"Jurassic World Rebirth: Enter At Your Own Risk"
Jurassic Park installations aren’t very innovative. Usually someone wants power, wealth and thinks they can achieve that by manipulating gigantic pre-historic creatures. There’s someone who has worked closely with the species or studied them heavily who gets pulled in to an adventure or nefarious task. There’s always the cool rebel who has street smarts and perhaps a military background. Probably most importantly, there’s some kid in the mix. Jurassic World Rebirth is the same formula, different mission, but still has elements of spectacle.
Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that it takes place in a world where people don’t care about dinosaurs anymore. They’re no longer flocked after by the masses in zoos or theme parks. In fact, they’re dying in climates outside of the equator. Rather than stay in a community where extinction is happening, Zora Bennet (Scarlett Johansson) is propositioned to go to a dangerous island where dinos are thriving to retrieve blood from some of the oldest dinosaurs to try to eradicate heart disease. The gun for hire is desperate for one last job that will allow her to retire, having spent most of her life on special ops, she’s the best person to lead the team being pulled together by pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend). From there, they pull in Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and some more rag tag mercenaries to round out the group.
Simultaneously, a family is crossing the Atlantic in the middle of nowhere. In yet another place that writers Michael Chrichton and David Koepp miss the boat (hehe), this family dynamic is explained just enough for us to fill in the blanks on their current relationship but is barely developed over the course of the film. Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) has his daughters, Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) on this once in a lifetime trip. Teresa’s boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono), is a lazy stoner who seemingly may have made the voyage under a condition for Teresa to go. Xavier is another character who is underwritten but may be one of the most captivating of the group.
With that we have our characters for the film. Director Gareth Edwards does well when he seemingly pays homage to the Spielberg style of filmmaking. He uses camera angles that show the scale of the dinosaurs versus humans. He pushes in for close-ups to give characters a pivotal line or to show the intensity of a moment. Cinematographer John Mathieson helps in these moments with the golden glow of light that captures a character in the frame. This is all counterbalanced by the visually alarming CGI that’s used. It felt more like the special effects from The Lost World (1925). A perfect example is a scene with a T-Rex waking up to come after the Delgados. The initial camera work and suspense of the scene will have you hold your breath, but you can breathe out once the dino gets moving alongside the family. It looks like they’re superimposed in the frame.
This film brings into question the length of movies made today. Rebirth could have started at sea (about 25 minutes in) and still worked. Why do we have to assemble a team for twenty minutes? What if we meet the team in progress and learn about them during the mission? There is a two to three minute expositional dialogue between Bennet and Kincaid on the ship that is a drag. However, maybe it wouldn’t have been so boring if that was the background info we received on the characters instead of the drawn out set up prior.
Jurassic World Rebirth is predictable and carries a nostalgic familiarity. There are glimpses of brilliance followed by segments of mundanity. It doesn’t know the film style it wants to rely on and is certainly two films in one that come together in the end. It’s entertaining for the moment and forgotten once you hit the lobby of the theater. I couldn’t justify the price for my family to see it in theaters, but nothing beats seeing a dinosaur on the big screen. Enter at your own risk.
Rating: D+
"Moonlight" Review
The buzz about Moonlight started after its premiere at Telluride. Since then, it’s been one of the most sought out films on the festival circuit. And it should be. Moonlight is a magnificent film that doesn’t exploit itself or its message. Instead, it simply tells us a story of beauty, bittersweet irony that allows us make our own decisions and conclusions.
Told in three parts of a man’s life, the film begins with a nine year old Chiron (Alex R. Hibbert) who is called Little. Director Barry Jenkins instantly makes us relate and sympathize with the main character in a heart-wrenching scene in which Chiron is chased by the neighborhood kids into an abandoned building. As Jenkins camera hovers over Little like the bullies he runs from, Jenkins also uses sound to put us in Little’s world. A cacophony of inaudible yelling and knocking on the door torments our ears, as it does Little.
Juan (Mahershala Ali), the kingpin drug dealer of the block, looks after Little, who doesn’t speak accept for when he’s being fed. After trying to reunite Little with his mother (Naomie Harris), Juan quickly finds out that she’s one of the fiends that he serves. From then on, Juan and his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monae) take care of Little when his mother neglects him for whatever reason. So when Little asks Juan “What’s a faggot?” due to bullying, there is an incredible dynamic between the machismo of Juan and the innocence of Little. The beauty in watching a crack dealer provide love and support for a young child while ironically continuing to kill his mother slowly are some of the touches that the movie offers up, with no judgment.
As Little grows into Chiron (Ashton Sanders) the teenager in the second act, the bullying hasn’t stopped. In fact, it seems like a state of the way things are. Chiron’s only friend is Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), who has been his friend as a child, but is now a pretty boy and ladies man. It’s in the story of teenage Chiron that we see a point of intersection between the first time he has a sexual experience and when he’s decided he’s had enough of the bullying. This takes us into the final act of the film where we meet Black (Trevante Rhodes), the muscle bound shell of machismo that Chiron has built himself into.
The entire cast of Moonlight does an outstanding job! Mahershala Ali gives Juan the iron fist and open hand that’s needed for us to see the irony in the first act. Harris’s Paula is the only character to be in each act as a steady force in Chiron’s life whether for good or bad, and it stings. Each version of Chiron and Kevin throughout the years bring something different to the table, building off of one another and handing off the baton in a perfect relay race. In the Q&A after the screening I saw of the film, Jenkins said that he never allowed the actors to meet. Knowing that, makes the film that much more impressive.
Based off of the play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight tells a story that’s rarely heard in regard to black male sexuality and displayed without drama. Without ever using the word gay or having a coming out moment, the film simply shows. Jenkins use of restraint and excellent craftsmanship will definitely put Moonlight in the ring during awards season!
Rating: A
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2" Review
After a dramatic two hour trailer in Mockingjay- Part 1 that led up to this, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2 is finally here. While it’s predecessor was more of a political thriller, the finale delivers more on action. Unfortunately, the film’s closing act may be appreciated by book fans but leave film fans clueless.
After being attacked by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is ready to kill President Snow (Donald Sutherland) with extreme prejudice. Of course, that’s perfectly fine for President Coin (Julianne Moore) who has plans to become the new voice of power once the smoke clears. Tired of the politics, staged “propos”, and being a puppet/symbol for the opposition, Katniss decides she’s not going to listen to Coin’s orders (no surprise there) to stay behind the danger zone and get into the Capitol to kill Snow by any means necessary.
With a hybrid elite crew of soldiers we know, and those that we’re just meeting, Katniss slowly moves toward the Capitol under the leadership of Boggs (Mahershala Ali), protection of Gale (Liam Hemsworth), and wildcard addition of Peeta. Getting to the Capitol will be no easy feat, as the blocks surrounding it are layered with traps straight from the games, they have to rely on a Playstation like controller to detect the traps that are mapped- and it’s an old map, leaving room for possible unknowns.
The fight to get to the Capitol is filled with action, and the occasional heartwarming conversation between soldiers willing to fight for one another, and the collective freedom of Panem. Unfortunately, there is a lot of allusion to the love triangle of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale that slows the film down. Rather than having a straight up conversation about it, Katniss fakes sleeping while the boys talk, Gale makes a comment about kissing Katniss being like kissing a drunk person, and other moments are made in a clear attempt to adapt the triangle from the novel to the screen. It’s cringeworthy.
Without giving anything away, once Katniss arrives at her destination, the film relies on the crutch it has seemed to be in a pattern of using. Something happens, Katniss wakes up, and everything is explained to us. It’s a poor way of storytelling that is undeserved for such an iconic female heroine that we’ve grown to love. Especially when the outcome would have been more earned and satisfying.
The ensemble amassed for the The Hunger Games series is quite impressive. Names like Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson-- I could keep going but I think my point is made-- are a hollywood dream team. It’s part of the reason that for adults we’ve easily forgotten that the film is based off of Young Adult material. In that sense, it’s been a pleasure to watch. Unfortunately, Josh Hutcherson is out of his league, and in such a key role, brings down the film. While he’s had some growth over the past four films, he still looks like a fish out of water, and is a weak link that in retrospect should have been replaced.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2 is an action-packed, melodramatic bookend to a rather exciting series. Director Francis Lawrence deserves a lot of credit for making the world of Panem come to life. At no point do you feel like you’re watching a CG heavy film, but every setting feels real and every explosion has palpable weight, creating an immersive experience for the viewer. It’s just too bad that we get a final act away from the finish line, only to be tripped, and spoon fed an ending to a redefining genre film.
Rating: C+