Jurassic World 2 Predictions and Thoughts

Late to the game on this as usual. Had my hands full with other stuff, but predicting things is all the rage these days and I have some ideas for the upcoming Jurassic World sequel based on the trailer.

Let me open by saying that the sequels from Jurassic Park failed for their own reasons. Lost World was based off of the book which was a sequel to Jurassic Park that nobody seemed to enjoy. It was clunky, confusing and Crichton really had to pull something out of his tail end to make it work, since Jurassic Park ended with real finality. Island blows up. Animals all burned. Some may exist on Coasta Rica mainland but nothing major. So it made little sense, was confusing and overall just not that good. The movie wasn't much better save for a rather decent soundtrack and some good effects.

Jurassic Park 3 lacked any sort of imagination and made it into yet another 'oh crap how do we get off the island' scenario. Within three minutes of landing on the island things go sideways, they lose all their guns and are stranded. A few fun effects but otherwise it was creatively bankrupt.

So with that in mind the moment I heard about Jurassic World 2 I was skeptical. The first one was actually rather good in my opinion. Many claim that it was a remake or soft reboot of Jurassic Park. However I disagree. Jurassic Park was a pretty good direct adaption from the book, which had a very non-linear plot. Things really don't start to happen until the second act, and from there the characters are in two groups with two objectives. First objective is with Dr. Grant and the kids just trying to not die. The second is with Ellie and the rest just trying to get things working again. Normally it's a story that wouldn't work, but Speilberg is a deity of movie making and truly made a great adaption.

Jurassic World is very different. One very dangerous animal escapes, and the goal is to recapture it before it gets to the tourists. Very clear and concise objective. But as one plan after another fails the stakes are raised, new things are learned, and they become more desperate to stop it, trying things that they normally wouldn't dream of trying. It's a solid plot that keeps moving and ramps up. It also had enough of a brain to it that I was intrigued. Every now and then I catch myself thinking of the ramifications of the movie and some of the themes they mention.

In Jurassic World 2 the park has shut down. Where can you go from there? I thought they were going to do yet another dumb rescue mission for some dumbarse that got stuck there or something dumb like that. But now it seems that it is indeed a rescue mission, but for the dinosaurs themselves. The island's volcano is acting up and it looks as though the objective is to capture as many as they can and get them off of the island, saving them from extinction once again.

I admit, this idea is compelling to me. It's certainly one I haven't seen before. Some may think the volcano part is stupid. After all, why set up a park on a volcanic island? That seems dumb until you realize that Hawaii fits that description perfectly and regarded by the world over as paradise. Heck if I know why that makes sense. Also it isn't all that unreasonable, since it would directly provide geothermal power. Logistically that makes a lot of sense. After all, the island has incredibly advanced facilities requiring tons of power and lugging a giant power-line from the mainland would be a pain in the side.

This movie also shows Jeff Goldblum, AKA Ian Malcolm, giving a speech about life, blah blah blah. However they seem to be questioning the ideas of life itself. Do these extinct animals have the same rights as other animals that we protect? Do they pose a threat big enough to warrant letting them be destroyed? I think they cut most of that from the trailer and instead relied on his classic lines from the first movie as trailer bait. But I do like this angle. I like being prompted to think about the ramifications of cloning, extinction, life and how it's treated.

This can easily go wrong however. It might be pretentious gobbly-gook that doesn't actually make sense or to trick people into thinking that it's smarter than it really is. I hope that isn't the case. Having a bit of thought provoking themes and ideas with an action story as a back drop is intriguing to me. And that is still in the spirit of the original book.

As for most of the plot I'm not quite sure how it will shake out. It will either be innovative and really interesting, or it will be bloody confusing and make no sense. I'm for trying new plots that don't feel paint by numbers. But that comes at the risk of being confusing and nonsensical. My hope is that this movie will have some curveballs thrown in but still make sense.

And of course let's not forget the shot of some sort of new mutated raptor that makes an appearance. I confess, I'm not fond of the idea. I'm not horribly against it, but it feels unnecessary. It feels gimmicky like the first Jurassic World. I fear that this is a move from the studio thinking that we need an abomination to keep people interested. If that's the case then they don't understand their audience too well. It worked in the first movie because it served as a contrast to the natural dinosaurs and how the sales-mentality on life can spiral out of control. It was seen as something unnatural that we wanted to see the normal dinosaurs overcome.

Here? Again, it will either be hit or miss. With luck it will be used intelligently, once more serving as contrast for the discussion of life with the normal dinosaurs and mutated ones. I sincerely hope that it will be used intelligently. I strongly suspect there will be the Ingen angle once again, perhaps a team going in with their own agenda to collect samples left behind during the shut down in Jurassic World.

This is all speculation however. My hope is that it will be a smart movie, or at the very least interesting. I can see it either being just as big as the first. The new plot angle has a lot going for it and will hopefully keep things fresh. But there is a lot of risk that it will get confused and tangled.

Well, we will see. I'm going to see it in theaters. But I'll reserve judgement until after I've viewed it.