by Alice-Ginevra Micheli, Contributing Writer
Just when you think that a franchise might have finally died, it turns around and soft reboots with yet another series of sequels. But rather than do a full reboot, and maybe trying to bring dinosaur gene splicing into the modern era, the creators of Jurassic World: Rebirth have decided to just continue on with the same storyline, the same universe, and the same consequences of the previous film, just introducing a new couple of main characters designed to reengage us in this world.
With Jurassic World: Dominion having left us on an Earth of wild dinosaurs, Rebirth picks up five years later. With a potential medical breakthrough on the horizon, and — you guessed it — dinosaur DNA being the key to its discovery, spec-ops mercenaries Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) team up with avid paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and totally not evil businessman, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), to find the key to this new era of research
If there’s one thing that director Gareth Edwards’ entry into the Jurassic universe does, it’s keep the consistency of what is an apparent worldwide disinterest in our prehistoric friends. The film pervades this nonsense that because dinosaurs have been back in our lives for a couple of decades, people don’t find them interesting anymore, and have moved on to being entertained by other things. Anyone who has ever visited a zoo knows that this is unlikely to be the case. If people are still fascinated to see a bear or a kangaroo, and pay good money for it, it would be shocking to see such a dramatic fall in the level of interest for dinosaurs in a few measly decades.
However, with that premise put to the side, the other major criticism of this movie is that there is absolutely no originality to be seen. The story beats, the way the action plays out, even the setup for the story, are almost completely identical as to the beginning of the last two trilogies, particularly when comparing the first Jurassic World. We have the initial interaction with dinosaurs, which goes as badly as can be imagined, the moral quandary regarding whatever the initial corporate-fuelled goal should be fulfilled, the moment of awe when looking upon the happy herbivore dinosaurs frolicking in a field, and of course lots of death and mayhem at the hands of the carnivorous ones.
However, there’s a little change regarding the dinosaurs this time around, with some of them being genetically mutated to look more like an alien than an animal. If only that was enough to bring some semblance of life to this otherwise fossilized franchise.
The characters also play into this, with each having about as much depth or character development as a shallow teaspoon. Take Johansson’s supposedly morally grey mercenary. From Zora’s introduction, you’re made to believe that she has done many things that a person ought not to be proud of, and is just in it for the money. But a couple of batted eyelashes from Dr. Loomis, and her ethical stand flips. The same goes for many of the other characters, who seem to be there more to serve a very basic narrative, or thrill purpose, just so that the film has places to go when it isn’t showing a dinosaur chasing its dinner.
Of course, Rebirth has many moments where the cinema is bound to react with screams and laughter, and have all the fun that comes with watching real-life monsters chase down measly humans. However, much of the tension is minimized by the lack of story-building and character complexity, which results in an audience unlikely to care if anyone really does survive in the end, which is probably why it continues the cliché of having children as sub-protagonists, ensuring there’s at least one innocent life people don’t want to lose.
After seven movies, and who knows how much franchising, it could be said that this is a tired story. Just showing dinosaurs on an island killing a bunch of intruders is not interesting enough of a premise, especially when an excellent version of it exists, fully formed in the original Jurassic Park. The audience deserves more from its dinosaurs, venturing further into the character study, and interesting action that could be properly explored if more effort than typing, “What happens in the next Jurassic World movie?” into ChatGPT went into these movies.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
Jurassic World: Rebirth is currently playing in theaters
You can read more from Alice-Ginevra Micheli, and follow her on Instagram and Letterboxd