Jurassic World - Discussion and Grading

[fireproof78]

I thought it was pretty obvious there was more going on than it appeared and really seeing how bad of a pilot Masarani was his death was telegraphed when we first meet him.

Oh it was telegraphed perfectly well.

It was also stupid and did not serve the plot in any way. Masrani's character was interesting and could have been more.

It's a fun film, yes. But there are so many undercurrents of potential that I saw that could be further developed.

I didn't think he was all that interesting, he was an over confident idiot in a way Hammond wasn't. He put more people in danger due to his inaction and later death. And really he OKed the experimentation that led to the I-Rex only because of the operating costs to keep th park going.

Well, interesting is subjective, I know. I'm generally interested in what characters are thinking, what makes them tick and how they operate insider their world. That's just my point of view.

Personally, I like Masrani and found him both sympathetic and naive, at first. However, his reaction to what Wu created with I. rex was naivete was frustrating.

And his behavior that led to his death was still stupid, and unnecessary. I get it that people expect people to die in these films, but it just irritated me, and continues to do so the more I think about it.

Also, I liked the score. The final battle between the dinosaurs was incredible and the score supported that fact.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

I did think it was kind of cool that there was a bit of The Lost World theme in there (When Blue charges the Irex). Funny thing is Giannocho also did the score for the TLW playstation game (Which like many JP games has you play as the Dinosaurs).

Although that's part of the problem I suppose, that apart from when he was using the classic Williams themes, the score wasn't quite that good. Even Don Davis's JP3 score sort of felt more Williamsesque, although that might've been because he used a lot of the Raptor theme from the first movie, which I don't think was used in JW at all.

 

[Beagleman]

I did think it was kind of cool that there was a bit of The Lost World theme in there (When Blue charges the Irex). Funny thing is Giannocho also did the score for the TLW playstation game (Which like many JP games has you play as the Dinosaurs).

Although that's part of the problem I suppose, that apart from when he was using the classic Williams themes, the score wasn't quite that good. Even Don Davis's JP3 score sort of felt more Williamsesque, although that might've been because he used a lot of the Raptor theme from the first movie, which I don't think was used in JW at all.

I wasn't that impressed with the score but there is one new theme that's really beautiful, it's in the final shot of the T.Rex.

Oh, the TLW Playstation game was awesome. I have fond memories of me and my buddy playing as a Raptor eating people left and right, good times!

 

[Trekker4747]

I really think they could have used the classic Jurassic Park theme, loud an there more prominently. The theme was there but didn't seem as grand and epic when used in the first movie. Like during some of the first scenes of the park the score should have been utterly un-ignorable., esp. when we first see it from the hotel room window.

 

[beamMe]

I really think they could have used the classic Jurassic Park theme, loud an there more prominently. The theme was there but didn't seem as grand and epic when used in the first movie. Like during some of the first scenes of the park the score should have been utterly un-ignorable., esp. when we first see it from the hotel room window.

The use of the music in some of the early park scenes (like the window one) was odd anyway. There was a build-up, as swelling in the music... and then the scene and the music just petered out.

 

[DWF]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

 

[nx1701g]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

I completely agree with that. That would've been the best thing to do. I felt that there were a lot of times that the music just didn't work right.

The Trek music's been pretty good though.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

They did use the original theme as the monorail went through the gates, but just the opening buildup. The fanfare came about thirty seconds later when the kid views the entirety of the park for the first time from his balcony. But it was the original theme (or a close variant of it) continuing through the entire scene.

 

[DWF]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

They did use the original theme as the monorail went through the gates, but just the opening buildup. The fanfare came about thirty seconds later when the kid views the entirety of the park for the first time from his balcony. But it was the original theme (or a close variant of it) continuing through the entire scene.

It didn't sound like it to me and the balcony scene is much later on, the boys still had to meet Claire before they maded it to their room.

 

[Trekker4747]

It was there, sorta, but not as loud, bombastic and just as "in your face" as the helicopter approach in the first movie. (or the classic use of "Hammond counting his fingers!" use in TLW.)

It really should have been used as a real presence when we first see the park in all of its glory.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

They did use the original theme as the monorail went through the gates, but just the opening buildup. The fanfare came about thirty seconds later when the kid views the entirety of the park for the first time from his balcony. But it was the original theme (or a close variant of it) continuing through the entire scene.

It didn't sound like it to me and the balcony scene is much later on, the boys still had to meet Claire before they maded it to their room.

Nope, the boys go boat > monorail > hotel room > visitor's center and first meet their aunt at the visitor's center pyramid.

I just saw the film again. It's definitely the John Williams' Jurassic Park theme playing as the boys are in the monorail and going through the gate. But it's just the buildup and not the huge main fanfare, which comes less than a minute later when they look out at the park from their hotel room balcony. It's the part from 1:05 to 1:22 in the video below:

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-M[/yt]

 

[Trekker4747]

They did the big fan-fare part?

(4:28 or so on this video)

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmJLk1lu08[/yt]

Because I don't recall that part, or maybe it was a more subtle version of it. Because that's the part I think of on the "reveal" of the island in the first movie and I'd think first seeing the park and all of the introduction to it's goings on on the may promenade area would've have fit the fanfare well, or as the monorail later coursed through the area passing the animals on its way to the visitors' center.

I mean, in the first movie this song plays for a couple of minutes while we're just watching a helicopter land and taking in the landscape of the area and watching Grant fumble with his seatbelt. For JW they should have really spent this time just showing some stuff going on around the park. It's a problem with movies these days that few take the time to really set a mood or tone and just jump right into the action. But spending a few minutes showing the sights of this park, people on the trails, walking along that main drag, and so forth would have been really something to behold.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

^ No, they didn't do that part. They did the part that starts at 1:27 in my video or 2:51 in yours.

 

[Corran Horn]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

They mentioned that was the original gate from the old park, right?

It made me wonder how much the world knows about what happened in the first film.

 

[Mage]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

They mentioned that was the original gate from the old park, right?

It made me wonder how much the world knows about what happened in the first film.

It was made from wood from the original park. I don't think it was the actual gate.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

I finally got around to watching the film this weekend, though my girlfriend saw it opening weekend and hated it. Maybe that colored my perceptions, because I graded the movie as a solid C. Easily, in my opinion, the worst of the franchise. The overuse of CGI gave the dinos an inherent "fake" look that was avoided in the other films through the combined use of puppets and good directing.

I found the characters difficult to care for, given their predicament entirely hinged on one stupid decision after another, from allowing the big bad dino to escape, to not evacuating the island, having people instead gather in one spot out in the open, and having gyro balls that can go off track to wherever the driver wishes on an island full of things that can kill you.

However, the two primary plot points are no better. One, that audiences are tired of seeing plain old dinosaurs (i get the commentary on movie audiences), which means in the world of this film regular zoos and aquatic centers must have gone out of business years ago as seeing Lions would get old much faster than seeing a Stegosaurus.

So they create a new dinosaur with the magical ability to hide it's heat signature, and turn invisible, and the first thing they do is send a team of marines out to bag it in a situation in which they can't fire live rounds (sound familiar?). Yes, they even included a scene where characters watch a row of monitors where the marines with body cameras get taken down in horrific manners as they flatline one after another. Toss in a mustache twirling villain with ambitions to weaponize the dinos and you have a 100% complete ripoff of Aliens.

Except sending raptors against an enemy army in a world where we have guns and bombs makes about as much sense as sending rabid bears after ISIS.

What could have saved the film - strong characters and good dialogue, is also lacking, IMO. The dialogue is forgettable, with not a single quotable line I can recall, and the acting wasn't strong enough to convince me any of these characters were in danger.

So that is my take on the film. For all of it's flaws, and equally dumb characters, The Lost World at least tried something new with the concept of an island full of dinosaurs. If they want to continue this franchise, they need to come up with more than a mashup of the first film, Aliens, and a Scifi original movie.

 

[Trekker4747]

I thought the original theme shoud've been used as the train went though the opening gate, not the helicopter flyover.

They mentioned that was the original gate from the old park, right?

It made me wonder how much the world knows about what happened in the first film.

Couldn't have been the original gate. The entire section of the island where the original park was was in the "restricted zone" on the northern part of the island, where the ruins of the old main building were. The original gate would have been not far from that building. Not to mention the gate in JW is many times larger than the gate in JP, as well as had an elevate monorail track going through rather than a ground-based roadway.

Except sending raptors against an enemy army in a world where we have guns and bombs makes about as much sense as sending rabid bears after ISIS.

What got me about that scene was just how utterly long it took the ACU (or whatever they were called) to begin firing. It took Fisk shouting the order on the radio to get them to fire and by that time the I-Rex had established her Alpha status over the raptors and the tables had turned. But during the whole scene up to that point the I-Rex and raptors are "talking" to one another, studying one another, and everyone is staying quiet and still. Meanwhile we see the laser-sight beams through the forest fog all trained on the I-Rex. At this point it seemed containment was no longer the goal and they were hoping to take the thing down. Why was no one firing?!

 

[beamMe]

Couldn't have been the original gate. The entire section of the island where the original park was was in the "restricted zone" on the northern part of the island, where the ruins of the old main building were. The original gate would have been not far from that building. Not to mention the gate in JW is many times larger than the gate in JP, as well as had an elevate monorail track going through rather than a ground-based roadway.

Wasn't there a line of dialogue that stated this was the original?

 

[Tim Walker]

Wikipedia indicated that Dilophosaurus was reduced in size for the first JP movie, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilophosaurus

Imagine full size specimens as pack hunters.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I think there was some overlap. In-universe, most of the original locations were in now-restricted areas, but other areas, like the gallamimus region, remained open to the public.