Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom

J’ai remarqué que ce sont les plus jeunes qui en ont le plus profité au cinéma. Et c’est sans doute la seule catégorie de spectateurs capables d’apprécier le film. Tout d’abord, l’intrigue de Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom est écrite de façon bâclée. Le scénario est grossièrement orienté vers une troisième partie, ce qui influence lourdement le déroulement de l’histoire et, en conséquence, se traduit par une bonne dose de pure stupidité. À un moment donné, il y a une digression soudaine portant sur des problèmes familiaux liés aux clones, ce qui est supposé justifier moralement, en quelque sorte, le comportement fatal de l’un des personnages à la fin du film. Sauf que ça ne marche pas du tout et s’avère être un non-sens des plus total. Dans une autre séquence, on apprend qu’il est carrément plus facile de survivre à une éruption volcanique qu’à une explosion atomique, pour peu qu’on se cache – écoutez bien, les enfants ! – dans un réfrigérateur. Le dernier dinosaure créé, conçu dans un but militaire, est supposé avoir un sens de l’odorat très développé, mais quand on le voit poursuivre les personnages principaux, ça n’en a pas vraiment l’air ! Chaque fois que la vie de quiconque est sérieusement menacée, celle-ci est systématiquement sauvée par une intervention de dernière minute (de préférence menée par un tyrannosaure ou un « raptor », bien que ces deux espèces eussent entraîné le plus grand nombre de morts dans les premiers épisodes). En gros, chaque fois que les scénaristes trouvaient quelque chose qui les arrangeait, la logique était mise de côté. Côté suspense, c'est le néant. Les promesses d’éléments d’horreur n’ont pas été respectées. Le pire dans ce film, c’est le parti-pris et l’absence de nuances dans les personnages. Il y a les bons et les mauvais, point à la ligne. Les mauvais meurent ; les bons survivent. Personne n’est capable de nous surprendre. Certains personnages disparaissent de l’histoire sans crier gare, tandis que d’autres ne servent absolument pas le récit (tel le terriblement pénible geek névrotique). Rien à faire, il m’en faut plus pour être satisfait. (21/06/2018)

When you write something so perfectly stupid, you do it either out of incompetence or with creative intent. I give precedence to the second option because Bayona knows where his horror roots lie and thus deftly guides the camera and the special effects, and the actors declaiming like hell and notching clichés into the seat in front of you will stop entertaining you after an hour. However, the slight genre detour with the slamming of the ferry doors works in its favor, and while there are no surprises, it is at times as suspenseful and bloody as its rating will allow. The rain ropes have been passé for a while now, and I would have left 20 minutes on the cutting room floor, but the feeling of a high-octane ride where both lava bombing and sneaking around in the dark work, and which still finishes decently enough a couple of hours after leaving the movie theater, eventually washes it away. (27/06/2018)

In its magnificent moments, this is a tremendous experience, and in the surprisingly intimate finale, a flawless combination of an homage to the classic Jurassic Park while at the same time rectifying everything that did not work at the time in Jurassic Park: The Lost World. This seemingly impossible combination ultimately results in the second-best installment of the entire saga, confidently stepping towards a trilogy and solidifying Chris Pratt's position as the darling of the masses. 90% (10/08/2018)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was one of the most anticipated blockbusters of the summer, unfortunately it flopped and earned itself the biggest disappointment of the year. Colin Trevorrow delighted most of us with his 2015 debut, but the sequel has been taken on by veteran director J.A. Bayona, and ironically fared worse, which is a shame because his previous The Impossible and The Orphanage are very good genre films. Almost nothing works in this sequel. I'm not going to praise the visuals, because they are a given and I can't really praise anything else. Story-wise, the film is uninteresting, unnecessarily talky with uninteresting characters (Chris Pratt is no longer likeable, he’s annoying), the T-Rex shows up for a total of two minutes, and the finale, which should be scary, is rather laughable and annoying because of the little girl squealing constantly for about half an hour. The only scene worth mentioning is the volcano eruption and the dinosaurs escape, but I find that rather underwhelming from a film that cost 170m to make. The final seconds nicely tease a third installment, which Trevorrow will take on again, so hopefully it will turn out better. A better average for the return of the dinosaurs although they don't have that much space here. Tired, tedious, lacking pace, adrenaline and suspense, I didn't expect such a blow. 60% (12/06/2018)

To be honest, I'm quite glad I'm over it. The second Jurassic World isn't a bad movie, but I kind of automatically expect a $170 million blockbuster to look good, show off enough attractions to keep me from getting bored, and feature a capable cast. It's all there, but I refuse to take those as positives that would put the film above average. That's just what I expect in a film like this. Trouble is, the second Jurassic World offers nothing but these "obligatory" props. The spectacular action on Isla Nublar is truly epic, but perfectly cold. You know when we're halfway through that none of the protagonists can come to harm, and I really wasn't worried about the bland "geek and badass scientist" side characters. Plus, halfway through, they flip the switch and start pretending to be a variation on Alien. Unfortunately, with a PG-13 rating, an uninteresting monster (compared to what Indominus Rex did last time, this one is really ridiculous), and the same boring characters. The craftsmanship and qualities that can be had on a blockbuster budget are there. But if I were to say I'd want to watch a scene from the second Jurassic World again, I'd be bullshitting. (27/07/2018)