The Jurassic films are a unique breed of film for a lot of people in that they are always going to have widespread appeal but let's be honest here, they are never going to be terribly good stories.
People like to talk about how nothing will ever be able to top the first one but if we are being honest that film was kind of stupid, but entertaining as well. All of these films are extremely reliant on completely happenstance situations and insane coincidences in order for the story to progress and that is what we end up with in all of them. The latest release is no exception to this idea. The whole film is ridiculous
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This film starts out like all of the ones since the first one have in that they have some sort of setup to explain why there is going to be a crisis in the next scene that they are going to fast-forward to. I don't need to be too specific but needless to say a bunch of scientists are STILL working on dinosaurs even though I think they keep telling us time and time again that people aren't supposed to be doing that anymore and these scientists, once again, have a really big problem with something that results in their entire operation getting destroyed. Seriously, someone needs to dramatically overhaul the places' security protocols.
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So now a crack team of go getters, a science guy, and a greedy corporate guy that cares nothing for humanity and it only in it for the profit all need to go to some island because reasons. It doesn't really matter guys and you know it, we are all in this for the cool dinos and the really good CGI scenes that are loud and have amazing and terrifying visuals. That is and always has been the real star of the Jurassic Park films
You will get plenty of that in this film and they start it off with a bang in the water in what I consider to be some of the most terrifying dino-action that any of the JP parts have ever had. A lot of this has to do with me having a rather profound fear of deep water and also boats sinking in it.
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The entire sequences of events is loud, keeps you on the edge, and of course it is absolutely riddled with thing that don't make sense such as this creature trying to nip little snacks off of the side of boats rather than just taking the whole thing down, which it is clearly capable of doing. Also the fact that it has a problem with the boat in the first place. It's all very odd but we need it to happen otherwise our crew doesn't get conveniently stranded on the nearby island where they are hunting and being hunted by a bunch of dinosaurs including everyone's favorite.
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They do a lot of throwbacks to the first film and I don't know if this is fan-service or laziness and honestly, I do not care. once again it is stupid but entertaining and it is genuinely scary. The crowd at my cinema were jumping at the jump scares and well, I was as well. They do a good job with what they are good at and it is visually appealing.
This is what JP films are for. We don't go for an award-winning story or fantastic acting, we go for the scares, the visual buffet, and of course the rather iconic music that comes along with it all.
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Location scenes look good and they are probably done somewhere in South East Asia but that is not where we are meant to be in the film. I do not care at all. It looked nice on the screen and they did a good job of transitioning from real outdoor area to soundstage with green screen that I am sure a great deal of the movie was actually filmed on. We tend to forget that making a movie like this where almost all of the action cannot possibly be made to happen in real life, and how incredibly difficult and expensive it would be to make something like this happen.
This film just came out and so far the latest figures have it at nearly breaking even but seeing as how it is in its first weekend in Asia, and is nearly at that point, it is guaranteed to make money.
Should I watch it?
It depends I guess. I feel as though these films are actually ONLY worthwhile on the big screen because that is where their strengths truly shine. There isn't a "good" story in any of these movies and the only real reason to go and see them is for the visual spectacle that cannot be replicated on almost anyone's home screens. I probably would have turned this off before it was over if I was watching it at home but the overpowering speakers at the cinema and the huge screen made it an enjoyable time. I certainly enjoyed it a great deal more than 28 Years Later which is the only other film I have seen in the theater so far in 2025.
If you can get afford a ticket I can all but guarantee you will enjoy it because it is pretty amazing. Just don't expect anything from the story because all of that is just really dumb.
The only way to legally watch this film at the moment is in theaters