Jurassic World Rebirth is a satisfying sequel for fans that doesn’t change the series too much, but makes enough changes that it’s worth watching at least once.
Directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla), Jurassic World Rebirth focuses on a group searching for a number of rare dinosaurs to formulate a new medicine for heart disease. Along their journey they are forced to encounter disturbing dinosaurs that were mutated and abandoned for almost twenty years.
Jurassic World Rebirth is more of a reboot than a sequel to the previous Chris Pratt led Jurassic World films. It’s great to see the franchise step away from the series’ heroes and focus on characters that are less morally righteous in situations that force them to confront their inherent biases.
Unfortunately Rebirth isn’t perfect and it’s flaws prevent it from being considered one of the best in the franchise, the main issue being its lack of characterisation for its two central characters.
Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey lead the film and are everywhere when it comes to the promotional material. Both actors do the best with what they’re given but the script let both actors down with overstuffed expositional scenes and dull payoffs.
The best performance of the film undoubtedly comes from Mahershala Ali, his character Duncan goes through a very clear growth throughout the film and the payoff is excellent as the Rebirth races towards its climatic finale.
As expected the dinos are still incredible to see on the big screen, there’s multiple scenes that focus exclusively on the sheer splendor of the beasts and after thirty years, it’s still amazing to see them walk.
Even better is the mutated dinosaurs the film is built around. There’s plenty to spot but the one everyone is excited to see is only in the film for a short amount of time. The “D-Rex” gets very little screen time but when it is on screen it’s almost as good as the original T-Rex scenes from the first Jurassic Park.
Gareth Edwards knows how to direct horror as he has done for many other films, in Rebirth Edwards makes use of horror excellently especially with the mutated Dinos.
Rebirth likely won’t go down as one of the franchise’s best films, but it’s a great step forward after the previous World trilogy. If you’re a fan of big-budget blockbusters, dinosaurs or just in the mood for the cinema, you can’t go wrong with Jurassic World Rebirth, just don’t go in expecting perfection.
Featured Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Third year Film and journalism student
Gaming and Tech editor
Horror fanatic
