Saturday, 13 June 2015

Jurassic World

I binge watched the previous Jurassic Park films recently, and although I have enjoyed the last two films in the series, they never had the special something that made the first film so great. When watching Jurassic World, the fourth instalment of the franchise, it regained some of the magic I felt when watching the first film as a child and really did feel like a worthy Jurassic Park sequel.

Jurassic World sees the Park finally open to the public and apparently has been for some time, because apparently some people aren't that impressed by dinosaurs anymore. So now the park's scientist have come up with a new hybrid, a genetically modified dinosaur named The Indominious Rex, and because this is a Jurassic Park film, things obviously go wrong and the monster breaks out and runs rampage around the attractions. The main cast looks like this; Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson and many other supporting players. At first I was worried at how large the cast was but they were all handled well and had enough screen time to make them seem significant to the plot, in which they all have a hand in moving along at a swift pace.

All the acting is good, I had no problems with any of the cast, even the child actors were strong and believable. The characters were slightly heightened versions of themselves, I have heard many reviews say they were cartoony, I don't believe this to be the case, in fact the familiar character archetypes were one of reasons this film felt a lot like the first to me. The director, Colin Trevorrow, really needs to be applauded for making these characters work and really making this feel like a classic Spielberg film, without ever becoming a full on pastiche of the mans work. There are still quite a few nods to the first film but it never gets in the way of the story.

The special effects are great and although it relies a lot more heavily on CGI then the previous films, it still has a few cool animatronic shots and the computer effects them self do look realistic. After the last week of Jurassic Park film watching, I have decided that there should definitely be more dinosaurs in films these days! It has been way too long a wait for Jurassic World, I didn't even realise how much I wanted to see a new Jurassic film until I saw World. With the park actually being open, it really takes me back to the awe and amazement I felt when watching the first and with it still being pretty scary it really does work some of the same magic from the first, just on a much larger scale. It's not as good as the first but it gets more right then it does wrong.

With the amazing theme tune from John Williams, Jurassic World takes you straight back to Isla Nubar and your childhood. I had an absolute blast watching this film and really didn't expect it to be as much fun as it was. The film doesn't give you everything from the get go and the payoff at the end is really, really awesome. This is easily one of my favourite films of the summer so far! I am giving Jurassic World a rating of 4/5.

What did you think of Jurassic World? Were you as big a fan as I was? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

Quick Reviews #11

Three new(ish) films and one old one. It's another round of Quick Reviews! This time I review Mad Max: Fury Road, It Follows, Chappie and Jurassic Park. Read on and enjoy!

Mad Max: Fury Road

This film rocks! It's a visceral and physical experience from start to finish, I felt like I had spent the day at a theme park after leaving the cinema! For what is essentially a two hour car chase, it sure has a lot of heart and emotion. It's not feminist propaganda, it's a film which holds its male and female characters with care and equal standing, but yes, Charlize Theron's character, Furiosa, is the best. I absolutely loved it!
5/5

It Follows

I'm not usually a big horror film fan but I really enjoyed this film. It sets up its rules pretty early on and then just has fun with them. The film is shot in such a way, that like the main character, you are constantly on the look out for whatever it is that follows. The soundtrack was also great. I could have done with a more finalising ending. I hope this doesn't get turned into another endless franchise...
4/5

Chappie

Some of this film is great, some of it is not. Everything with A.I robot Chappie is awesome, he looks, sounds and acts amazing. I liked seeing a more baby-like approach to a new found A.I technology and the influence it's different 'parents' had on him. But even with all that, you still have the weird Der Antwoord couple being there in the film, and just messing with the tone of it all. Plus the fact that they couldn't act that well didn't help. Even Hugh Jackman is pretty rubbish. For what could be a great Sci-Fi film, it's just a bit of a mess.
3/5

Jurassic Park

I went back to my childhood and binged the Jurassic Park trilogy in time for Jurassic World. For now I'm just talking about the first film. It is the ultimate family film, with enough thrills, scares and dinosaurs to make anyone happy. They just don't make films like this anymore, it has so much heart, excitement and adventure. And it's pretty scary still! There haven't been enough films with dinosaurs in them recently. And it is incredible just how well the special effects hold up today!
5/5

Let me know in the comments what you thought of the films I have reviewed, or even give me some quick reviews of your own!

Thanks for reading!