IR Film Review: JURASSIC PARK - REBIRTH [Universal]
The approach to rebooting a successful franchise comes down to perspective but also it is about keeping it from going off the rails. The saving grace of "Jurassic Park: Rebirth" is the balance between writer David Koepp (who wrote the screenplay for the first "Jurassic Park" as well as "The Lost World") and director Gareth Edwards who knows a thing or two about restoring franchises. Edwards understands what is at play here but he is also the one who apparently wowed Steven Spielberg with the pitch to do the film. Obviously Spielberg saw his work. "Rebirth" wows at the right moments but doesn't becomes transformative though it does really get where it comes from without being a carbon copy. This feels like Gareth Edwards but only when it gets going. The set up is important but does take a minute to get along but that build is necessary The issue at play also is that both Scarlett Johansson and to a lesser degree Mahershala Ali don't seem like characters but more like themselves. Jonathan Bailey as Dr. Loomis retains a little bit more of the wonder. He speaks that he worked until Alan Grant so there is some more lore there.
The dialogue feels right and there is actually a couple segments plucked out of the "Jurassic Park" novel though repurposed that weren’t used and made to great effect here. This includes a whitewater scene which is one of the best in the movie as well as a pterodactyl scene which probably looks great in 3D. The issue in a way is who is in the scene. A secondary story with a family stranded makes sense but almost splits the movie in two. It completely makes sense story wise and provides that identifiable element for the kids but it doesn't quite pay off until the end. It just seems placed to provide sometihng for everyone though without it it could have skewed a bit darker. Timmy and Lexi in the first film were placed there in ignorance by their grandfather who didn’t quite understand his creation. The aspect of the father here is ego but ignorance (which again is not far off the mark from the original). There is nothing particularly wrong with the film and there is some spectacular aspects that feel like Edwards. After his work on "The Creator" you can see his love of locations (especially Thailand which works very well here). A lot of the soundstage work (and maybe the whitewater) was shot in Malta (likely because the previous Jurassic World shot there -- and producer Frank Marshall understands that balance).
The big baddie works well here but oddly enough there is almost an ode to Godzilla here. Again the science and reasoning works well in terms of the why the film is happening. It takes away the dinosaurs in the city and brings it back to nature which is what it needed. "Kong: Skull Island" did the same thing but with a different tone. The aspects on the water here really give the film that initially sense of space...whether it be a throwback to Kong or something else. "Jurassic World: Rebirth”: delivers in a better way that the past two films did despite the fun element of Chris Pratt. That is the power of a good script. The leads here, despite Johannsen's presence, don't have that same charisma but the film brings the fear and dread back in a way that there are stakes and not because of the fact that it is CG. And despite a late in the game reprieve which could have provided more stakes for the next installment, the ode to "Apocalypse Now" [which is undeniably the Edwards touch] is not lost. B+
By Tim Wassberg
