989. Jurassic World (2015)

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Running Time: 124 mins

Jurassic World is an American film and the fourth in the Jurassic Park franchise. Years on from the last catastrophe on Isla Nublar, a fully-functioning theme park is established, but with attendance falling, the park organisers begin genetic modification to bring about a bigger, badder dinosaur, which backfires horribly.

This is the first pretty solid sequel in this franchise. Of course, it doesn’t stand up to the original, because there are still some flaws with character development, pacing and visuals, but on the whole this is a really fun and exciting movie with a good script and thrilling action sequences.

Let’s start with one of the biggest successes of this film, its atmosphere. Whilst The Lost World and Jurassic Park III treated Isla Nublar like a haunted house, this film restores some of the wonderment and awe that you felt at the beginning of the first movie, seeing it once again as a park where dinosaurs roam, making this a much more exciting film to witness at first, and leaving its transition into disaster all the more shocking than the previous two films.

One of the most interesting things about this is also the fact that it’s set in the functioning theme park, Jurassic World, that we all wanted to see since the original. It makes an interesting note on scientific experimenting and capitalism, something not done since the original, whilst the fact that the island is full of helpless tourists makes the threat of the dinosaurs all the more scary.

And strangely, this is quite a scary film. Of course, it’s nothing to give you nightmares, but the thing that really stands out from this whole movie is the excellent action sequences that are both exciting and destructive, but also tense and patient, much like the classic sequence in the car in the original Jurassic Park.

Although the story takes a little bit of a while to get going and should definitely have been cut down, once everything begins to kick off, this turns into a properly exciting film, and it’s that stunningly powerful tension in pockets throughout that makes it so, leaving you squirming in your seat as you fear the terrifying Indominus Rex.

Let’s talk about the dinosaurs, because they are, after all, the reason you want to watch this film. The CGI is fantastic, although I still don’t think it’s as exciting to look at as the practical effects in the original, but still, they do a great job of giving this dinosaurs a really strong presence on screen, and that main antagonist, the Indominus Rex, is really striking to watch.

Finally, the characters are the only disappointing part of this movie. Whilst Chris Pratt does a fantastic job, as well as some of his co-stars, none of the characters are particularly interesting or appealing like some of those in the original, and it’s that that decreases the fear factor to some degree.

Overall, though, this gets a 7.7, because it’s a properly exciting action movie with patient teasing and powerful tension throughout, and despite some character issues, it’s got a strong, intriguing premise that will make for a lot of fun for the duration.