Jurassic World Film Review

Jurassic World; one of the most anticipated films of the summer, stomped into theatres last weekend and in the words of Samuel L. Jackson, “Hold on to your butts.”  

The film quickly grossed more than any film’s opening weekend ever at $511.8 million beating out 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  Although the early reports of success make it seem like a box office smash, does the film stack up to the original?

Jurassic World takes place 22 years after the original film, and the movie pays plenty of homage to the original 1993 Steven Spielberg blockbuster Jurassic Park.  In this reboot, the original park that Richard Attenborough’s character John Hammond dreamed up has finally become a reality.  In fact the park has been around long enough where people are no longer in awe of dinosaurs.  In order to drum up more business and bring people back to the park, the science lab, run by Dr. Henry Wu played by BD Wong (Yes, the same character and actor from the original film), creates a new attraction that's bigger, louder, more cool than any other dinosaur.  By splicing genes of other dinos together with frog and cuttlefish DNA they are able to “invent” a new dinosaur called Indominus Rex.  As we know from previous Jurassic films, that is an awful idea and backfires terribly on the park owner, president, and patrons of Jurassic World.  

The film definitely offers action, suspense, and great dinosaur carnage.  However, is Jurassic World on the same level as the now classic film Jurassic Park?  I would say yes!  Jurassic Park was innovative and gave moviegoers, like myself, something many people wanted to see.  A great thriller with the main attraction, dinosaurs.  I don't think anyone will forget the original scene in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex finally steps out of her paddock and stomps past the SUVs.  So how does Jurassic World give us something moviegoers have never seen?  Plenty of action from dinosaur fight scenes with both old and new dinosaurs.

The other major similarity between Park and World is that both films had a main character that embodied the film.  In Jurassic Park you have the grounded expert Dr. Alan Grant played by Sam Neiil and in Jurassic World you have the ex-military raptor-whisperer Owen played by Chris Pratt.  The two character’s couldn’t be more unlike, however both have a way of becoming the main character of films focused primarily on the CGI created dinosaurs rather than the flesh and blood actors.  Pratt does a great job in this film and is a shining spot amongst the actors.  Two more notable roles from the film are Vincent D’Onofrio’s InGen baddie Hoskins and of course BD Wong reprising his role as Dr. Henry Wu.  Perhaps the role that falls the most flat is Bryce Dallas Howard’s Director of Operations Claire.  Her performance is passable, but not great, especially stacked up against Pratt and the real stars the dinosaurs.  

Getting to see the realization of what John Hammond had intended his park to be prior to the 1993 terror at Isla Nublar was amazing in its own right.  Jurassic World offers us a trip down memory lane but at the same time feels fresh and new, something Jurassic Park: Lost World and Jurassic Park III were unable to do.  With amazing action sequences, plenty of dino terror, and some smart film making, I give Jurassic World 4 out of 5 stars and I am very excited to see where they take this rebooted film series from here.

San Andreas Film Review

San Andreas shakes its way to the top.

If you are looking for great, mindless destruction this summer you will enjoy San Andreas.  The natural disaster flick pits Ray Gaines, a fire rescue chopper pilot played by The Rock, against the San Andreas fault. Ray races across the state of California to save his family from the mega-quake.  While The Rock continues his string of success and cements himself as an action movie superstar, another actor comes close to stealing the show.  Paul Giamatti plays a Cal Tech Geologist named Lawrence who has spent his life researching earthquakes and is able to predict what will happen next as the mega-quake threatens millions of lives along the California coast. His team of researchers do whatever they can to warn the masses to evacuate the major cities.  Of course those warnings come too late for many people as the quakes rips up L.A. And up the coast to San Fran.

The film has decent acting for an over the top action film.  The Rock is solid as always and even his wife Emma, played by Carla Gugino and daughter Blake, played by Alexandra Daddario turn in passable performances.  Paul Giamatti is where this film gets a lot of the background as he acts as the audience's scientific grounding, reminding us that all of this really could happen and giving some validity to a film that seems ridiculous in some scenes.

Overall I think that if you are looking for a deep plot (this film does have an interesting subplot) and great acting you may want to skip this one. If you are looking for a great disaster film with over the top special effects and mindless destruction than this film is the one for you.  I give this film a 3 out of 5 stars.  

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

If you want summer blockbuster fun with tons of superheroes, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the place to find it.  This movie is jam packed with heroes, allies, and foes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  

The film centers around the Avengers, who have continued the search for Loki's staff from the first film.  It turns out that the staff has been seized by a Hydra scientist who had been experimenting on people to create "enhanced" humans.  (This is Marvels way of getting around the fact that they can't use the word "mutant" due to legal ramifications with Fox studios and the X-Men series) As the team tracks down the staff, Tony Stark, once again played by Robert Downey Jr., has plans to create an artificial intelligence to help keep Earth safe.  Everything backfires when that A.I. he creates, called Ultron and voiced by James Spader, goes haywire and decides the best way to save Earth is to kill humans.  When Ultron teams with a set of "enhanced" twins all chaos ensues for the Avengers.  

As far as superhero movies go, this is an epic storyline that brings together everyone's favorite heroes; Cap, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, & Hawkeye.  However we also see cameos from War Machine, Falcon, Fury, and a few surprises.  With great action, comedy and one liners it is no surprise that the movie is already a hit.  I would argue that the character development makes the film.  Jeremy Renner in the role of Clint Barnes a.k.a. Hawkeye does a great job at establishing some depth for a hero that seems rather mundane in the first film.  At the same time we get to see Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner bring more depth to their characters and a little spice to the team with a budding romance.

The film offers everything you want in a summer blockbuster. Lots of action, great characters, & tons of big name actors.  Being the second in a string of many more Avengers movies to come with a presumably rotating roster of heroes, this film is a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  As a fan of Marvel, I can't wait to see what happens next.  Although I must admit I was a bit disappointed that the characters or events of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Didn't play any role whatsoever in this connected universe.  Like Marvel says, it is all connected!  Because the film doesn't quit deliver the experience of the first film, I give Avengers: Age of Ultron 4 out of 5 stars.