Sooner or later, the Jurassic Park story was going to have to move on from Isla Nublar and onto bigger and better things. In 1997’s The Lost World, the idea first popped into our heads. An actual T.rex in America. The possibilities were endless.
Five movies in, we finally get a little taste of what this is going to be like. What the filmmakers had to figure out is how to keep this story evolving. They can’t just keep contriving new variations of the same core premise each time.
In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a volcano is going to erupt on the dinosaurs’ island and there is expected controversy of whether to save them or let them go extinct a second time around. But instead of taking the entire movie to debate this, it’s solved within the first act. And by the end, it may help you come to your own conclusion.
Eventually this leads us to a mansion in Northern California, where dinosaurs are being auctioned off to billionaires. I don’t have to tell you that what follows is catastrophic.
Confining the premise of these films to a new setting is brilliant and perhaps even more terrifying. The pacing of Fallen Kingdom is just about flawless, as the narrative is along the lines of Mad Max: Fury Road.
It’s funny that the main protagonists of these movies are always catalyzing the terror that follows: running from the only predators who aren’t inherently afraid of humans.
What makes the Jurassic Park movies so great is how they are so straight forward. They don’t try to bother you with extra information. Less is more. And with Fallen Kingdom, the no frills premise is paired with nonstop action and intensity, nearly matching that of the original 1993 film. It’s easily the best installment in 25 years.
The Twizard 