Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
2018
**½
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, BD Wong, Isabella Sermon, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeff Goldblum
The sequel to Jurassic World picks up the story a few years later when a massive volcanic eruption is threatening to destroy the abandoned Isla Nublar. Claire and Owen are recruited to travel to the island and rescue a selected few of the dinosaurs, but they soon realise that they are only pawns in a bigger game. The fifth movie in the series takes elements from all the previous releases and then wraps it up with a surprising but nonsensical ending which takes the franchise into Planet of the Apes territory for the concluding part, Jurassic World Dominion. J. A. Bayona stages some exciting individual set pieces, but this is yet another frustratingly formulaic episode in this series. Children and good guys are put in jeopardy again, but the outcome is a foregone conclusion, as always. It doesn't help that the plot doesn't make much sense on its own and even less in the context of the entire franchise.
