Jurassic World: Rebirth | review by Rafe McGregor

JurassicWorld: Rebirth, by Gareth Edwards (Universal Pictures)

Three timesthree?

Jurassic World Rebirth is the seventhinstalment in the Jurassic Park/World franchise that was launched bySteven Spielberg twenty-two years ago (excluding animated and short films). Theprevious instalments can be divided into two trilogies, with the second being acontinuation of the first and the fictional chronology following the years inwhich each film was released (as far as I can tell). I shall recap the eventsof the franchise so far as Jurassic World: Rebirth plunges us directlyinto them and may well be the first of a third trilogy that is a furthercontinuation (rather than remake, reboot, or retcon), though it is (of course)advertised as a “standalone” story.

The premise of Jurassic Park (1993) is thatdinosaurs have been de-extincted by means of cloning and a theme park (“safaripark” would be more accurate for UK readers) established on a fictional islandcalled Isla Nublar, off the coast of Costa Rica. What could possibly go wrong?Lots… and everything that could go wrong does, in consequence of which theisland is abandoned by its human visitors. In The Lost World: Jurassic Park(1997) dinosaurs are discovered on the neighbouring island of Isla Sorna, whichwas where the original cloning was done before it was abandoned following ahurricane. (We now have two abandoned islands full of dinosaurs.) Anill-considered plan to transport a Tyrannosaurus rex to a zoo in SanDiego goes wrong (who would’ve guessed) and after rampaging around the city itis returned to the island, which is declared a protected nature reserve. JurassicPark III (2001) is essentially a rescue mission: ignoring national and international law (as they do), some rich folk undertake an illegal air safari of Isla Sorna, crash, and get bailed out by mum, dad, and some hired hands.

Jurassic World (2015) has exactly the sameplot as Jurassic Park: a new multinational corporation acquires therights to build a safari park on Isla Nublar, but have “improved” on theoriginal by creating a new and very nasty dinosaur called an Indominus rexby means of transgenesis. What could possibly go wrong? Everything that did inthe first film and this one ends in the same way, with humanity abandoning the sameisland for the second time. In between Jurassic World and JurassicWorld: Fallen Kingdom (2018), a mercenary unit arrives on the island andsucceeds in collecting an Indominus rex DNA sample (I wonder where thisis going). The fifth film begins with the island about to be destroyed by avolcanic eruption and the protagonists are hired by the antagonist to launch aprivate rescue attempt, not realising that the relocated dinosaurs are going tobe sold at an auction (those rich folk don’t get that rich by being nice). Therescued dinosaurs escape from their cages, enter the Northern Californiawilderness, and usher in a new era in which humans, animals, and dinosaurs areall going to have to coexist. Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) has abroadly similar plot to Jurassic Park III, being in essence a rescuemission, this time rescuing the first and only cloned human child from another multinationalcorporation and the dinosaurs it keeps in the Dolomite Mountains. As far as thefictional world of the franchise goes, little has changed as dinosaurs arestill roaming, swimming and flying around the place like any other animal,fish, or bird.

I didn’t come to Jurassic World Rebirthwith any great expectations. As I mentioned in mybirthday wishes to Jaws’ (1975) Bruce, the sheer number of animalsslaughtered onscreen in my lifetime is wearing me down and Scarlett Johanssen’soffscreen persona hasn’t exactly endeared itself to me (as Hollywood’shighest-grossing star my news feed is unfortunately full of her). I was alsosurprised to see that none of the previous casts were reappearing. Theprotagonists of the first trilogy were palaeontologist Alan Grant (played bySam Neill) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum), who appearedin five of the first six films between them. The second trilogy introduced theon-and-off couple Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt), an ethologist (aka Velociraptor-wrangler), and Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), acorporate slavedriver turned dinosaur activist. The protagonists of JurassicWorld Rebirth are Zora Bennett (played by Johansson), a mercenary actionhero, and… well, just Zora Bennett (because you don’t get to be Hollywood’sbest-paid star by sharing the limelight).

Following a prelude where another mutated dinosaur(Distortus rex) wreaks havoc on another fictional island (ÎleSaint-Hubert, in the Atlantic Ocean) that (also) has to be abandoned, thenarrative opens with the Earth’s climate threatening to return the dinosaurs toextinction, in consequence of which they have all migrated to the equatorialregions of the globe. For once, somebody has done something sensible anddesignated these no-travel areas. The antagonist, Martin Krebs (played by RupertFriend) hires Bennett and her team to take DNA samples from the three largestliving dinosaurs – Mosasaurus (sea), Titanosaurus (land) and Quetzalcoatlus(air) – for the purposes of making trillions of dollars from a cure for heartdisease. The first indication that the film might be a pleasant surprise wasthat the DNA has to be retrieved from live dinosaurs and, indeed, the mercenaryteam very quickly loses all of its weapons, making most of the blood spilled inthe story human. At the same time as Bennett, Krebs and their entourage begin their mission, an idiotic father of two, Reuben Delgado (playedby Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Netflix’s Lincoln Lawyer), is sailing his daughters and one of theirboyfriends across the Atlantic in his yacht (an Atlantic swarming with literalsea monsters, I should add)… and everyone ends up on Île Saint-Hubert.

In addition to limiting the lizard slaughter, the three-partmission to acquire DNA over sea, land and air works very well, providing thenarrative with a neat structure, broad scope, and organic signposting. The storyalso pays homage to the original Jurassic Park in at least two scenes, aTyrannosaurus rex river chase and the final climatic battle at the abandonedlaboratory complex, one of which works well and the other of which doesn’t. Segue to my only two criticisms, the opening and that climactic battle. In theformer, the entire complex’s security system is destroyed by an empty Snickers wrapper. A complex that is not only containing dinosaurs, but creating nastierones for human entertainment… I hope somebody somewhere got sued. The other let down is the Distortusrex itself. It inspires pity rather than fear and is so stupid and so slowthat its survival on the island before the arrival of Bennett, Delgado and therest seems highly unlikely. Having said that, while Jurassic Park: Rebirth may not reach the heights of the original film – perhaps even the first two films – it’s definitely as good or better than the rest. It’s also already well on the way to grossing a billion dollars so I guess we might just see Bennett back for two more instalments. ***