JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

[Shadowknight1]

Just got back from seeing it.  In general, I really liked it.  For specifics, I'll go to spoilers.

Spoiler

Okay, so.  The Brachiosaurus scene really choked me up.  Seeing the island burn was a punch in the childhood.  The realization that Owen's reunion with Blue takes place in what used to be Rexy's enclosure, complete with the wrecked Explorer, was a nice subtle nod.  The lava physics....yeah, that bugged me, but science has taken a back seat in these films ever since the basic premise of cloning animals from amber preserved mosquito blood.  I figured Maisie was a clone when they hid the fact that she never saw her mother, even in pictures and it makes sense that even Hammond would think that's going too far.  Rexy only having the one real "hero" moment was nice.  Yes, she ate the bad guy, but that wasn't to save anyone.  That was just a rex eating cause she was probably hungry and we're easy prey.  Blue leaving Owen might have been out of resentment, but even she knows that he would've had to contain her in some way if she went with him and neither of them would really want that.  I also liked that it was the dino-loving child who made the decision to let the dinosaurs free.  I know for some, they see that as the worst choice that someone could make, but as a dinosaur lover...I'm not gonna lie, I would've slapped every single person there if they had just stood there and watched those poor animals die that way.  And the end credits scene...that was disappointing.  I was hoping for something a little cooler, but didn't want to get spoiled by looking up what it was.  Now I wish I had, wasn't worth staying for.

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[Papi-Anon]

Spoiler

I honestly suspected that the falling out between Hammond and Lockwood was something more realistic, like Hammond being the biological father of Maisy's mom that was kept secret until during the  during the cloning project when somehow the secret got out. As for Maisy setting the dinos free, I seriously expected Claire to do it, and then when she backed off I was expecting another Brachiosaurus scene (that part got me choked up too). Really thinking about it though, unless we get ANOTHER unforeseen change in the dinos' genetics (or Wu sets loose male equivalents into the wild) there will be no new generations of the Nublar dinos, and even if some do genderbend like last time or somehow undergo parthenogenesis genetic diversity will be a HUGE issue for the populations. This has me suspecting that the Nublar dinos (again if they don't get boyfriends or switch sexes) will die off all together in the next movie and we really get a second dino-extinction this time.

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[Appalachiosaurus]

After a second viewing, I like it a lot more. I think my initial dislike of the movie was hype disappointment. The marketing for this film was terrible, the trailers showed 90% of the movie and I knew everything going in. That in itself wasn't enough to kill the movie for me though, but also the fact that I seemed to convince myself that it wasn't. I was sure that they were only showing me surface level stuff, which only disappointed me more when everything I saw in the theater I had already seen on a phone screen. Add on Trevarrow's way of saying exactly what you want to hear and the fact that I only listened to good reviews beforehand made the whole experience less than enjoyable. On a second viewing I knew exactly what the movie was and how what was in it, so I was able to sit back and actually enjoy it as it is.

[paintingdinos]

Personally, I didn't dislike the film, but I also went into it with very tempered expectations. My poor SO absolutely hated it. His biggest frustration, and one I probably agree with the most: like ALL large budget franchise films these days, its obviously meant to be a cash grab for international markets vs a fleshed out, well told story. Its why there's so little subtlety in the plot and why they get away with completely gutting any meaningful (or even enjoyable) dialog. You could watch the film with NO dialog and it would still be very obvious exactly what was going on 90% of the time. Its a mostly linear visual story that has a lot of big, straightforward actions and outcomes that can translate easily to any language- which is fine, this didn't ruin the film for me, but I see it as valid criticism as to why its not really a "good" movie.

Funny aside, a good friend of mine was traveling in Russia when the first Jurassic World came out, and saw it in theaters there. She understood everything that was going on in the plot, even without speaking Russian fluently. Upon re-watching the movie in english, no real revelations were had. So... this film is pretty par the course.

Spoiler

Even the more effective scenes in the movie are pretty shallow. People get upset about the brachiosaurus scene, which IS sad... but watching any animal be in pain or be scared is pretty darn sad. I'd argue the scenes with Blue are even worse- I can't muster any real personal investment in Blue the character, if she died it wouldn't fuss me, but watching her cry out and hemorrhage on a table is pretty upsetting. I guess my point is that its effective without being substantive... might as well have been some random dog they found, would have been just as sad/upsetting.

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Spoiler

I honestly suspected that the falling out between Hammond and Lockwood was something more realistic, like Hammond being the biological father of Maisy's mom that was kept secret until during the  during the cloning project when somehow the secret got out. As for Maisy setting the dinos free, I seriously expected Claire to do it, and then when she backed off I was expecting another Brachiosaurus scene (that part got me choked up too). Really thinking about it though, unless we get ANOTHER unforeseen change in the dinos' genetics (or Wu sets loose male equivalents into the wild) there will be no new generations of the Nublar dinos, and even if some do genderbend like last time or somehow undergo parthenogenesis genetic diversity will be a HUGE issue for the populations. This has me suspecting that the Nublar dinos (again if they don't get boyfriends or switch sexes) will die off all together in the next movie and we really get a second dino-extinction this time.

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Spoiler

Are we still assuming all the dinos are strictly female? They went out of their way to show us a baby trike... though I guess it could be argued it was an engineered baby that built a bond with an unrelated adult because they are herd animals.

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[Syndicate Bias]

I can tell you right now it wasn't as good as JW. It was okay to me. Maybe better than okay but some.parts felt like they should've focused more on like the island, capturing the dinosaurs like TLW and the indoraptor death was not as effective as Indominus Rex in JW.

It was darker, showed a different side to the franchise as murder and stuff. The one person who turned out to be a special plot point to the whole Lockwood and Hammond dissolving their partnership according to the movie was...well i can't say I was fully with it. Just took things too far imo. If JW with the Hybrid Rex was almost just as crazy to me, JWFK really took it to a 100%. Other than that im eagerly waiting 2021 JW 3

[Jose S.M.]

Spoiler

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!  .

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Spoiler

Baby. Baby boy. <3 Perfect.

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I'll defend my ceratopsians! XD

Spoiler

The Sinoceratops wanted to run away but the Carnotaurus jumped and bit it's frill, Sino got free and Carno got in front of it again, not letting it run away so Sino had no option but to fight, Carno was aking for the beating. I did love the Carnotaurus and I hope it appears again in the next movie but you know I'm biased, ceratopsians have my hearth.

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Another thing I didn't like was the lack of action scenes with "regular" dinosaurs in the last half,

Spoiler

after Stiggy's scene it was mostly Indoraptor and Blue until the very end, when dinosaurs were freed, so in the last hour only 3 dinosaurs got action scenes, and Rexy in the very end

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[Shadowknight1]

I will say, I wasn't sure about getting a figure of Stiggy before the movie...now I really want one.  I just wish the paint apps were more realistic.  Give us a Stygimoloch, Papo!

Not REALLY a spoiler, but I'll put it in spoilers just in case, but...

Spoiler

what is up with Wu's hybrids having their teeth jut out of the lips instead of gums?!  It's so weird and unnatural!

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[Dilopho]

Spoiler

what is up with Wu's hybrids having their teeth jut out of the lips instead of gums?!  It's so weird and unnatural!

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Well, so are they. 

[Dilopho]

Spoiler

Are we still assuming all the dinos are strictly female? They went out of their way to show us a baby trike... though I guess it could be argued it was an engineered baby that built a bond with an unrelated adult because they are herd animals.

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Spoiler

In the Blue VR thing there's a Baryonyx nest, so they're definitely breeding.

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[Loon]

Spoiler

They said in the last film that they aren't using pepe dna and are using birds now, right? So the sex-switching thing isn't happening, so either the continuity there is a little funky, or there were/are male animals cloned for Jurassic World.

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[Papi-Anon]

Spoiler

In the Blue VR thing there's a Baryonyx nest, so they're definitely breeding.

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Spoiler

It could just be unfertilized eggs with brooding instincts. I would think that Wu at least learned SOME of the lessons from JP and weeded out the genes responsible for the sex-changing to prevent future breeding. If Wu can frankenstein a bunch of theropods to make Indominus and not have it come out looking like a deformed hell-spawn abomination I think getting rid of the breeding issue would be rudimentary. The petting zoo trikes in JW may have been neotenized in their genetics too.

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[Minmiminime]

I stood around for ages with my poor beleaguered other half after everyone else had left waiting for an end credits scene, only to be told by a cinema worker that there wasn't one 😂 She must have wanted rid of us!

This film was ridiculous, unbelievable, very, very predictable, riddled with plot holes, and its message of human greed, stupidity, human-induced change, destruction, and lack of willpower/weakness in the face of change, was somewhat lost in the gross commercialisation it represents itself..!

I found it mostly utterly hilarious for all of the above factors, maybe I wasn't supposed to 🤔 But I was highly entertained, and look greatly forward to its release on Blu Ray!

[Shadowknight1]

I stood around for ages with my poor beleaguered other half after everyone else had left waiting for an end credits scene, only to be told by a cinema worker that there wasn't one 😂 She must have wanted rid of us!

This film was ridiculous, unbelievable, very, very predictable, riddled with plot holes, and its message of human greed, stupidity, human-induced change, destruction, and lack of willpower/weakness in the face of change, was somewhat lost in the gross commercialisation it represents itself..!

I found it mostly utterly hilarious for all of the above factors, maybe I wasn't supposed to 🤔 But I was highly entertained, and look greatly forward to its release on Blu Ray!

There IS an end credits scene, but...it's not worth staying for.

Spoiler

It's just a small flock of Pteranodons roosting atop a tower in Las Vegas.

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[Minmiminime]

Ah, seems very anticlimactic and an odd choice! I shudder to think where they'll take the franchise next, it seems to be ascending into the same realms of incredulity as Transformers and Alien, which is a shame given the truly groundbreaking starting point they had with Jurassic Park.

I did think the CGI was improved in this one, however the way the "dinosaurs" move has always seemed a bit off to me. They look too squishy somehow

[Jose S.M.]

According to the director of the next movie, there won't be new hybrids and the setting will focus on the more natural aspect of the dinosaurs. That's a weird move, makes me think the next movie will focus on a Dinosaurs threatening the world somehow.

[Dilopho]

I think the threat now comes from the genetic technology and it's possible applications by corporations.
I hope the dinosaurs can live in peace.

[Cretaceous Crab]

what is up with Wu's hybrids having their teeth jut out of the lips instead of gums?!  It's so weird and unnatural!

According to lore, it was intentionally to make the indominus and indoraptor more "menacing."

However, if you assess their design, their teeth are more like the teeth of spinosaurs; i.e. no serrations, cone / peg shaped for catching slippery fish prey. From a technical standpoint, it makes you wonder if other species are mixed into their genetic make-up, since none of the known species listed in its genetics do not have teeth like this (Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, Carnotaurus, Giganotosaurus, Majungasaurus, Rugops, and Therizinosaurus, cuttlefish, tree frogs, pit viper). It would seem more reasonable to maximize the Indoraptor's bite capabilities by endowing it with the serrated teeth of carnosaurs or the lethal bone-crushing bananas of tyrannosaurs.

[Dilopho]

I rewatched it, and my sister saw it too. Her reaction to THAT plot twist was gold.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

According to the director of the next movie, there won't be new hybrids and the setting will focus on the more natural aspect of the dinosaurs. That's a weird move, makes me think the next movie will focus on a Dinosaurs threatening the world somehow.

Maybe the return of the DX plot?  Colin did say he wanted to get back to the science in the next film.

I think the threat now comes from the genetic technology and it's possible applications by corporations.
I hope the dinosaurs can live in peace.

I wouldnt count on it.  lol  I do expect the DPG will have their hands full,  like reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone. If they aren't protected somehow humans will wipe them out.   I'm also sure we will see more new dinosaurs as well , not hybrids, just more species.

[Syndicate Bias]

Hmm. I'm getting Dinotopia vibes