"Awesome!"
(12 June 2015)
Writer/Director:
Colin Trevorrow
Writers:
Colin Trevorrow, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly
To say that the audience was excited beforehand is an
understatement. They clapped after the IMAX effects intro. They
also clapped once during the movie, and then at the end. It's
always the sign of a really good movie when the audience
claps after. Even though you could see it coming, the big moment
in this movie still delivered, and audiences, myself included,
left the theater completely satisfied.
It was "awesome". I haven't felt this happy after a movie since
T3.
From the opening fade to white where they
show such incredible movie magic detail in the two sibling baby dinosaurs hatching from
their eggs, to the beauty of Isla Nublar and scope of the theme
park, the whole look of the movie is awesome. I am sure I
will just have to keep repeating "awesome" over and over.
The movie is its own animal, even if it's
created on the DNA of the past movies. DNA splicing is the theme
of the new horror, named "Indominus Rex"—It wasn't quite as big
as I expected but it is shit-your-pants scary.
NEW MISTAKES/OLD MISTAKES
Although Jeff Goldblum's wisecracking is absent, they get a few
in: "We have the best structural engineers in the world." "So
did Hammond." From the moment you see that they are
keeping this new creation in a "paddock" you know they've
learned nothing. Someone mutters "Maybe progress should lose
for once." Christ Pratt is the man in this
movie. There's a payoff for him controlling the raptors. He
sells that surprisingly well as far as the suspension of
disbelief goes. They do a little Jaws-ish reveal tease as we see
more and more of the Indominus as the movie goes along. We
are also shown the bad side of animals-as-amusements (the old
mistakes) and it's just so clear how wrong Sea World is. The
funny thing here is that we still enjoy the spectacle. These
aren't captured creatures. They're created. It doesn't make it
any more wrong is the message of the movie, but thankfully, we
don't care because it is just a movie and we can enjoy them
feeding a shark to a dinosaur. I mean, come on! You know you've
been waiting for that movie moment all your life. And
there's plenty more to come.
"WOW ENOUGH"
"They're dinosaurs. Wow enough." But they don't stop there.
Not by a long shot. You're filled with the same kind of
amazement that you were
when you saw the first movie. All those
years (pre-1993) we wanted to see believable dinosaurs
(not stop motion or lizards as 'models'). It's still a
wow! Not only are the dinosaurs incredibly real looking and
super detailed. The obligatory running with them, running from
them, driving with them, driving from them, canoeing with them,
training them, all these things still take your breath away.
They do a really good job of showing the scope of the island
attraction, fleshing out the details, and making a really cool
looking theme-park experience of the future. And the real
monsters are still the greedy, evil corporate lackeys and
soldiers having a say in the outcome.
INGEN
Like "Skynet", the name "InGen" strikes fear that things have
gone badly. When they're involved, everything will go wrong.
They bring in a group of "ACU" soldiers to combat the Indominus
but they underestimate it and are all killed. We are treated to
an Aliens-style monitoring system as they all flat line.
"These people, they never learn." We never get to know this
Super Soldier unit at all. They're sent in with "non lethals".
Greed being the motivating factor here in not killing the
Indominus. The reason for creating him "If I don't innovate,
somebody else will." The inevitability of evil is a great
excuse. "Monster is a relative term." So is innovation.
The biggest surprise to me is just how much I
enjoyed going back to the 'same' experience. The music, the
adventure, the animals, it all still has a sense of wonder. This
comes crashing down when Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard was better
than Wonder Woman in this role) suddenly realizes her nephews
are out in the field, in danger, under the care of a babysitter.
ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
I didn't watch the trailer because I really wanted to see
everything for the first time in the movie. I had no idea they
were visiting their Aunt, or that a woman would be running the
park, or that the kids would be foisted off with a 'babysitter'.
It definitely didn't occur to me that the babysitter would meet
such an untimely end. They have some fun with it. While I was
watching I thought this is too intense for kids, but the
audience had tons of kids, from age 6 or 7 up (a few that looked
4) and they LOVED it! "The best movie in the whole wide world"
was heard on the way out. They were all hoping to get to watch
it again.
FEELING SMALL
When Chris Pratt holds a gun and you see how big the Indominus
is, the gun looks really small. The futility of machines
versus these forces of nature is part of what makes these movies
so good. When they visit the old showroom ("When Dinosaurs Ruled
The Earth" you know, that one), it's a shambles. Can it
really be 22 years since Jurassic Park?! What can they possibly
do to top this? I'd love to see a movie about the InGen soldiers
(get to know them before they get killed off). Maybe a last
stand, who-dies-next,
Super Soldier movie à la Aliens.
The evil men that InGen brings in—men who
like killing animals—are about as big a message against that
kind of person as you can get. It all builds up to the moment
when they let the raptors out to chase Indominus . . . and
you forgot just how fast the raptors were supposed to be. Owen
(Chris Pratt) has dinosaur-sized balls as he joins the raptors
on the chase on a motorcycle. That's right.
"AWESOME"
Have you seen the
hilarious parody "Raptor Bros"? And then . . .
"Watch your 6: Raptors got a new Alpha." They do a lot of
the awesome Jurassic Park things we love: breaking
into deserted places, improvising with what's at hand, using old vehicles, using your smarts,
cool new vehicles, making a run for it, getting eaten, hiding,
being found, outsmarting the animals, not oustsmarting the
animals, not heeding the warning, not being adequately prepared,
the big eye staring at you, the smelling, and having a T-Rex
chasing you. That scene was great. As big as Owen's balls were
and as manly as he was, Claire holds her own. She's brave and
tough as hell. She keeps her high heels on (not too high), and
runs in them like a bawse. Really, if you were going to bait a T
Rex, wouldn't you rather be barefoot than risk running in heels?
But I can't complain. I ate it up. Good thing the T-Rex didn't.
THE SMELL OF MONEY
This movie will probably break box office records. Everything in
it is great down to the sound effects. Kudos to the Sound
Department. When the raptor slips and hits the marble floor,
it's just the right amount of wet and squishy but heavy. The
movie is quality all the way. Summer
Action Adventure just the way we like it.
Spielberg says it best: "To see
Jurassic World come to life is like seeing Jurassic Park come
true." Now bring on Chris Pratt as Indiana Jones!
|
action movie freak
