It seems we’re in a cinematic summer of dangerous, apocalyptic rides.
Tomorrowland, after all, is a movie based (sort of) on a real theme park, while Jurassic World is a movie based on a fictional one — the original Jurassic Park in Jurassic Park. Depicting, as it does, a bigger, bolder, more super-sized dinosaur adventure park than the Spielberg original, Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World skips blithely and mercifully past the pair of artless J-Park sequels. It’s a reboot that is somehow grounded in both contemporary anxieties and reappropriated nostalgia: John Williams’ iconic score makes an inauspicious cameo, and at one point, characters literally stumble upon the physical remnants of Jurassic Park 1.
The screenplay, penned by Trevorrow and (count ’em) three other writers, imagines the brand-new titular park, funded by the world’s eighth-richest man (Irrfan Khan) and risen like a phoenix from the bloodshed of the destructive Jurassic Park some 20 years earlier. This one’s in Costa Rica, and it’s a prehistoric, money-hemorrhaging bonanza for all ages: Attractions include a petting zoo of baby brontosauri, river kayaking with stegosauri, an aviary of pterodactyls, a pond housing a Loch Ness-type monster that blankets audiences in Sea World-like downpours each time it feeds.
Then there’s Indominus rex, a genetically designed dinosaur bred in a petri dish to exceed even the T-rex in scales and scares. It exists in a supposedly indestructible paddock, but Jurassic World being the kind of movie it is, it’s only a matter of time before the dream of dinosaurs as placid zoo cohabitators becomes a nightmare of violent, uncontrollable monsters unleashed on an unwitting populace. Again. What’s that saying about those who don’t learn from history?
The second of Jurassic World’s two hours is a relentless torrent of action, some of it thrilling in its execution, but none of it narratively surprising. You’ll know which characters will live or die within seconds of meeting them. The cartoonish villains, the anonymous tourists, and the woebegone security flaks become dino nosh, while Trevorrow provides ample opportunities for the attractive, likable Caucasians at the film’s center to cheat certain death.
These include Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), a hunky, wisecracking velociraptor whisperer; Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), the park’s emotionless, workaholic operations manager; and Claire’s nephews, Gray and Zach (Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson), who picked the wrong day to visit Jurassic World.
It’s in the savvy first hour of Jurassic World, with its skillful juggling of exposition, character development and politics, that the film manages to rattle the zeitgeist, echoing the jaded ennui of millennials. “No one’s impressed by a dinosaur anymore,” Claire tells a group of potential investors. “Consumers want them bigger, louder … more teeth.” Meanwhile, the military, represented by Vincent D’Onofrio’s warmongering security operations manager, wants them trained for combat, imagining regiments of raptors dropped into the wilds of Afghanistan.
Other simply see them as opportunities to justify the “7-dollar sodas.” There is talk of Verizon sponsoring a dinosaur exhibit, while corporate jargon reduces the animals to “assets.” Outlandish as the concept of a Jurassic World may be, the implications of the park — to militarize, corporatize and profiteer — sound like accurate, sobering reflections on our worst societal impulses. Rare is the studio blockbuster that contains such an aggressive anti-capitalist, antiwar streak.
Not to be overlooked, there’s also the genetic engineering angle, which prophesizes a future of animals modified to accelerate growth. Heck, we already see this being used in the factory farming of chicken and livestock, and in the scourge of GMO seeds.
The second half of Jurassic World is the reason audience will pack theaters around the globe to see it, but the first half is its raison d’etre. Its message is not unlike that other theme-park spectacular this summer: Nature will shake us off this blue dot if we don’t start respecting it. But unlike Tomorrowland, it does so without a soapbox. It may still be escapism, but it’s escapism with a lot more teeth.
JURASSIC WORLD. Director: Colin Trevorrow; Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Irrfan Khan, BD Wong, Judy Greer; Distributor: Universal; Rating: PG-13; Opens: Today at most area theaters