Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Critique 4/6

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Clever Details

 

One simple sequence led to so many thoughts.

Lockwood finds out about Miles’ schemes. He tells Miles to ring the phone to turn himself in. So Miles picks the phone up from the cushion, only to use the cushion to suffocate Lockwood.

After this, the amber-topped stick (Hammond’s) shatters. The very thing used to start the Jurassic Park breaks. The purpose of bringing back dinosaurs (science) breaks. Barriers keeping the dinosaurs under control breaks (the stick breaks because of Miles; the dinosaurs are let loose because of Miles).

 

The Indoraptor’s death scene was great.

Claire does the light/sound combo that locks the Indoraptor on its death target. Claire aimed at Owen (who’s standing on the roof edge), meaning Owen could dodge and thus the dinosaur would fall to its death. This didn’t work, adding to the jeopardy.

Then Blue knocks the Indoraptor through the glass into the library. The yellow-striped beast is killed by the triceratops horns it grasped earlier. The thing that demonstrated its scariness was the thing that ended its scariness.

 

The fact that Maisie is a clone of her mother was foreshadowed throughout.

            Lockwood calls Maisie ‘my heart’. That’s something usually said to one’s children, not grandchildren, hinting at Maisie’s origin. Yes, grandparents raising their grandchildren often think of their grandchildren as their own children, but this can’t be used to determine those grandkids aren’t clones.

            Iris tells Maisie she’s her mother’s mirror image. That’s a common thing to say about kids and their parents. But then Maisie finds a photo of a much younger Iris standing next to Maisie, so young that it was before Maisie could’ve been born. Thus it had to be her mother.

            Lockwood is a geneticist, meaning he has the capacity to clone humans, including his daughter. (After cloning dinosaurs, cloning humans would be child’s play.) He misses his daughter, meaning he has the potential desire to clone her specifically. As such, Maisie being the clone of her mother isn’t unthinkable.

 

There were a lot of emotional moments.

            The final shot of the island is a lone brachiosaur being enveloped by soot and ash, it rising onto its hindlegs and giving a mournful cry. This hits hard every time.

Lockwood has Hammond’s amber walking stick. It’s nice that Hammond left this to Lockwood even though the pair had a falling out.

In videos of Blue when she was young, the raptor shows compassion when Owen displays weakness. Then the very next shot is in the present day, where Blue makes the same moaning sounds as Owen did in the past video.

Henry shouts that the Indoraptor needs a mother. Right where Maisie, who also needs a mother, can overhear.

 

With dinosaurs freely walking on continental America, Malcolm says, “We’re in a new era. Welcome to Jurassic World.” I love it when films and books reference their titles.

 

 

Humour

 

This film carries on the humour from the previous film. However, the jokes stop as soon as Claire, Owen and co get back on the mainland. It was a complete disconnect.

 

Owen was a great source of situational humour.

My favourite laugh was just before Owen wandered off to find Blue. He tells Claire, “If I don’t come back, just remember.” Then he pauses: we expect something romantic. But nope. He finishes with, “You’re the one that made me come.” Fantastic!

When Owen throws a bit of food at Blue, we expect her to catch it like she always has in the past. But no, it just bounces off her face.

Owen wakes up from sleep, cuddled by a sleeping Claire. He smiles and sniffs her hair. Claire starts waking up so Owen pretends to be asleep. Claire is completely embarrassed and shows no positive emotion. Poor Owen.

 

Interactions between opposing sides made me snort quite a bit.

Malcolm is talking to a Senate committee. One of the senators brings in God, only to be rebuked by Malcolm. The senators agree with Malcolm to not save the dinosaurs from the volcanoes, citing it as an act of God. Even though Malcolm’s explanation dismissed God. I can only imagine how frustrated this would make Malcolm!

The interactions between Zia and the mercenary were always top-notch. Zia tells the mercenary, “Come on, beef cake.” Later, the mercenary asks, “Does it have a heartbeat?” Zia shoots back with, “Yes. Do you?”

 

The greatest instances of humour came from hacker Franklin.

Zia, the paleovet, says, “You’re more likely to die on a horse than a plane.” The hacker Franklin replies, “No I’m not because I won’t get on a horse.” That made me laugh so much.

Franklin asks Owen if he would do a dangerous thing. Owen shares when he did something even more dangerous. Franklin stares and says with deadpan, “We’re not compatible.”

Franklin sprays himself with so much insect repellent that the whole truck could have swum in it.

Franklin is cheeky to the mercenary. Considering Franklin is portrayed as the classic weak and cowardly nerd, him facing up to this stereotypical, masculine bad boy was utterly unexpected.

Franklin opens a door to a tunnel, letting a dinosaur in. When it enters the room, Claire tells him, “See, that’s not a t-rex.” Yet, but it’s still a massive carnivore that wants to eat them! Not reassuring at all.

Franklin thinks he’s safe because he’s climbed the retractable ladder. But then his segment slides down, reaching the floor and putting him in reach of the dinosaur. He thinks he’s safe because of something and then that something makes him not safe.

When Claire and Franklin are in the ladder shaft, the dinosaur roars at them. Then they scream/roar back. So funny.

 

 

References

 

Most references to previous films were to the very first Jurassic Park.

The first dinosaur in Jurassic Park seen on the island was a brachiosaur. The last dinosaur we see on that island, in Jurassic World 2, is also a brachiosaur.

As the herbivores stampede on a grassy area, the characters hide behind a fallen tree. Then the t-rex appears. This happens with Grant and the kids in Jurassic Park.

When the mercenaries are transferring the dinosaurs in boxes, they electrocute them like people did with the raptor at the very start of Jurassic Park.

Maisie struggles to close the dumbwaiter door as the Indoraptor charged, slamming it shut just in time. Like Lex with the raptors in Jurassic Park.

As Iris looks for Maisie, we see the palm fronds twitch in the same way and same speed as in Jurassic Park when a dinosaur was moving past them.

 

Yet there are references to other films.

This film starts with Claire and Owen having tried to be a couple but failed. Just like the first Jurassic World film.

Claire takes Owen to a noisy bar to ask for help with the dinosaurs. Just like how the Kirbys took Grant to a noisy bar to ask for help in Jurassic Park 3.

The roar that this restrained t-rex makes is the same roar as the restrained t-rex in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Plus they were restrained in the same position.

The mercenary shoots the Indoraptor who falls over at the opposite side of the cage. This forces mercenary to enter the cage. The Indoraptor set a trap, just like the Indominus-rex in the previous film and the raptors in Jurassic Park 3.

The first shot of Claire in this film is her coming out of a lift. This matches her first shot in the previous film, too.