David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘David Iacono’

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Director: Gareth Edwards

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Manuel Garcia-Ruflo, Ed Skrein, Bechir Sylvain, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda

Running Time: 2 hours and 13 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Rogue One and Godzilla director Gareth Edwards returns to the big screen with the latest instalment of the Jurassic franchise in the impressive new chapter, Jurassic World: Rebirth.

Unlike 2022’s explosive and character heavy Jurassic World: Dominion, Jurassic World: Rebirth has a much tighter narrative and centres on the stories of four characters.

Rupert Friend (Canary Black, Asteroid City, The French Dispatch) plays slimy and well suited pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs who hires operations expert Zora Bennett wonderfully played by Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson (JoJo Rabbit, Marriage Story) to lead an expedition to the equator to extract DNA from three species of dinosaurs living on a remote tropical island in a bid to find the ingredients for a new drug to prevent cardiac arrests in humans. Zora Bennett is joined by palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis expertly played by Jonathan Bailey (Wicked, Testament of Youth) as they head to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The trio are joined by boat captain Duncan Kincaid played by two time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Green Book) as they head to into the unknown to an island so treacherous that only heroes are left alive.

Parallel to their expedition, is a father sailing across the Atlantic with his two daughters, Reuben Delgado played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Magnificent Seven, Murder on the Orient Express) whose beautiful yacht is capsized by a monstrous prehistoric sea creature

Reuben and his daughters are rescued by Zora’s expedition but soon things go horribly wrong just before they reach the island.

The storyline of Jurassic World: Rebirth resembles more of a horror thriller than an adventure narrative as the human contingent are slowly decimated by a T Rex and a couple more nefarious dinosaurs. This film is part a disaster movie and a survival tale but what makes it so much fun are the exciting sequences in which the characters try to outwit these prehistoric menaces, particularly the scene with the inflatable boat on the murky river and the end sequence in an abandoned DNA testing station complete with an eerie backup generator.

From falling off cliffs to river rafting, from escaping burning boats to dodging dangerous dinosaurs, Jurassic World: Rebirth delivers on the entertainment front with an enthusiastic cast that keeps the survival narrative thrilling and edgy. The production design and stunts are amazing assisted by a great cast held together by Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali in a film expertly directed by Gareth Edwards who keeps the pacing this side of panicky and that side of enthralling. The audience won’t be disappointed.

Jurassic World: Rebirth gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is fine entertainment for those that love the Jurassic franchise and are fans of vicious monster films. Highly recommended viewing. See it on the big screen.