Jurassic World: Rebirth

Jurassic World: Rebirth info:

Director: Gareth Edwards

Writer: Michael Crichton and David Koepp

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, and Rupert Friend

            Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. I’m back after a week away. Family time and vacation time are very important to us. We always make sure to set aside time every year to enjoy each other, create new memories, and embark on new adventures. This year was no different as we tried whitewater rafting for the first time and enjoyed some time on the beach. But we also made time to chill and watch a new movie in a theater local to where we were.

            Before I jump into the review, I believe there are three types of people watch a Jurassic movie at this point in the franchise. The first type is the younger crowd who may or may not have seen any of the original films before. They go in blind or at least without any preconceived notion of what they expect to see. Normally, they give it an average to above-average score. The second type (and largely the most vocal) are long-time Jurassic Park fans who are longing for a movie that makes them feel the exact same way the first one did way back in 1993. They will mostly give negative reviews regardless of how good the film actually is. Just read some reviews of Jurassic World: Dominion if you want some examples. Finally, the third type (and the one I most fit into) is the longtime fan who will consume any Jurassic material that you throw our way and will largely give it glowing reviews because we’re glad to see the franchise still thriving and love to see how many Easter eggs we can find.

            So, as I begin talking about “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” just know that I fall into that third category. But I will also try to be as bias as I can as we go along. Also, at this point, I need to put out my spoiler warning for the week. If you haven’t seen “Jurassic World: Rebirth” yet and don’t want to be spoiled, then I would head back over to my reviews page here and check out what other movies I have ready to read about.

            Ok, that was a lot of setup, but I feel it was necessary. So, “Rebirth” takes place five years after “Dominion,” and in a drastic story change, it appears that dinosaurs can no longer survive on most of the planet, as most of what is left lives around the equator of the Earth. Thankfully, there isn’t much setup to get us to the action. Basically, Martin Krebs (Friend) is in charge of a medical company. They need samples from three of the biggest dinosaur species so they can continue their research. Martin hires Zora Bennett (Johansson) and Dr. Henry Loomis (Bailey) to lead the mission. Zora then brings in Duncan Kincaid (Ali) and his team to assist.

            “Jurassic World: Rebirth” has two parallel stories that intersect a few times, but for the most part, we follow them separately. As Zora and her group are heading to the island, a dad, Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and his two kids are on a boating trip with the oldest daughter’s boyfriend. The oldest daughter, Teresa, is played by Luna Blaise, and the youngest daughter, Isabella, is played by Audrina Miranda. Reuben is not a fan of Luna’s boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono), but is trying to keep the peace.

            The first story intersection occurs when Duncan picks up an S.O.S. call from Reuben after his small boat is attacked by a pack of dinosaurs in the water. They all end up on Duncan’s boat as they successfully gather a sample from the Mosasaurus, the first of the three samples that they need to collect. Then things go sideways when they are attacked, and the two groups are separated again. Including Martin, all but pushing Teresa off the boat just to keep her from calling for help. This is also when the first death of the group occurs.

As the main group continues on to get the samples from both the Titanosaurus and the Quetzalcoatlus, Reuben and his family are fleeing from a T-Rex not far away. This is a pretty intense scene where they try to get away in an inflatable raft… very similar to a scene that happens in the original Michael Crichton book. Lots more action and crazy dinosaur scenes as they try for the last sample in the nest of a Quetzalcoatlus.

Eventually, they all meet back up at the basecamp of the InGen research facility as the climactic finish of the film brings us the very scary-looking Distortus Rex and the super aggressive Mutadons. Martin meets his demise as he drops the samples, which opens up the story for possibly more sequels, perhaps? Either way, the Delgado family survives somehow as only three of Zora’s group make it out alive—Zora herself, Dr. Loomis, and the surprise reappearance of Duncan.

Overall, “Jurassic World: Rebirth” was good, but it had its share of issues that I feel could have been easily fixed. The aforementioned raft scene, all three scenes where they were drawing samples, and the whole last part are all extremely action-packed and great to watch. Where the story falls short is the dialogue. I’m a fan of Johansson, but a lot of the time, she almost appears as if she’s reading off the lines from a teleprompter. Her action shots were fine, just her speaking parts needed some work… and maybe it wasn’t her fault.

Also… keeping in line with older Jurassic films, somehow most of the professionals perish, but a family of four with no survival skills somehow survives every attack. Like I mentioned earlier, I also wasn’t a fan of the direction change that Dominion set in motion. But honestly, we watch dinosaur movies to see the big, scary action scenes, and on that, “Jurassic World: Rebirth” delivers.

This wasn’t even close to being the best movie of the franchise, but it also isn’t the worst. “Fallen Kingdom” may have that honor, but I honestly haven’t taken the time to sit down and rank them… maybe I should. But as long as they keep making Jurassic movies, I will be there to see them. Anyway, with all that being said, I can’t give this any score other than a 7 out of 10. It could have slipped to a 6, but it just looks too damn beautiful to make it that low.

Ok, my time here is nearly extinct, but I want to hear from you before I go. Have you watched “Jurassic World: Rebirth” yet? If so, what are your thoughts? Which category of watcher are you? Hopefully, you enjoyed it as much as I did, despite its few flaws. That’s it for me. Join me next week when I will be back with another mindless movie review of some sort