Film Review: Jurassic World Rebirth

We plunge straight into this standalone sequel to Jurassic World: Dominion (2022), where dinosaurs now live around the equator, the last viable climate for their survival. A team sets out to a former island research facility that houses the three largest prehistoric dinosaurs, aiming to collect samples crucial for developing a treatment for heart disease. 

Our rag-tag team consists of Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a passionate palaeontologist determined to save both the world and the dinosaurs. Then there’s mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), who finds herself grappling with her moral compass. Leading the group is Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), whose motivations are primarily driven by financial gain. Lastly, we have Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), representing a supposedly malevolent pharmaceutical organisation that appears to care only for the wealthy. 

This mission takes a turn for the worse almost immediately when our team strays from their objective to rescue a shipwrecked family, leaving both groups stranded on an island and battling to survive. Jurassic World: Rebirth doesn’t shy away from relying on clichés and tropes that feel all too familiar, yet have likely worn out their welcome, showcasing a few drawn-out sequences that either make you want to laugh or roll your eyes in frustration. I can’t believe that at no point did anyone exclaim, “It’s right behind you!” as each character somehow managed to overlook a massive dinosaur looming right beside them. 

With an action-packed agenda, director Gareth Edwards and writer David Koepp attempt to sprinkle in some heartfelt moments to prevent the film from feeling entirely emotionless. They try to evoke sentimental themes like love, family, and loss through characters Zora and Duncan, to pull at the audience’s heartstrings. But I’m not sure how effective that proved as they seemed underdeveloped, underutilised and added little substance to the movie.

As the movie unfolds, the shipwrecked family finds themselves separated from the rest of the team, forcing them to navigate their own way off the island. With a rescue helicopter set to circle the island in just 24 hours, both groups are in a race against the clock to escape. The team successfully retrieves a second sample from the large, calm Titanosaurus; however, the next challenge becomes perilous as the Quetzalcoatlus, a massive carnivore, poses a significant threat. After a harrowing near-death experience for Zora and Henry, alongside the tragic loss of one of their teammates, they manage to secure the final sample. 

Around this point in the film, things really pick up, though I can’t say it’s in the most enjoyable way, as the narrative becomes a bit muddled. In one scene, our characters find themselves being relentlessly chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex, which had me laughing to myself at the sheer absurdity of it all. I couldn’t quite tell if the scene was meant to be comedic or if it just came off that way by accident. Finally, both parties meet at the rendezvous point and again, as you can imagine, their escape is anything but straightforward.

It's safe to say that films like these are not made with artistic merit in mind. Instead, they rely heavily on a big budget, a star-studded Hollywood cast, and an abundance of CGI to deliver high-octane entertainment, excitement, and a touch of nostalgia. While I certainly got what I was expecting, I also got a side of bad dialogue, unnecessary back stories and some troublesome pacing. 

Its one redeeming quality is how breathtakingly beautiful the dinosaurs are and also horrifically terrifying they can be, with some reminiscent of the Alien franchise that at one point I was half expecting to see a Xenomorph or two. 

With the vastly superior original Jurassic Park created with a sense of wonderment and awe around the creatures, characters and storyline, it’s no wonder that after one or two follow-up films, audiences pretty much got the gist and the wonderment began to fade. Jurassic World: Rebirth is an entertaining enough movie with a brilliant opening scene in particular that was also reminiscent of Alien, but it’s definitely a movie that raises the question of whether the franchise still has much to offer. It’s definitely one of those movies that begs the question, should someone in the writers room should’ve spoken up and said “enough is enough?” 

Jurassic World: Rebirth is now showing at Broadway cinema.