'Jurassic World Rebirth' review: Scarlett Johansson & Jonathan Bailey want raptorous applause

Universal Pictures

Just when you think they are extinct, they come roaring back. But let's be honest, money is of course the primary reason for such regurgitation. What is also making a comeback is stupid humans, hence we have Jurassic World Rebirth (apparently colons are extinct entities nowadays), the seventh entry in the 'Jurassic Park' franchise and a standalone sequel to 2022's 'Jurassic World: Dominion'. A few years after the events of that film, dinosaurs are now living around the equator.

A shady executive at a pharmaceutical company, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), hires former soldier and current private operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to infiltrate these dangerous islands inhabited by dinos and get DNA samples from a few selected species that could offer a chance for a major medical breakthrough. Zora then brings along paleontologist Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and boat captain Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and his personal crew for this mission. On their way to the islands, they're also tasked to rescue a family of four—dad Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), daughters Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa (Luna Blaise) as well as Teresa's boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono)—after they're shipwrecked following an aquatic dinosaur attack.

You can probably gather from that info dump that this movie isn't necessarily interested in bringing anything new onto the table and you'd be right on the money. There's some nice, family-friendly topics floating around, like possibly not privatising medication for profit and instead making sure it's affordable by giving up the patent (hooray), or working together as a family to solve a problem even if your child's partner seems like a loser at first (hooray), but mostly you're getting your usual medicine: big dinos vs. dumb people (screw it, here's another hooray). On that front, director Gareth Edwards and co. dig up the good bones in this franchise and deliver perfectly competent blockbuster filmmaking and sci-fi action mayhem with a little horror flavour sprinkled in as well.

Johansson, Ali, Bailey and other actors are also significant upgrades from the performers in previous 'Jurassic World' movies. Bailey is easily the standout here as his on-screen magnetism is off the charts and his performance style fits this sort of goofy yet action-heavy adventure story like a glove. He even turns stale dialogue into something passable multiple times just with his delivery and energy, which is no easy feat. Garcia-Rulfo conducts the B-plot really well and in a way that this kind of movie doesn't even need, while Iacono gets to be the comedic relief in those scenes and succeeds in that role. We often ask these B-plots to be cut down, but there's no need in this case thanks to the performers.

Johansson is a solid co-lead, but her character is rather vapid with the whole "great American hero" aura, which affects Johansson's work. And then we have Ali who feels oddly out of place in the dumbed-down blockbuster space—he's definitely the most technically and emotionally proficient actor in this ensemble, and he's also better than people in previous entries, but the writing simply doesn't match his intensity as the interpreter of the text. Speaking of text, screenwriter David Koepp isn't exactly giving any of the actors the ammunition they need as he and Edwards are mostly paying homage to other films when it comes to characterisations, set pieces and dramatic tension, which just feels incredibly lazy, to be perfectly honest with you.

Koepp's screenplay, which is based on characters created by Michael Crichton, is reflective of the entire film's inherent asymmetry. Sure, the VFX are yet again impressive like you'd expect from an Edwards picture, blending digital artistry effectively with real locations (a refreshing thing after the green screen acting and action in previous entries), but you do want more practical effects in these sorts of films. Composer Alexandre Desplat's score is, uh, fine, I guess, but John Williams' original theme should be retired by now and its use here is downright shameful. Edwards stages the action mostly with real scale and propulsion, but he's stealing more than he's pulling inspiration from the original film and 'Jaws', for example. Plus, both Koepp's dialogue and especially the ending treat the audience like they're idiots and can't handle nuance or tragedy; you just wish that you could watch the movie on mute and delete the last 10 minutes instead.

So how is "Rebirth" when you put everything together? It is, dare I say, not bad, honestly. It is, dare I say, fun and peppy enough for a summer blockbuster. It is, dare I say, easily the best 'Jurassic World' instalment thus far. Are we saying that this is a return to form simply because the previous films are god-awful in comparison? Unquestionably, but then again, Bailey's movie star charisma alone elevates everything. Little glasses have an impact, too, you could say. As far as the future of this franchise goes, the "play the hits" mentality gives you leeway only once before it gets tiresome, so you either need to grow up with your audience and let the dinos have some bloody, gooey fun or you let the series die with dignity with Rebirth. This might be as good as it gets when it comes to sequels, prequels or reboots, which is dispiriting.

Smileys: Jonathan Bailey, humour, VFX

Frowneys: Ending, originality

Writers shouldn't get on their high horse when it comes to criticising the antagonists in these movies for wanting to use and abuse dinos, when everyone has the mightiest of them all, called thesaurus, chained up in their basement.

3.0/5

[*Editor's note: Apologies for the image quality and possible inaccurate or insufficient credits. Universal Pictures didn't provide high-quality stills or proper information about the film before the publication of this review.]

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