Jurassic World: Rebirth

Image credit: Wikipedia

There is something to be said for genre or franchise films that are ‘tried and true’. Of course, when you know a formula works, why would you mess with it? If you’ve seen one Alien movie, you’ve seen them all. The same can more or less be said for Scream, Predator, and of course Jurassic Park. Despite the Jurassic World movies being rather garbage all around, it seems that Universal are going to ironically try to pump as much life into this T-Rex skeleton as they can. Can you tell, I went and saw Jurassic World: Rebirth recently.

The novelty of dinosaurs has officially run its course, with many species dying out all over again. But it seems man is not quite done with them yet. A pharmaceutical company hires a team of mercenaries to lead an expedition into isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three specific prehistoric creatures in order to make groundbreaking advances in medical science.

Set five years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, which I have not bothered to watch at this point in time, Rebirth does breathe a little bit of life back into the franchise, by taking the screenplay back to basics: a group of people suddenly find themselves in a very dangerous situation where survival becomes the only goal. Pretty much all the standard plot twists make their way onto the screen at some point, resulting in the expected amount of emotional payoff and smug comeuppance.

While the opening scene has us holding our heads in disbelief at the bad decisions and even worse security measures of a dangerous facility, the film still manages to provide a reasonably enjoyable movie experience thanks to a cast of relatively interesting and likeable characters, fairly measured action sequences that balance the gore and suspense, and of course that wonderful, recognisable soundtrack.

The film is definitely carried by Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, the leading lowlifes with strong senses of duty and honour. Johannson is strong with that classic flirty aloofness, and Ali is the one you would definitely help to the best of your abilities: a man doing questionable things but for the right reasons.

Image credit: Los Angeles Times

There isn’t much to say about a Jurassic Park/World movie that has not already been said. After the cringe of previous trilogy, Rebirth is a somewhat self-aware resurrection of an exciting franchise. It works perfectly well as a standalone movie and while it’s not a tremendous cinematic experience, it still proves to be a nice night out.

Director: Gareth Edwards, 2025

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