A brilliant chaotician called Ian Malcolm once commented “your scientists were so preoccupied with whether of not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should”. He was, of course, talking about the concept of using advanced cloning to bring back dinosaurs but it could also be said of making a film about using advanced cloning to bring back dinosaurs. Luckily, unlike the people in Jurassic Park, audiences had a great time with Spielberg's 1993 action adventure film. So much so that, like the park with in the story they slapped it on lunch boxes and t-shirts and sold it. While some of the sequels have been pretty enjoyable – the gnarly and dark The Lost World, the frankly silly Jurassic Park III, the mostly fine Jurassic World – there has also been some truly awful ones.
Following on from Dominion, Rebirth sees Gareth Edwards take on the reigns of director while David Koepp returns to write the screenplay having written the original two films. The plot follows Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett, a mercenary who puts together a team (Mahershala Ali chief among them) under the guidance of palaeontologist Henry (Jonathan Bailey) and on orders from billionaire Krebs (Rupert Friend) to take the blood of three dinosaurs that can help cure heart disease. Along the way they rescue a family in the ocean and find an Island where INGEN created mutant dinosaurs.
The film starts in horrific fashion, it's the sort of thing that could derail the entire film. It feels like Edwards is trying to riff on his famous opening to Godzilla, but with zero emotional weight and some questionable character choices. Yet, once Edwards gets into the ocean, and sets up a small family on a yacht, a big ol' mosasaurus and an extended action sequence he finds himself, and the cast, on more sure footing. It's this long tribute to Jaws that sees the film finally get into gear and once over it settles into a story that might have a video game logic – collect three things and you get to go home – but manages to actually bring some of the awe back to the series.
One beautiful sequence in a field is clearly quoting from his debut film Monsters, and Koepp clearly wants to write a love letter to Michael Crichton with a raft sequence pulled straight from the source novel. Edwards knows how to do the action, and unlike his MonsterVerse entry doesn't shy away from showing the monsters. Each sequence is smartly done, building tension and then throwing audiences into situations that they can truly enjoy.
There are, of course, issues. There's little logic to the concept that mankind would be bored of dinosaurs after thirty-two years. There are over ten thousand zoos across the world holding animals that have existed for well over one thousand years, many people spend millions annually to go to these animals natural habitat to observe them. The idea that in three decades the world grew bored of living dinosaurs when natural history museums see hundreds of people daily come to look at the bones of them makes little to no sense.
But! This logic flaw aside there are interesting ideas. The concept that our human environment is inhospitable to these animals, and that most are dying in major cities, and the rest are flocking to the equator where the environment is more friendly is a clever way of pulling the dinosaurs away from the free roaming world that Colin Trevorrow's sequel trilogy wrote into a corner.
The characters are all pretty likeable too. There family unit in peril are well played, and have some nice moments of emotion where each character gets to be a hero for a moment, and offers us an adorable little dino for that sweet sweet merchandise. Meanwhile Johansson is suitably enjoyable in an adventurer role and Bailey is very good at playing an idealistic nerd.
As it is this might be the best sequel to a Jurassic film that Steven Spielberg didn't direct, it reminds us that there is an awe and wonder to dinosaurs that turns even the most hardened adult into a little kid, and if done right can remind us all how we once felt the first time Richard Attenborough welcomed us to Jurassic Park. The franchise… found a way.
Jurassic World Rebirth is in cinemas from July 2nd
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