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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
****
Dir: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt
(USA, 12A, 2hrs 8 mins)
Look out for ripples in that water cup, the dinosaurs are back! After the box office bonanza that was Jurassic World, a sequel was inevitable. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, minus her high heels, return, but this time they are on dino-rescue duties rather than simply running about screaming.
The theme park has been closed down on Isla Nebular for four years after the people-eating problems, where the dinosaurs that were once the main attraction now living free. A dormant volcano on the island has roared back into life however, threatening everything that lives there. Pratt’s Owen Grady is sent back to help capture the creatures supposedly for noble reasons, but soon uncovers a dastardly conspiracy to weaponise the beasts and use them for military purposes.
He finds his old velociraptor friend Blue and together with Howard, they head off to the Dinosaur Protection Group, trying to preserve the species they brought back from extinction. What starts off epic becomes very claustrophobic however as Grady and his nearest and dearest suffer a home invasion from the newest and deadliest man-made species of dinosaur, the Indoraptor. Director J.A. Bayona is no stranger to scares, The Orphange, A Monster Calls and the gruelling The Impossible all being on his roster. His skills as a director bring more grit to the franchise, as well as spectacle. Nods to the past include a Jeff Goldblum cameo as original Jurassic Park chaos theoretician Dr Ian Malcolm, James Cromwell ‘s character Benjamin Lockwood has a link with Richard Attenborough’s character John Hammond and a CGI T-Rex, as ever, making a very showy, bitey appearance. A summer event movie without a superhero, with some nightmare-inducing jumps – a roaring success.
words Keiron Self