‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Review: A Total Failure Of Scriptwriting

Following the absolute boredom bombshell of Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion, a film more about insects than dinosaurs, the franchise went on a slight hiatus. Still, Dominion grossed close to a billion dollars despite overwhelmingly negative reactions, possibly due to nostalgia baiting using the original Jurassic Park cast in conjunction with the blockbuster team of Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt. The franchise sat dormant for two years before Gareth Edwards took it upon himself to revive the franchise with a new cast and new storyline, expanding upon the past story. Read our review for Jurassic World: Rebirth below.

Jurassic World: Rebirth continues on from Dominion, where dinosaurs now roam the globe, gravitating to groups of islands near the equator due to global warming, where the climate is similar to prehistoric times. Mercenary Zora Bennett, her friend Duncan Kincaid, paleontologist Henry Loomis, and pharmaceutical representative Martin Krebs travel to these islands to procure DNA from these dinosaurs for a company who are trying to cure cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, a family on a yacht is endangered when aquatic dinosaurs flip their vessel, leading them to cross paths with the mercenary team.

As a plot, it definitely works, but the script might be one of the most boring and least exciting in the franchise. Plot points converge and separate for next to no reason, ruining the pacing and focusing way too much on characters that are incredibly uninteresting. Really, it cannot be said more clearly than that screenwriter David Koepp, the man behind the original 1993 Jurassic Park, brought a pretty poor script to what is otherwise a cool movie. It’s this poor script that drags down characters, the plot, and the climax, leaving little to no character work in its wake. The B plot of characters, the family from the yacht, really ended up irking me, becoming representative of the film at its worst.

Despite this, the film does manage to have some interesting action pieces that stand on their own and aren’t just derivative of other films in the franchise. One scene, which attracted much publicity, was the T-Rex raft chase sequence, which was something ripped straight from the original novel and initially intended to be in Spielberg’s ‘93 film. This is an intense sequence, but I don’t believe it’s the best in the film as that easily is the Mosasaurus blood sample scene which showcases not only how cool the coolest Jurassic World dinosaur is but is also pretty thrilling. 

Sadly though, the film doesn’t give the most material for the actors to handle, with each actor being just alright, and Scarlett Johansson feeling as if she phoned it in, despite her talents. Again, this all comes down to the script, which fails in almost every regard, almost ruining the movie completely. Jurassic World: Rebirth is a mess, but you will be able to find enjoyment if you look at it as dumb fun. 

Jurassic World: Rebirth is directed by Gareth Edwards, written by David Koepp, and stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, and Rupert Friend. The film hit theatres back in July and is now available on digital.

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