeing those old jeeps again.

That sentiment also extends to its ending, which in one way comes out of nowhere, yet in another way seems totally the right sort of ending. The T-Rex was became the hero of Jurassic Park in 1993, and this time it is again, with a little help from its raptor friend! It’s completely silly, yet when T-Rex and Raptor gave each other a wink of acknowledgement and went their separate ways... it worked.

The casting also works. Bryce Dallas Howard turns from a business like cold fish to someone who actually does have a Heart. Pratt is effective as Owen and actually doesn’t copy his Star Lord performance all that much. D'Onofrio relishes the role of InGen employee who doesnt understand the danger of what he’s doing and never ever will, which is why it’s good that he ends up torn apart by a Raptor. Irfan Khan is good as the man behind Jurassic World who shares John Hammonds vision, but also his blindness. And other supporting roles are rounded off nicely by the likes of Judy Greey, Omar Sy etc etc.

Like all the JP films there are some kids. Zach and Grey. And they actually aren’t annoying. The bond between the older and younger brother, sent away on a trip to their aunt while their parents (probably) arrange their divorce seems natural and unforced.

The film is nice to look at. Bright and colourful, and the CGI looks far better on the big screen then it did in 1080P on my monitor. It doesn’t always have that “strive to perfection” that Spielberg’s special effects tend to have. But very often the dino’s seemed like dino’s.

Gia’s score. The use of Williams’ The From Jurassic Park is interesting. In the 1993 film John Williams uses it to articulate the wonder and awe of actual dinosaurs, alive and walking around. Jurassic World uses this theme, in much the same arrangement as Journey To The Island, but not for the dinosaurs. Instead its convey’s the awe and majesty of the park.

Gia’s own music suits the film and it’s tone very well. This is the kind of score he can do rather well. Big, bright, nothing to complicated. Once again Gia’s themes burst out with enthusiasm but aren’t hugely articulate of filled with dept or great meaning. It’s a fine score in the film, though lacking the thematic majesty of Jurassic Park or the primal savagery of The Lost World.

So this is a good, fun and actually kinda smart summer blockbuster.

In many ways it’s a retelling of the first film, on a larger scale. But it’s well done.

*** out of ****

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

As for actually portraying Jurassic Park, I've always envisioned it like in the original film, a lot of transportation attractions and viewing area things. Also, they do it for "real" at the Universal Studios theme parks. But the trailer concept of a big Shamu show with a Dino is ridiculous, as is the gerbil wheel.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Is it any more ridiculous then capturing and training an Orca to do tricks like that?

Whats the point of that actually?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's got electric fences around the water? PETA?

[leeallen01 2,133]

I don't know about any of you, but I really thought the raptors fences should have been a little higher. They didn't seem high enough to stop an olympic gold medal raptor jump.

Just an FYI; JW is destroying the box office and making Potter finale and Avengers numbers.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yeah this film will make a HUGE amount of money

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

That's not unusual. What is unusual is that it's been 14 years since the last JP movie. What the fuck?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Why hasnt Thor chimed in yet?

[crocodile 7,984]

Thor probably hates the film. It's getting too good of a response. Which means publicist won't like it either.

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Pub will hate it, Sharky will think it's nihilistic, Alex won't care.