Jurassic World

Spared No Expense

Expectations

You can find no bigger fan of Jurassic Park than me.

You think you can?

Come at me, bro!

You've read the IMDb trivia page, both Michael Crichton books and even had the Jurassic Park lunchbox?!

Dinosaurs were my 'thing' in my pre-teens, like many young boys growing up in the 1990s.  To this day, there are rarely weeks when the DVD doesn't get a viewing in my apartment.

I had been eagerly listening to the development hell of Jurassic Park IV since the disappointment of Jurassic Park III, praying that the proposed storyline of half-human/half-velociraptor hybrids would never see the light of day.

So when the trailer for Jurassic World emerged, despite not loving the guard-dog velociraptors, I'll be honest, a little excited 'Yes!' came out of my mouth...  The film seemed actually fun and interesting, rather than various treks through jungles like the two previous films had been.

Plot

So here we are.  22 years after the original, Jurassic Park is finally open.

John Hammond has entrusted his vision of a dinosaur-themed amusement park to another wealthy and eccentric businessman, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) before popping his own eccentric clogs.

Jurassic World has been open for ten years without any incidents and is still hugely popular. However the stockholders want larger audiences and the scientists, led by the returning Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) create a brand-new dinosaur; the Indominus Rex - based on a T-Rex but with added predator DNA thrown in, just to make things extra hardcore.

However, since this is a Jurassic Park film, obviously things go awry... In fact, how's best to put it...

Well said, Ian...

So it is up to velociraptor-trainer, and overall bad-ass, Owen Grady (played by the future-Indiana Jones, Chris Pratt) to hunt down the escaped Indominus Rex with his pack of 'raptors, as well as save the nephews of Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), operations manager of Jurassic World, who are lost somewhere on the island.

Simple enough, right?

Opinions

Where to start?!... Well firstly, move over Avengers: Age of Ultron, step aside Mad Max: Fury Road, this is the blockbuster of the summer.

From the get-go, we head straight into the park, possibly sacrificing some potential character development for the impressive visuals, but you're not here for Shakespeare; you're here for the dinos!

As soon as we enter the park, the film tries to tug on every nostalgic memory possible; that famous score of John Williams' (now being overseen by Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino), Mr DNA continues to explain the science of cloning to visiting children, and a statue of John Hammond presides over his life's work, in a touching tribute to Richard Attenborough.

It's obvious that the director Colin Trevorrow wants to remind you of why you fell in love with Jurassic Park in the first place and he does an effective job; to quote my sister after watching it: "I felt like I was 7 years old again!"

The writers did a fantastic job of echoing certain aspects of the original and I would even go to say Jurassic World was a 'soft reboot' of Jurassic Park; one for the current generation.

But a Jurassic Park film is only as good as it's overblown, out-of-their-depth situation and this one is a doozy.  I really enjoyed the idea of the Indominus Rex, as a satire of today's over-the-top, Greed-Is-Good culture, and as a movie monster in itself.

As a Frankenstein's Clone of different dinosaurs, it gave the film a new and fresh approach, as we have become used to seeing the T-Rex and velociraptors (...and I don't think anyone wanted to see the Spinosaurus make a reappearance).  It's unpredictability, plus it's ever-growing list of talents, always kept the story interesting and inventive.

Chris Pratt is just The Man right now.  From his fantastic but brief appearance in her. last year, as well as his star turn in Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy, I'm really high on Pratt at the minute.  His cocky attitude plus his earnest and innocent appearance just mix together to make an ideal leading man.

I believe Pratt has the potential to become the action movie star of this generation, as Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford have done before him, especially with the Indiana Jones reboot potentially ahead of him.  His humour and common-sense slightly combat Jurassic World's ridiculous lack of Ian Malcolm.

Well Yeah, But...

I have read several opinions of this film constantly comparing it to Jurassic Park, calling World 'abysmal' and 'a disaster' as a result, which makes no sense to me.

I can't have been the only person who loved seeing the park finally open to the public, especially in such an inventive and realistic way (in today's society, they would put baby triceratops and apatasaurs in a petting zoo, as well as have Starbucks and Pandora retail stores everywhere).

Whilst Claire's nephews aren't the best actors in the world, and it's a stretch to believe they are capable of fixing decrepit jeep engines, Jurassic Park's Tim and Lex weren't Oscar-winners themselves and we were forced to believe Lex was a talented 'hacker' because she dragged and dropped a few files in a Unix system.

Similarly, Claire running around a park in high heels and not having much of a character arc isn't that misogynistic or backwards-thinking.  Her character goes from being distant to her family to being determined to keep them safe.  Isn't that enough?  Plus Jurassic Park's Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) was hardly the most three-dimensional woman in all of fiction.

However, there is an underlying storyline surrounding the Indominus Rex's true origins, with Vincent D'Onofrio tenting his fingers in the background and I could have easily done without it.  But this will surely be developed in the upcoming sequels and I truly hope they treat it with care.

Wrap It Up...

In this reviewer's opinion, Jurassic World is a very worthy sequel to Jurassic Park, and whilst it may not contend with Spielberg's original for it's crown, it supplies more than enough edge-of-your-seat thrills, mind-blowing special effects and honest-to-God entertainment that you want from your summer blockbusters.  It is by no means a perfect film, but what is?  Well, Jurassic Park comes close...

If you disagree, we can compare Lost World sticker albums to decide...  All I need is a shiny Ian Malcolm...

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

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Mad Max: Fury Road

Hell Hath No Fury

Mad Max: Fury Road (not to be mistaken with Furry Road; a completely different film) takes place in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland where water, petrol and bullets are the three most precious commodities. Everyone now is either a poor, flea-bitten and mutated hermit, or an absolutely crazy person hell-bent on death, destruction and driving really, really fast!

However there are still police, or 'Road Warriors', and one is Tom Hardy's Max Rockatansky.  Max has some demons in his past but we find him a bit busy being kidnapped by the warrior tribe of the tyrannical warlord Immortan Joe.  Whilst kidnapped, Max gets involved in a family squabble between Immortan Joe and Charlize Theron's (amazingly named) Imperator Furiosa, and that's where the fun begins.

Now admittedly, I have never seen the first three Mad Max films that shot Mel Gibson to international fame.  Not even the Tina Turner one.  I know that many people will now be thinking 'Oh My God!  How has he never...?!  They're CLASSICS!!!" etc. but they never really appealed to me.  I have heard they were incredibly ambitious and truly iconic, which I appreciate but still the appeal was just never there.

However now with $150 million behind the project, the director George Miller has finally been able to make the film he always wanted to make in 1979, and I was in such awe by the sheer production value of this film alone.  The entire film is gorgeous from start to finish.

I think I blinked twice during the entire 120 minutes.  Maybe three times.

Oh What A Lovely Day!

Miller was called a 'visionary director' by the teaser trailers, which I thought to be quite big-headed of him, but seeing what he can produce with a bigger budget behind him, I'm truly shocked that this is the same eye behind Babe: Pig In The City and both Happy Feet films.  Really.

I don't want to spoil any of the film's plot but when Immortan Joe assembles his posse to take revenge on Charlize Theron, his band of miscreants are completely bat-shit crazy, focussed on a glorious Viking-style death due to their overall radiation-poisoned existence.  Due to this, they pull off some of the most incredibly inventive stunts and just jaw-droppingly amazing action that I have seen in a film for a few years.

I mean, one of the big rigs is just a gigantic wall of speakers with drummers and a flame-throwing electric guitarist strapped to them.  Why?  Because.  That's why.

See?  Told you.  Because.

I really cannot stress how fantastic the film is from a creative viewpoint, especially how colourful and vibrant it is.  The African landscapes that have been used to replace the post-apocalyptic wastelands are filled with natural beauty and Miller has definitely used them to the best of their ability.  Special effects were only used when they had to be, to emphasise how real the Dead World feels, and it definitely works  Everything feels so raw and authentic, from The War Boys' modified war-cars to the boggy marshes past the desert wasteland, and every bone-crunching fight scene in between.

Notice how I'm not speaking about Max himself much in this review so far? That's because I don't really have to. Tom Hardy is a decent enough casting for the lead, but he is a lead in titular name only.  The film definitely belongs to Charlize Theron's Furiosa and her struggle against Immortan Joe.  Max simply stumbles upon this fight and decides to help, despite his quiet loner nature.  He is the calm at the centre of this mad world, having his actions speak louder than his words.  Which is helpful because when he did speak, I truly could not decipher his accent (in true Tom Hardy form!)

Oh, and, on a final note, some critics of the film have downplayed the movie as having an unwelcome 'feminist agenda' which is simply ridiculous.  The film advocates freedom from tyrannical rule for all, not just simply female freedom.

I truly recommend watching Max Mad: Fury Road, and if you can, on the biggest IMAX screen you can find.  Because you just can't beat Mad IMAX.  Ha!  See what I did there?!

Rating - 8/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

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