“Bigger. Scarier. Cooler. I remember you wrote that in your note,” explained Henry Wu.
Jurassic World only works as a love-letter and probably the most bad-ass sequel to the original Spielberg’s Jurassic Park in a blockbuster thriller atmosphere.
Started of 22 years following the event in Jurassic Park, the park never really died—instead, reincarnated into a bigger dino-park, Jurassic World. When visitors started to get tired of common dinosaurs, the scientist genetically designed a new breed of dinosaur—bigger, scarier, and cooler than anything previously—which turned out being a backfire.
Jurassic World entangled several different story-lines into one theme park. Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Sympkins) are brothers who would spend their holiday in Jurassic World, the park where their aunt, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) were in charge.
Meanwhile, the hybrid dinosaur was out of control—before finally breached the cage and started to endanger everyone, including Claire’s cousins. She got assisted by a Velociraptor trainer, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to save herself and her cousins.
They never learned.
Jurassic Park, when it was released two decades ago, was a cinema wonder; followed by two sequels, which weren’t quite satisfying but successful. When Jurassic World finally started production with Colin Trevorrow as director, I took that as a surprising yet exciting news. I always admire Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed—but it’s a romantic sci-fi drama and that’s not Jurassic Park.
Seemingly, Trevorrow took Jurassic World as his safety-not-guaranteed project. Consequently, there’s barely new innovations made for World, only an attempt to exhibit some new dinosaur and a penchant to make everything bigger, tougher and grittier. I could say that this sequel was only a matter of nostalgia—a love-letter to the original Park with plenty of references to the original.
There’s a lot of conflicts entangled between characters and organizations here—including the return of inGen, from the original. The thing is, many of the conflicts were just backgrounds and most of it weren’t resolved; it’s easy to call them plot-holes, yet, does it sound more like sequels?
In some parts, Jurassic World felt a bit more dramatic, but, it’s still an enticing dinosaurs bonanza with all action set-piece staged perfectly, including the final dino-rampage, which I could say being the film’s best moment. However, did anyone feel that this film had a shade of a bit misogyny? Or, perhaps, Bryce Dallas Howard’s character was just too annoying.
In the end, Jurassic World was working well as a blockbuster entertainment with courtesy of the original Jurassic Park. It offers nothing new—but just trying to be bigger, scarier, and cooler.
Jurassic World (2015)
Action, Adventure, Sci-F, Thriller Directed by: Colin Trevorrow Written by: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly based on stories by Michael Crichton Starred by: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Ty Simpkins Running Time: 124 mins Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence and peril
22 tahun setelah kejadian di Jurassic Park, taman rekreasi ini ternyata tak pernah mati—namun bereinkarnasi menjadi Jurassic World yang lebih besar. Saat pengunjung mulai bosan dengan dinosaurus yang biasa saja, para ilmuwan di World merancang dinosaurus hibrida—yang lebih besar, lebih menyeramkan, dan lebih keren—yang pada akhirnya malah menjadi bumerang.
Jurassic World memasukkan beberapa story-lines ke dalamnya. Zach (Robinson) dan Gray (Sympkins) adalah kakak beradik yang tengah berlibur di Jurassic World, di mana bibi mereka, Claire (Dallas Howard) bekerja.
Sementara itu, sang dinosaurus hibrida lepas kontrol—kemudian kabur dan mulai membahayakan semua orang termasuk keponakan Claire. Dengan bantuan pelatih Velociraptor, Owen Grady (Pratt), Claire harus menyelamatkan keponakannya.
Intinya, tidak ada yang belajar dari pengalaman.
Dua dekade lalu, ketika Jurassic Park dirilis, film itu adalah keajaiban sinema; sampai-sampai diikuti dua sekuel yang kurang memuaskan. Saat Jurassic World masuk produksi dengan Trevorrow sebagai sutradara, saya cukup kaget. Saya suka dengan Safety Not Guaranteed-nya Trevorrow, tapi itu adalah film sci-fi romantis tanpa ada hubungannya dengan Jurassic Park.
Nampaknya, Trevorrow pun menganggap Jurassic World sebagai proyek safety-not-guaranteed-nya. Tak ada jaminan pasti, akibatnya, film ini nyaris tak menghadirkan inovasi baru; hanya upaya untuk menghibrid dinosaurus dan menjadi lebih besar saja. Anggaplah akhirnya sekuel ini hanya sekedar nostalgia—surat cinta untuk Park dengan banyak referensi.
Memang banyak konflik yang ditawarkan antar karakter dan organisasi—termasuk kembalinya inGen. Masalahnya, semua konflik itu hanyalah background dan kebanyakan tak diselesaikan. So, plot-hole atau kemungkinan sekuel? Mungkin yang kedua.
Dalam beberapa hal, Jurassic World terasa sedikit dramatis, namun, film ini tetap pameran gila-gilaan lengkap dengan dinosaurus super keren, apalagi adegan dino-rampage-nya. Bisa dikatakan film ini adalah sekuel Jurassic Park paling badass. Namun, apakah ada yang merasa film ini terlalu misogini? Atau mungkin Bryce Dallas Howard memang terlalu menyebalkan.
Pada akhirnya, Jurassic World tetap tampil mengagumkan sebagai hiburan blockbuster (karena pondasi kuat Jurassic Park). Namun, benar-benar tak ada inovasi—hanya upaya untuk terlihat sedikit lebih besar, mengerikan, dan keren.
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