Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Jurassic World

Having recently watched Jurassic World, the fourth instalment of the Jurassic Park franchise, a couple of hours ago, I have one thing to say: It certainly is worth the ticket price.

My own opinion: It was an entertaining flick that delivers the minimal amount of quality to be considered a decent flick but not exemplary or amazing like the first. The writing for the human characters especially weren't too impressive and to me, felt clichéd. Overall, one should watch this movie with lowered expectations as comparing it to Jurassic Park will devalue Jurassic World in one's eyes.

What makes it:
The Indominus Rex (I-Rex) is the closest thing the dinosaur world will probably have to a serial killer due to its abilities. Most scenes where it appears are entertaining to watch as long as you can maintain a suspension of disbelief at certain intervals. The I-Rex is probably the best antagonist of this movie (if compared to the human antagonist) and easily beats out the Spinosaurus of Jurassic Park 3 as a dinosaur antagonist though not reaching the level of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park 1 (who. I am glad to say, does appear in this movie)
The action was present and served their purpose. I won't give this aspect too much credit, seeing as this movie seems to act more like a monster movie, but if you come in hoping to see dinosaur rampage, there is enough of it to keep you satisfied.
The last section of the movie is probably where you will get your money's worth. Without wishing to spoil, the sequence alone is probably the part you will remember the most after the movie ends and is, for me, the one reason why I had such a positive opinion of the movie.
The special effects and soundtracks work fine, nothing too grand like the first (which had the advantage of being cutting edge at the time) but they don't clash with the actual visuals. The occasional music that harkens back to JP 1 was a nice touch and only played when it was relevant.
The actors also work fine with none of them being too bad to notice but also aren't breaking new ground. I only note this as a formality and add that this does not apply to the characters they portray as.

What breaks it:
The characters, to me at least, did not seem to be realistic humans and are more akin to cartoon characters. Each one fits into a cliché or niche that can be summed up in a single sentence each(not going to do it here to avoid spoilers) with special focus on the human antagonist who has the most laughably bad motive in this movie. I chuckled every time this motive is mentioned and more critical individuals will probably cringe at this character's insistence on such an unreasonable idea. Another example of cartoon-like characters is the main female character of this movie with her footwear. When watching this movie, note what kind of shoes does she wear throughout the movie (That is all I will say about her). None of the characters felt realistic or had shades of realism to them, the main characters at least.
The writing itself is not ground-breaking and has leaps of logic at times. The fact that there is a world that allows for the creation of a new Jurassic Park despite 2 (3 if the third movie is considered) reported incidents involving dinosaurs that led to human deaths already places the movie's setting at risk of sounding ludicrous (at least to me). Once again, the human antagonist's motive has to be acknowledged as an example of a leap of logic as it is one of the most cringe-worthy villain motives I've seen in a while due to an inherent lack of logical reason in said villain (not gonna mention what it is but if I were to compare said villain to someone, I would compare said villain to the Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil). This is why the I-Rex was the better villain since it did not have such a dumb motive (not gonna actually mention what the I-Rex's possible motives were for fear of spoiling) which in hindsight, doesn't actually sound like credit. Also, for the curious, the Pteranodons from JP 3 were never mentioned here so don't bother waiting for any post-credit scenes.

Summary:
While not having the plausible logic of the original Jurassic Park, Jurassic World is a decent watch for that final sequence alone though the decent execution of the above aspects does help. There are problems in this movie that do hang over it like a bad smell but as a movie to watch for the sake of entertainment, this movie is worth a watch. Just lower your expectations and see it as a monster movie, not a ground-breaking film that has some plausibility.
What makes it: I-Rex, Action, LAST SEQUENCE, Special effects and soundtrack, Actors
What breaks it: Characters, Writing

EDIT: Note that this is a subjective opinion and my opinion may not reflect your own.

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