Jurassic World: Rebirth
Returning to the core premise of the series, Rebirth may (for better or worse) lack the plot complexities of the recent couple of Jurassic World movies, but it delivers some great dino-centric set-pieces, and the new cast form an entertaining ensemble.
Premise: Pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) hires palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and covert operatives Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) to lead a team to a quarantined island, in order to collect samples from three rare dinosaurs that may hold the key to creating a new life-saving medicine. But the island also hides secrets from In-Gen’s earlier experiments in transgenetic mutation.
Review:
Some people really enjoyed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World: Dominion (myself include), while others felt that after the storyline left Isla Nublar halfway through Fallen Kingdom, the plot became too complicated with its storylines involving human cloning, a transgenic locust famine and dinosaur black-marketeers. If you fall into the latter category, you’ll be happy to know that Jurassic World Rebirth is a standalone new adventure, unconnected to the plot from the preceding Jurassic World trilogy. (In fact, the title “Rebirth” makes no sense within the context of movie itself, and only makes sense in relation to the film being a soft reboot of the series.)
Rebirth comes with a new team both in front of and behind the camera, with director Gareth Edwards joining the series after making his brilliant original sci-fi movie The Creator, and screenwriter David Koepp returning after writing the original Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park. David Koepp returns the series to the simplicity of its core premise – can a group of humans survive on an island full of dinosaurs – while Gareth Edwards brings his talent for seamlessly combining cutting edge CGI with practical location shooting (as demonstrated in The Creator).
“…delivers impressive dino-centric set-pieces…”
On some level, the storyline does feel a little first-base, with the mission to collect blood samples from three rare dinosaurs feeling like little more than a flimsy excuse to get a bunch of characters on a dinosaur inhabited island (although it’s still not as flimsy as the plot to Jurassic Park III, which is my least favourite instalment in the series). But on the other hand, the most popular instalments in the series – Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic World – have all been centred around plot devices that meant a bunch of humans got trapped on an island with a bunch of dinosaurs that ran amok, so there is joy to be had in seeing the series return to its roots in this way.
And let’s face it, no one really comes to see a Jurassic movie for the plot – they come for the dino-centric set-pieces, and in this respect, Rebirth certainly delivers. After an effective prelude (which is quite reminiscent of the opening of Jurassic Park), the filmmakers build up the tension before the first main dinosaur encounter – and it’s fair to say that the water-based confrontation is unlike anything I’ve seen in a previous Jurassic movie, and it’s one of the highlights of this film.
“…introduces an instantly engaging new trio of characters…”
I don’t want to say too much about the other dino-encounters as I don’t want to spoil any surprises, but I will say that they’re all very well staged, and they feature an engaging blend of returning favourites and new creations. On that note, after the very Raptor-centric storyline of the preceding Jurassic World trilogy, the Raptors are given a rest here with little more than a cameo, allowing the film to showcase some different dinosaurs (even the T-Rex only appears for one – albeit very memorable – scene). The film also introduces the results of InGen’s failed hybrid experiments – the “Mutadons” and the “Distortus Rex” – which are trailed in the prelude. These new creations are impressively designed, and there are some beautifully composed shots of both, although it does feel like they’re a smaller part of the film than the marketing would have led you to believe.
On the human side of the equation, Rebirth introduces an instantly engaging new trio of characters. Scarlett Johansson is great as covert operative Zora Bennett, and she brings a sparkle and wry sense of humour to the character right from her first scene with uptight pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs, played by Rupert Friend (in an arguably underwritten supporting role). Mahershala Ali seems to be having fun as Zora’s smuggler contact, and in his capable hands, even some relatively clumsily written backstory and exposition feels naturalistic. I also loved the chemistry between Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali which instantly conveyed their characters’ shared history and trust in a few easy moments.
“…it’s probably not too difficult to guess which characters aren’t going to make it…”
Meanwhile, Jonathan Bailey continues to slowly-but-surely take over Hollywood, building on his high-profile role in Wicked last year with his role here as the sole scientist in the expedition. Bringing moments of both wide-eyed enthusiasm and loveable comic relief to his character, Jonathan Bailey’s come a long way since I first saw him in the under-appreciated comedy series W1A. The rest of the cast perhaps don’t make as much of an impression -and it’s probably not too difficult to guess which characters aren’t going to make it to the end credits and which ones are – but they’re all given just about enough material to flesh out their characters beyond mere tropes.
Overall, despite a few shortcomings in terms of its plot (including the very ending feeling a little rushed) and the fact that there is little new here that we haven’t seen before, Jurassic World: Rebirth is nevertheless a very enjoyable addition to the series thanks to its engaging central trio and its well-staged dinosaur set-pieces.
