Hello, fellow JP/JW Wikians!
Welcome to my review of the fifth installment of the Jurassic Park/World Franchise: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom!
Note: This blog post only shows my opinion on the film.
Today, I cover my review of this film for over an entire year after the fifth installment released in theaters on June 22, 2018. For this review, I will cover everything, such as the plot, the characters, the dinosaurs (primarily on the new ones that debuted in this film), and the themes, and more.
Plot[]
The story begins six months after the downfall of Jurassic World. An expedition team has been sent to collect a sample of the deceased Indominus rex that is inside the Mosasaurus Lagoon. A submarine called Marine One goes to where the hybrid's skeleton is and cuts off a small part of the ribs, and sends it back up so that the helicopter can retrieve it. A mercenary named Jack was responsible for opening the Mosasaurus Lagoon and was closing it. After sending the sample, the submarine was about to head out when the Mosasaurus destroyed it, killing two people inside. Just then, the helicopter arrives and warns Jack to get back inside, only for the T. rex individual that was residing on Isla Nublar to attack Jack. Luckily, he escapes, but then gets chomped on by the Mosasaurus while the helicopter was getting away. The remaining mercenaries have the I. rex sample though, and they leave while the Mosasaurus escapes into the ocean through the unclosed gate.
It then takes place three years after Jurassic World has been brought down, where Claire has founded the Dinosaur Protection Group, an organization dedicated to saving the dinosaurs from the now erupting Mount Sibo. Ian Malcolm has testified in court to not save the dinosaurs, and then the committee has decided to not save the dinosaurs, but then Claire was called by Lockwood so that he can plan on saving the dinosaurs to take them to a sanctuary alongside Mills. Claire agrees to this plan, not letting go of her ideals of saving the dinosaurs. She then visits Owen, who was building a house to talk with him on saving the dinosaurs. Owen, at first, didn't care, but then Claire brought up Blue, Owen's Velociraptor, and makes him consider while he rests in his van as he watches a video from his past where he trains Blue, Delta, Echo, and Charlie (the Raptor Squad from Jurassic World) when they were very young.
Claire, Franklin, and Zia pack up to leave to Isla Nublar via plane, but Owen arrives, deciding to save Blue and the other dinosaurs. They arrive to Isla Nublar where Ken Wheatley awaits them, as the team of mercenaries are already on the island saving dinosaurs. The gang drive in trucks though the abandoned Main Street, where they encounter a Brachiosaurus. Then sometime later, they head to a bunker to reactivate the tracking system to find Blue and track whatever dinosaur they can capture. Claire and Franklin stay in the bunker, while Owen, Zia, and Ken head out to find Blue. Owen then reunites with Blue, but not before she is darted by Ken, and she attacks a mercenary but got gravely injured. Upset, Owen tried to confront Ken, but Ken tranquilizes Owen, revealing his betrayal to the DPG group. Zia took out the dart before too much of the drug was put into Owen's blood system, but the mercenaries take her and Blue so that Zia can heal Blue, leaving Owen behind. As Mount Sibo starts to erupt, a Sinoceratops encounters Owen, licks him before leaving. Owen notices the lava coming towards him, and he manages to escape just in time. Just then, Claire and Franklin are also abandoned and locked in by the mercenaries, leaving them to die. As lava starts to pour in the room, a Baryonyx attacks them, but they manage to escape. Owen briefly regroups with them as they run from a stampede of dinosaurs as they run from the erupting volcano. Several dinosaur events occur, and Claire and Franklin manages to hop onto a Gyrosphere, while Owen runs. They make it off the cliff and head to the beach, where Claire is very unhappy that she was deceived. The mercenaries load whatever dinosaur they can onto the Arcadia, a large ship to transport many dinosaurs, and Owen, Claire, and Franklin hop on. They witness the demise of a lone Brachiosaurus as it is engulfed by the ashes, leaving it on the burning Isla Nublar.
Mills meets up with Gunnar, showing him the Indoraptor for an auction they will have for the rescued dinosaurs. Maisie, Lockwood's apparent granddaughter, reports this to Lockwood, but he simply dismisses this. Meanwhile, Zia is trying to heal Blue, until Owen, Claire, and Franklin encounter her again. Zia informs them that they are going to sell the dinosaurs, but not Blue. Zia also tells them that they need a blood transfusion to make up for Blue's lost blood, so Owen and Claire head to where the T. rex is contained and they take a blood sample, but not without alarming it. They then remove the bullet from Blue's wound and they give her the xenotransfusion.
Meanwhile, Maisie heads into Wu's lab and sees videos of Owen training the Raptor Squad when they were young, when Mills and Wu barge into the lab to talk about the problems of the Indoraptor. Just then, she unintentionally heads near to the cage of the Indoraptor, and the hybrid scares her off, thus leading to Mills getting her and locking her in her room. Meanwhile, Owen and co. sleep until the Arcadia arrives to the Lockwood Manor, Franklin gets caught but is thought to be another worker so he is forced to work to get the dinosaurs off of the Arcadia, Zia and Blue are loaded off, and Owen and Claire remain hidden in order to call the police and report the entire operation had it not been for Ken to stop and apprehend them. Mills murders Lockwood as Lockwood finds out about everything. Mills then talks to Owen and Claire while they were in a cage about the applications of Owen's research with Blue.
The auction takes place and a juvenile Allosaurus, an Ankylosaurus, and a Baronyx got sold off. While that was happening, Owen manages to free himself and Claire by attracting the attention of a Stygimoloch. Maisie witnesses all this and attempts to run off, by Owen and Claire convince her to join their side. Meanwhile, the Indoraptor is shown off at the auction and was nearly sold off had it not been for Owen and the same Stygimoloch individual that broke them free earlier. When the auction is completely abandoned, Ken attempts to extract the tooth of the Indoraptor while it was pretending to be tranquilized, but was killed off. Gunnar attempts to escape via elevator alongside a few other people, but the Indoraptor took them out as well.
Just as Owen, Claire, and Maisie were attempting to escape, Mills and two other guards encounter them, and Owen and Claire try to keep Maisie away from Mills as Mills reveals that Maisie is actually a clone of Lockwood's daughter, but the Indoraptor arrives and takes out the two men, as the rest escape. Meanwhile, Wu packs up the genetic material in the lab, and he tells Zia to give him a sample of Blue's blood. Franklin tranquilizes Wu and they escape, with Blue blowing up the lab due to a fight she had with a couple of security guards, with Wu being dragged away to safety. The explosion caused some hydrogen tanks to leak inside the dinosaurs' cages. Meanwhile, Owen, Claire, and Maisie attempt to evade the Indoraptor while Franklin and Zia try to reset the ventilation systems to stop the hydrogen gas from reaching the dinosaurs' cages. Maisie runs off to her room, where the Indoraptor follows her, but Owen distracts the Indoraptor temporarily before Blue comes in and engages in a fight with the Indoraptor. Owen and Maisie run to the glass rooftop where the Indoraptor follows them, but Claire distracts the hybrid by using the target signal, which directs the Indoraptor to attack a target. The Indoraptor gets back up, but Blue lands on it and crashes down to one of the Lockwood dioramas, where a ceratopsian skull impales it. Blue leaves, while Franklin and Zia tell Owen, Claire, and Maisie about the dinosaurs' cages.
Hydrogen gas is leaking in, and Claire must make the choice to free the dinosaurs or let them die. Owen tells her to not do it, hinting that there is no avoiding the consequences, and she decides to reluctantly let them die. However, Maisie presses the button, stating "I had to. They're alive... like me.". The dinosaurs have been freed, while Mills and two other men attempt to get away with the I. rex sample. However, the dinosaurs stampede and take out the two men. Mills survives and was about to get the I. rex sample, but the T. rex kills him, crushing the I. rex sample in the process, which ensures that no hybrid with the Indominus rex DNA can be created again. Owen and co. witness Blue come at them again, only this time with Owen calming Blue and tells her that "they'll get her somewhere safe" (by transporting her with a cage, which she declines). Instead, she runs off into the night. Ian Malcolm then talks about how the world will change following the dinosaurs loose on mainland and the genetic power being used for open sourcing. Events like the Mosasaurus attacking some surfers, the T. rex breaking into a zoo, and some Pteranodon flying around Las Vegas (that is the post-credit scene, by the way) occur, all while Blue looks out on a cliff and calls out, now free in the wilds of Northern California.
Notes[]
- It is considered that the opening to the film is the strongest out of the JP/JW films.
- The film had some references to the novel, such as the destruction of Isla Nublar from the first novel, or the Sinoceratops licking Owen after being betrayed by Ken which was based from the second novel where the Stegosaurus licks Sarah after she was betrayed by Dodgson.