Jurassic World Rebirth: Movie Review

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Dinosaurs, Ed Skrein, Rupert Friend
Director: Gareth Edwards

Three years after the Chris Pratt-led Jurassic World trilogy wrapped, the dinosaurs are back.

In the seventh film in the franchise, some 30 years after Steven Spielberg scared us silly, Scarlett Johansson leads the pack as Zora Bennett in the latest Jurassic Park movie.

A gun for hire, she's tasked with heading to an island that was the research facility for the original Jurassic Park.

But while she is part of a team of operatives with a secret mission, she soon finds the island contains a deadly set of secrets.

Rebirth starts with a promise of something entirely different with a cold opening that evokes horror movies of the bygone days and also recalls the Final Destination: Bloodlines coin issue.(And an appallingly blatant piece of product placement).

But by the time the blood-red soaked Jurassic Park logo has faded and an interesting premise that dinosaurs are more of a hindrance than a horror thanks to one escaping its enclosure and blocking the freeway, the film is less interested in the new and more keen to tread familiar paths.

However while that proves to be relatively rote, it has to be said the charm of its leads Scarlett Johnasson and Mahershala Ali prove to be better than any predictable dino-related activity.

While there is some surface-level characterisation brought in, the ease with which this pair interacts on screen is a welcome tonic to the tedium that unfolds.

From weak Alien allusions to nostalgia bait blasting of John Williams eternally evocative score, Rebirth seems stuck in the rut of familiarity, a film that feels like it's been birthed out if the amber of the DNA of the first films.

Throwing in an in peril family and a group of side characters who exist purely to do stupid things and be dinner for the dinos just stifles any hint of originality and stops Edward's from delivering a decent film.

There's a running commentary (aside from a brief climate change mention) that people have become bored of dinosaurs and merely tolerate them but feel they've run their course in terms of entertainment, a familiarity breeds contempt ennui.

Based on this outing and the fact the film lacks much of the magic that saw us marvel at their onscreen unveiling, it's easy to see why audiences may soon feel the same way.