JURASSIC WORLD (2015) FILM REVIEW 6-30-2015

Twenty-two years after the original Jurassic Park failed, the new park (also known as Jurassic World) is open for business. After years of studying genetics the scientists on the park genetically engineer a new breed of dinosaur. When everything goes horribly wrong, will our heroes make it off the island?…IMDB.com

The slogan for Steven Spielberg produced and Colin Trevorrow directed Jurassic World (2015) could be “The Park Is Open And Only The Dinosaurs Matter”. That is because this fourth sequel from the Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001) series has probably the least developed storylines for the actors. We really don’t know much or care much about the backgrounds or personal lives of Jurassic World’s perky director Claire (Bryce Howard), heroic Velicoraptor trainer/park ranger Owen (Chris Platt), naïve, optimistic Indian billionaire Masrani (Irrfan Khan), manipulative and reckless military ops leader Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio), secretive and egotistical Hammond Creation Lab genetic engineer Dr, Henry Wu (BD Wong), geeky and loyal control room operators Lowery (Jake Johnson) and Vivian (Lauren Lapkus), serious and cautious Velicoraptor handler Barry (Omar Sy) and Claire’s nephews the jaded and laidback teenager Zack (Nick Robinson) and inquisitive and nerdy Gray (Ty Simpkins).

Yes, we have a wide assortment of new faces to briefly bond with in Jurassic World, because the real focus and stars of the film are the new genetic powers. As Jurassic World’s audience members, we basically just want to eat popcorn and see how many people and dinosaurs get killed by the new super predator, Indominus Rex. We are told by Owen that the new super killer in Jurassic World mercilessly killed its own sibling and has the human ability to kill other dinosaurs for sport and not to eat them. This quality or trait of killing just to kill gives a serial killer-aspect to Indominus Rex that makes much of Jurassic World the most expensive and highest grossing horror film.

Wait – did I just call Jurassic World a big budget horror film? Yes, I did and that is what it really is and why it is so damn mega-successful. Indominus Rex is an 18 ft.  foot Freddy, Jason and Michael Meyers rolled into one. We idolize and worship Hannibal Lecter on screen because he is and embodies the fear of soulless human monsters so twisted and dark that it takes extraordinary efforts to catch, kill or defeat them. Just as it takes practically the whole cast of Jurassic World devoted to 90% of the screen time fighting Indominus Rex with rangers, special forces, helicopters and even Velociraptors.

We, as a society, are forever fascinated with evil spree killers, snipers or bombers you see featured on almost every episode of CBS’s “Criminal Minded”, “CSI” or HBO’s “True Detective” type homicide themed dramas. We are watching Owen and Claire and the rest of the cast react as if they are being hunted and stalked by a force that has no other purpose but to kill them and everyone at Jurassic World. The mass murderer in film or TV never has an off switch and that scene is graphically displayed when we peer into the Jurassic Word control room, and watch the life force signs of the park rangers die and flat-line one by one as they each never had a chance to stop this highly efficient prehistoric killing machine. And even classic Jurassic scary predators like Velociraptors and the T. rex are pale in comparison to the mayhem and bloodlust of Indominus Rex.

The super evil killing machine is also intelligent enough to communicate with his Velociraptor brothers to turn and make them attack their human handlers and then order the Pteranodons Dimorphodons in the Aviation Cage to go attack all the 20,000 tourists in Jurassic World. The film treats Indominus Rex like an Ultron type super villain who has a pack of evil flunkies that will do his bidding to help him attack, kill and conqueror Jurassic World.

In the end Claire says, “We need more teeth” to ultimately beat her own corporate created Jurassic World super attraction. Meaning the former threats of past Jurassic films the T. rex and Velociraptors have to work with humans to take down this mega man-made monster. And luckily the Mosasaurus at the end of Jurassic World jumps conveniently up out of its water enclosure and heroically takes down the super-sized predator that no one else in the film could.

Jurassic World may, by the end of 2015, become the number #1 box office film in the world, because in my expert opinion, horror films still rule and are cool.

I happily and proudly give Jurassic World $$$, and I highly recommend everyone to go see it… Multiple times.