JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

[Jose S.M.]

I'm probably going to see it tonight. This franchise is funny to me. I absolutely love the original, probably my favorite movie ever, but I don't feel nostalgia in the sense of "they ruined my childhood with those sequels". It's like the original is always there for me to see it for a hundred time probably, and my memories of it still exists even when sequels don't do the original justice. I already have low expectations for these one since JW was just ok for me so I probably will enjoy it... I guess.

[Dinomike]

Maybe it's been talked about here before but what about Isla Sorna? That wasn't destroyed by a volcano, right?

[Jose S.M.]

From what I've read Sorna had a lot problems that lead to the extinction of their dinosaurs there. Some were transported to Nublar to be in the park, others were poached I think. Also the Dinosaur community was very unbalanced and that caused population problems.

[Takama]

This reviewer makes some interesting points about Isla Sorna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH3JKR6clec

[Shadowknight1]

I'm probably going to see it tonight. This franchise is funny to me. I absolutely love the original, probably my favorite movie ever, but I don't feel nostalgia in the sense of "they ruined my childhood with those sequels". It's like the original is always there for me to see it for a hundred time probably, and my memories of it still exists even when sequels don't do the original justice. I already have low expectations for these one since JW was just ok for me so I probably will enjoy it... I guess.

That's a very healthy outlook.  No matter what a sequel does, it shouldn't tarnish your love for the original.  If it did, I would've hated Star Wars from the minute Qui-Gon Jinn saved Jar Jar Binks.  Judge a film on its own merits, sure, but don't let it ruin the original.  That's why I didn't care about the Ghostbusters remake.  It didn't "ruin Ghostbusters" for me.  It just ruined itself by not being funny.  I think people take films way too seriously to the point that they can't enjoy them anymore these days, and I think the Star Wars fans are proof positive of that.

And Dinomike, I believe something was mentioned about it, but I have no clue what it was.  I presume that Masrani and InGen took all the animals from Sorna to start Jurassic World when it first opened.  And something else I find annoying in the trailers.  They keep saying Blue is the last of her kind.  #1, Wu took ALL the DNA, so none of them are the last of their kind, they can make more.  #2, and I don't know why this wasn't mentioned in Jurassic World, the raptors on Nublar were BREEDING.  So were the ones on Sorna!  Blue being the last of her kind makes no sense.

[Smilodon P.]

Spoiler

Was there a feathered dinosaur in Lockwood's displays? I thought I saw a tail fan and a downy coat.

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Spoiler

If you are referring to the final part, in which they are trying to escape the indoraptor and enter a diorama with small dinosaurs that looks like pelicanimimus, I think so

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[Cretaceous Crab]

Just saw it today with my family.

Spoiler

For starters, I enjoyed it. After seeing so many trailers, a lot of the film was predictable, but the surprises were still pleasant. But going forward, I'm going to adopt the policy of my older sister, and just not watch trailers anymore, so that my movie experiences will be more fresh & enjoyable. If I had to rank it compared to the other JP films, I would say it is a close tie with Jurassic World (2015) for second place, with the original JP film being my #1 favorite. There are elements from both JW and JWFK that I like and dislike, but taking each as a whole, they were both enjoyable.

Here are my critiques:

1) I felt that the first act was a little rushed. I might have liked to see more actual captures from the "rescue" mercenaries, especially the large carnivores. Seemed like they bagged the rex and the carno pretty quickly after Rexie attacked the carno at the gyrosphere.

2) After Wu stated that the indoraptor needed a familial bond, specifically a mother, I wish the film had explored that angle more. I'm assuming that was a primary reason they needed Blue, but Blue and Indo immediately just fought each other to the death. But who knows? Maybe that will come up in the next film

3) I, too, thought the reveal of Maise as a clone was a little letdown. I also half-expected her to be the daughter of Claire or Lex or something. Likewise, I'm suspect of that close-up of her eyes at the end, like there's more yet about her we don't know.

4) I love seeing new species added into the mix, but I also like continuity. Since there was no mention of some of these species, in the 2015 JW film, mainly Carnotaurus, Stigi, Allosaurus, Sinoceratops, etc, I felt it odd that there were so many "new faces" in this latest film. But I guess we can just write them all off as Henry Wu's secret stash of dinos off exhibit.

5) Knowing what we know of mosasaurs, I find it hard to believe that there was that much skeletal remains of the Indominus 3 years after the fall of JW. I would imagine what huge chunks of anatomy that were not ingested completely would have been pulverized. And if they weren't, I would imagine saltwater would have dissolved most of the skeleton. IN any case, mosasaurus could not strip meat off bones.

6) The Indoraptor's death was a little anticlimatic, but not terribly disappointing.

7) I really was not a fan of the musical score. Not that Michael Giacchino is a bad composer, its just that the ominous gothic tone of the second act was just too distant from the traditional motifs we have heard in the four previous films.

I don't care what anyone says; when Rexie enters the zoo, that lion would high-tailed it out of there. Not even backing up a step was just too unrealistic for lion behavior.

9) After already hearing there was a post-credit scene, it too was a little bit of a letdown. Maybe Marvel has set the bar for those things a little high, LOL.

---

In any case, I cannot wait to watch the next film in this franchise. 2021 will not come too soon.

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[Gwangi]

Spoiler

2) After Wu stated that the indoraptor needed a familial bond, specifically a mother, I wish the film had explored that angle more. I'm assuming that was a primary reason they needed Blue, but Blue and Indo immediately just fought each other to the death. But who knows? Maybe that will come up in the next film

He was talking about the next Indoraptor, since the one they already had was only a prototype. Since Blue responded so well to human commands they wanted to pass that trait down to future Indoraptors.

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[Gwangi]

I think it's time for a spoiler thread where we can discuss the film, instead of having to work around spoiler tags. I'll start one with my thoughts on the film when I get the time but someone else can certainly start one if they want. I saw it, I wanna talk about it!

[laticauda]

I enjoyed the movie but........I continued to be annoyed by how current movies are being made.  There were so many almost moments during the movie were they could have made this a great stand alone movie but....they had to ruin it each time.  Without any spoilers, the movie could have been made very dark, scary, and moody but....they had to rush through it for typical nonsense action scenes.  It could have been really emotional...but again they sped through the scenes so you really didn't have time to get the true emotional attachment.  Also, around every turn they have to add a nostalgic or iconic moment from movies past, which take away from the current story. Its like they were worried that kids would be scared if they pushed it too far, but action fans would have been bored if they didn't have enough action.  Watch Aliens, and they could have done something similar (in terms of mood and pacing).  Imagine if they either did just the first half OR second half of the movie and really took time to build up the suspense or awe but instead of what they gave us.... a fast drive by of a movie.  Its a shame. 

I really did enjoy the movie but it is forgettable instead of memorable, just like many movie that have been made the last ten years. 

[Appalachiosaurus]

My initial reaction was disappointment, probably because of the horrible marketing, easily 90% of the movie spoiled in the trailers, but thinking back on it it wasn't half bad. Watching it again today to cement my thoughts, but it seems there still hasn't been a JP movie I truly disliked.

Spoiler

Was there a feathered dinosaur in Lockwood's displays? I thought I saw a tail fan and a downy coat.

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Spoiler

If you are referring to the final part, in which they are trying to escape the indoraptor and enter a diorama with small dinosaurs that looks like pelicanimimus, I think so

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It was a mononykus.

[EmperorDinobot]

I...I don't have any words.





Except for the fact that I'm hosting a contest. You could win a Mosasaur. Go to the Classifieds page and see for yourself.

[Papi-Anon]

No spoilers, don't worry.

Much of it was predictable to me, and some parts made me shake my head in disappointment. I know these are movie monsters and not supposed to be how actual non-avian dinos behaved (or looked), but some scenes were so poorly thought out in terms of how any given animal would behave in some certain situations (I'm looking at all three of you, Baryonyx, Carno and Rexy).

Indoraptor was a fun dino to watch, though. Reminded me of the xenomorphs in the Alien franchise (also a long-time favorite for me). Have no regrets getting the articulated Mattel figure. Might even get a second to repaint.

Zia was my favorite supporting character, such a badass paleo-veterinarian.

I also liked the dynamic of Macie and how she brings something to the Jurassic-universe that I never even considered.

And of course, seeing my favorite dino Allosaurus making her first Jurasssic-movie debut made up for at least half of the setbacks. I only hope she appears again in any future Jurassic movie(s).

All in all, I'd give it a B+. Will definitely see it again in theatres, buy the DVD, and continue collecting the Mattel figures.

On that last note, I splurged today and now have both the regular Colossal Rexy and the Electronic Battle- Damaged Colossal Rexy. Might mod one into a Giganotosaurus.

[ITdactyl]

I...I don't have any words.

Ok, now I'm really curious what @EmperorDinobot thinks about the movie.

In hindsight, I may have posted a strong opinion in an older post against bashing this movie/series.  I hope that no one in the forum thinks I'm against posting individual misgivings about JP/JW.  That wasn't my intention (I'm also not assuming I have any influence on what people post  )

[Jose S.M.]

I saw the movie last night. I was entertained for most part but it has some momentos that felt of. The structure of the movie spoiled the first half, we knew Owen, Claire and Blue were going to make it out alive, same for Franklin and Zia, I liked those two as well as Maisie, who I think was the best kid in the franchise since the first movie. I also feel the acting was better this time and some of the character's writing too, specially Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire (Aside from not wanting to go to the island first, Owen was the same as before), I didn't liked her at all in JW and in this one I like her a lot better.

I think the Dinosaurs look better in this one than in JW and I there were so many in the volcano scene, I love that, they gave us lots of dinos! Of course I was really sad about the island burning.

Spoiler

Now, even if I was spoiled, the scene with the Brachiosaurus was really sad, people was silent during most of the scene, some reactions when they saw it walking towards the dock and then silence.
I prefer the Indoraptor than the Indominus, it was so creepy. The Sinoceratops was badass, it kick the tail out of the crazy Carnotaurus , I love that since herbivores tend to be treated as food for the most part. Stiggy was a star too, I was afraid it was going to get too humanized but no, it was hilariously confused and angry to be there, it just wanted to headbutt it's way to safety and I'm glad it wasn't hurt.
The human cloning aspect was fine, if there's dinosaurs being cloned I don't see how that's unrealistic. Releasing of the animals in the wild was very bad idea and I'm glad the supposedly responsible people were actually responsible, it had to be Maisie who let them loose because they are like her (I'm not really into the justification, but she's a kid, was just finding she's a clone and was very confused so I give her that)

On to things I didn't liked, first the volcano science was worst than the dino science, how did Owen (and some dinos) survived the piroclastic flow  . The blood transfusion thing was crazy too and the bad guys were too stereotypical and died in very over the top ways, Mills dead surprised me, it was very violent, not bloody, just violent and I think he should have died instantly when Rexy closed its jaws on him, there's no way a person would survive being chomped like that 3 times and still be screaming. Most importantly, why is the fact that there are dinosaurs in the wild being treated like a possible apocalyptic event, in this day there are weapons that can blow them out in one hit, it sound mean and I don't want to see that but for the future plot points is something that makes no sense, even more if there's not going to be more hybrids.

I feel the marketing did wrong to Indoraptor, there were lots of shots in the movie that could have been used in the trailers without given so much away, I wouldn't have shown the stand off on the glass roof as it was the climax of its storyline.
Trailer were too spoilery, they show the ending scenes! That was really dumb in my opinion.

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[Minmiminime]

Despite numerous misgivings following the trailers, I've just seen it and I loved it 😁 I laughed, I cried, I sat so tense in the IMAX seat that I've actually pulled my poor beleaguered lower back, and it was worth it!!

On the other hand, my other half thinks it's abominable. His review is "it's not as bad as Alien: Covenant" 😂

[Mini Minmi]

I was actually very disappointed. I badly wanted to enjoy the ride and didn't even have high expectations, and it didn't even reach that.   

I tried to just turn off my brain and enjoy the show, suspension of disbelief and all that, but there were too many instances where I went "WTF? Really?". To me it felt like the film was written by a 5 year old, like decisions were made for the cool factor without thinking if it made sense.

Spoiler

Examples:
- Why did they have to make a point of mentioning the paleovet had never seen a live dinosaur? Wouldn't it have made more sense to be someone who worked at Jurassic World before it closed? They must've had vets then, it makes more sense than a vet with 0 practical experience. (She was a fun character, I just find that detail silly)
- The whole volcano science bullcaca was laughable, especially how people and animals interacted with or close to lava and how the cloud of burning ashes doesn't burn or choke anyone until that brachiosaurus.
- No one on the boat is curious who was driving the truck that jumped into the boat last minute. And no one is guarding Rexy or noticing all the racket she makes when they go to take blood from her.
- The Indoraptor escapes because the moron is collecting teeth. Not to sell the DNA to others, like I thought. Nope! It's just for a necklace!
- Why did the indoraptor run after Maisie, to the point of finding her bedroom from the outside of the mansion, if he had Claire pinned down and stabbed? It would have made sense that the indoraptor was so fixated with Maisie if she had been targeted by the laser trigger, but without it it just seem silly that a creature smart enough to fake a weakness (and smile) would ignore a mansion full of people and a whole outside world full of smells and things he's never experienced before just to hunt down this one girl for no other reason that he saw her run.
- Dinosaurs sell for way too little money.
- etc.

[close]

I feel like the franchise and the actors deserved better.

[Dilopho]

Yeah, I don't know what the "lava" was. I really don't think it's actual, proper lava, but some kind of other molten goop.

Spoiler

• When it hits the Baryonyx, the Baryonyx can shake it off like ash or sand and only gets burned. But not seriously injured/.
• As it moves through the forest, it picks up a skeleton, but the skeleton just kinda..crumbles? It must have pretty solid mass to pull apart the skeleton.
• When Owen's trying to get away, he's incredibly close to it but not on fire, and this goes along with it just burning things but not actually being hot enough to kill as quickly as lava.
• He actually gets his fingers stuck in it a little, and lava doesn't act that way when it gets touched- this stuff sticks and stretches. He also doesn't seem to get hurt, but I think it's because he was just pumped full of dinosaur tranquilizer, lol.

A few scenes later, when the volcano fully erupts, we get deadlier "lava" coming out, and we know it's worse because a rock coated in it instantly sizzles through the gyrosphere's glass and boils the water around it.
Or maybe the rock is a chunk of lava?
It does take out that one poor Allosaurus, but that was combined with the headshot from the chunk.

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I actually really liked this movie. It felt super different, and I feel like this is a thing like Star Wars part 5, where it's better if you watch it sandwiched between the others (when they do inevitably make JW3).
Actually, here's my own thoughts:

T. rex:

Spoiler

I felt the T. rex was handled perfectly- yeah, she doesn't act as curious as in the first movie, but at this point she's wayyy older, has seen a lot of stuff and has just spent 3 years bulking up and hunting all the other dinosaurs with no restraints, learning that she's a top predator. You can't blame her for attacking more, lol. 
T. rex finally seems like an actual threat, for the first time since the 90's!

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Music:

Spoiler

I feel like the soundtrack is really well done, but it doesn't have the same kick to it as the JW soundtrack, mostly because it tries to use a single motif.
For me, that motif is death. It only appears in moments of heightened danger- especially with scenes involving Mt Sibo, the Tyrannosaurus and the Indoraptor, who are without a doubts the three "grim reapers" in the story.
That's not to say, however, that I dislike the motif, because I find it getting stuck in my head often- I especially love the church organ that Mt Sibo brings to it.

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Dinosaurs:

Spoiler

I loved the appearance of Carnotaurus. This felt really special, even if it didn't camoflauge, as I've been wanting to see it for years. The other new dinosaurs are really fun, too, although I do wonder why they're such odd species to choose. All of them, including Carnotaurus and Allosaurus, seem like underdogs in movies, almost never represented well outside of a few roles. I feel like Sinoceratops was practically unknown to the general public.
I think Sinoceratops was quite a nasty dinosaur in the movie; He came along, probably checked to see if Owen was edible, then kicked Carno's butt for no reason! 
I wish Dilophosaurus made a physical appearance, but I'm at least relieved that it isn't being ignored.

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Characters:

Spoiler

Alright, I don't have much to say about the characters, other than that I do like them.
They're not as well written as some of the others; Owen seems weird in the opening act, too.
My least favourite character is probably the paleo vet (I can't remember her name...Zia?) because she just..seems really mean. I know she's a good guy, and I love how capable she is, but..eh. There's no need for her passive aggressiveness. Not even Malcolm had it that high.
I actually really like Wheatley, because he's an iiiidiot. He's just loveably horrid, too. He clearly doesn't think about what he does, yet somehow he's an excellent hunter. Go figure. 

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Indoraptor:

Spoiler

Oh my goodness. I love him so much. He's definitely my favourite part of the movie, and possibly one of my favourite parts of the franchise.
You design an animal with high intelligence and make him as deadly as possible- but then it turns out wrong.
Indoraptor is very clearly mentally unstable- he's a failed prototype and was just locked away in the basement. And allll that time alone has busted a few gears in his brain, and he's been starved of killing and hunting- yet his mind is constantly telling him to!! It's his instincts!!
So when he gets out, and goes absolutely nuts in the mansion, it feels so frantic and yet there's that sense of justice in my mind. 

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Stygimoloch:

Spoiler

Baby. Baby boy. <3 Perfect.

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[Papi-Anon]

Characters:

Spoiler

My least favourite character is probably the paleo vet (I can't remember her name...Zia?) because she just..seems really mean. I know she's a good guy, and I love how capable she is, but..eh. There's no need for her passive aggressiveness. Not even Malcolm had it that high.

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Spoiler

Zia's personality was honestly refreshing. She had her moment of awe at the Brachiosaur but really seemed to be in her element since she was a paleo-vet. She could think on her feet without panicking, which was fun to see. The part where she took the wind out of Wu's sails about Blue having Rexy's blood in her system made me smile. I hope she's in the next Jurassic movie.

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[Dilopho]

Characters:

Spoiler

My least favourite character is probably the paleo vet (I can't remember her name...Zia?) because she just..seems really mean. I know she's a good guy, and I love how capable she is, but..eh. There's no need for her passive aggressiveness. Not even Malcolm had it that high.

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Spoiler

Zia's personality was honestly refreshing. She had her moment of awe at the Brachiosaur but really seemed to be in her element since she was a paleo-vet. She could think on her feet without panicking, which was fun to see. The part where she took the wind out of Wu's sails about Blue having Rexy's blood in her system made me smile. I hope she's in the next Jurassic movie.

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Spoiler

Oh yes, as a character she was great! I'd like to see her again. But her personality isn't fun for me. I know family members like her and they haven't been nice to me in the past, so it might be personal. 

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