JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM | Gryphon's First Impressions

3 years after the fall of Jurassic World, a long dormant volcano on Isla Nublar has begun to show signs of activity. Pretty soon the volcano will erupt and cause a new extinction event for the rest of the dinosaurs on the island, so now its a race against time for our characters to save the animals and move them to a new home.
But believe it or not, that's just the first act!

Once the first trailer for Fallen Kingdom was released, I got excited. Then I saw the other trailers and TV Spots, and sadly, a lot of plot elements and great moments were spoiled for me. This has been a problem with some movie trailers for a while and at this point, movies like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice had the same problem. It might be an epidemic at this point that needs to be stopped. If you haven't seen any trailers for this movie, consider yourself fortunate.

Well, might as well talk about the rest of the movie.
The rest of the movie is pretty insane. Remember in the first movie when Alan Grant said about dinosaurs and humans: "...how can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?", we see one of those consequences. Dinosaurs being put up for auction, weather to be weaponized as animals of war or to be hunted for sport. We've seen other consequences play out in The Lost World with the San Diego incident and I feel we've still only scratched the surface. We'll probably get the full on realization of having dinosaurs existing side by side with humans with the sequel.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are back as Owen and Claire. They are still great, but how are the new characters? They are all pretty good and fulfill their roles well enough, I think Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) might be the best kid character in the series thus far. Jeff Goldblum returns as Ian Malcom in 2 cameo appearances basically only to say "I f-ing told you so!"

I really love how dark the movie gets. There are some emotional moments like the Brachiosaurus scene, as well as a few horror moments. But nowhere does it get as dark or tense in any Jurassic movie then it did in the third act. At this point the movie becomes a horror movie in which the characters are pursued by a new hybrid dinosaur, the Indoraptor, which is by far, the most terrifying animal ever portrayed in the series. If Freddy Kruger were a dinosaur, he would be an Indoraptor. I was on the edge of my seat whenever this thing was on screen.
The best moment is when one of the bad guys, who had previously ripped teeth out of dinosaurs to add to his collection, attempts to do the same to the Indoraptor. He tranquilizes it, but it has no effect as the Indoraptor fakes being incapacitated and you actually see it grinning before he attacks the guy and takes his sweet time ending the guys life. Any scene with the Indoraptor makes the Raptors in the kitchen scene seem tame in comparison.

Admittedly, the ending is going to be polarizing to some people and it did catch me off guard. But it did make sense in some regards to the story as a whole and the message of genetic power being unleashed onto the world. This movie just took the next step. 

As a whole, I think Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a fantastic addition to the series. It is an action packed, intense and emotional roller coaster ride from start to finish. Are there issues with Fallen Kingdom, I would say there are but I find them once again to be very minor nitpicks. Keep in mind these are just my first impressions of the movie and having only seen the movie once, it's hard for me to have a full, detailed review as I did with the other movies. I may end up reviewing Fallen Kingdom again once it comes out on Blu-ray and I have more time to really let it all sink in.
But as of right now, I love the movie. And it seems that once again, I am in a minority group that thinks this movie is good.
-sigh-

Thanks for joining me on this retrospective, I'll try to get more figure reviews out as soon as possible. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

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