Jurassic World

This review may contain spoilers!

While it is an incredible film, Jurassic World falls just short of the hype. I would give Jurassic World a 7.5/10.

This film is a huge trip of nostalgia to anyone who watched the original trilogy, the great amount of references is what makes this film a solid part of the Jurassic series. Not to mention some of the big scenes that this film built to standing out as some of the bigger blockbuster moments of the year. The cinematography was an incredible thing to behold, gifting us with the expansive views of the park as well as giving some sharp and fast shots with the high action. The special effects were incredible, the dinosaurs looked very realistic. And then you have that score that sends you back in time; despite not matching the mood of the scene in some places the score of this film is something to really appreciate.

Chris Pratt, who played Owen, is a fantastic lead; not to mention his scenes with the raptors are some of the more treasured in the film. Irrfan Khan, who played Masrani, was one of the best performances of the film; his light and candid nature really made him quite relateable and his death was the one that hit home the most. Ty Simpkins, who played Gray, is one of the best child actors upcoming in Hollywood; his role balances comedic but also this incredible intellect that is refreshing to see in a younger character. Jake Johnson, who played Lowery, was without a doubt the funniest character in the film; you look at his t-shirt or the toy dinosaurs or even the almost a kiss scene and you'll easily see why.

However the best performance in the film came from an actor who wasn't even in it much; BD Wong, who played Dr. Henry Wu. Wong created a character you couldn't easily predict, which really developed the mystery around him. His arrogant but proud scientist really stole scenes. But the best aspect about him was how he pointed out the corporate flaws with the park as opposed to the flaws with the science. I hope we see him again in an inevitable sequel!

Jurassic World's flaw was that it struggled with it's pacing. The start took way too long to get under way, then there was a long middle where a lot of action happened but the ending was very abrupt and filled with ridiculous plot twists. Not to mention the fact that the antagonist of the film felt like something out of a Godzilla film with the writers combining a t-rex and a raptor rather lazily into one baddie.

Bryce Dallas Howard, who played Claire, was an awful leading lady; her serious controlling scientist personality kept mixing with this weird flirty sudden badass motherly role. Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Hoskins, can only be described as anti-climatic as an antagonist; the purpose of his character was kind of unclear and he seemed to just make bad calls for the hell of it by the end of the film. Nick Robinson, who played Zach, was the token teenager who looks at hot chicks; half of the film he was just looking at girls to the extent that you just didn't care when he started developing into something else. Omar Sy, who played Barry, had very little screen presence and lacked chemistry with most of his fellow actors; you stopped paying attention to him in the scenes he was in. Judy Greer, who played Karen, had one of the most over the top performances in the film; she treated her role like pantomime and was easily the worst performance.