JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (2025)

Some films are critic-proof. No matter how mediocre or bad these films turn out, they still pull in huge amounts of cash for studios to hoover up, allowing them to keep making basically the same film, over and over again. I’m talking about franchises like Transformers, Alien, Fast and the Furious, James Bond, Star Wars—and, of course, Jurassic Park/World.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like many films on this list. However, the harsh reality behind all these popular film series is that it’s rare to see a truly fantastic film emerge when it’s the fifth or eighth instalment. The most recent one to buck the trend has to be Final Destination Bloodlines (2025).

Given the talent involved with this latest dinosaur-driven Jurassic adventure, I had started to think it might be pretty decent, taking this universe in a fresh, new direction. After all, it has ‘Rebirth’ in the title. Oh dear, unfortunately, this was not to be.

The film kicks off reasonably well with an exciting prologue set in 2008 on the tropical island of Ile Saint-Hubert. There, greedy corporate entity InGen, responsible for the original Jurassic Park, is using a laboratory to create transgenetic mutated dinosaurs. Of course, things go terribly wrong, and the facility is left abandoned.

Fast forward 17 years: the Earth’s climate is now inhospitable for dinosaurs. These huge animals can only live around the equator, where conditions resemble the Mesozoic climate and have been marked as no-travel zones. Enter the main villain, pharmaceutical exec Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), who recruits Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a former ex-military covert operative, and palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) for a top-secret mission to Ile Saint-Hubert.

Their goal: retrieve blood samples from the three largest prehistoric specimens, which hold the key to a new heart disease treatment. Along the way, Zora persuades her good friend and fellow tough mercenary, Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), to join them—partly because he’s equally adept in nasty situations, but also because he has a suitable boat to get them to the island. En route, they rescue a shipwrecked family who have run foul of a very large Mosasaurus. The whole group eventually reaches their destination and begins collecting the dino biological samples. At this point, you can probably guess what happens next: cue lots of dinosaur mayhem and generally predictable action set-pieces.

Despite the somewhat contrived plot, many sequences involving the various dinosaurs are handled effectively and are entertaining. This is largely thanks to the film’s British director Gareth Edwards, no stranger to large-scale effects fantasy films. You may remember Edwards’ Godzilla (2014), his Star Wars prequel Rogue One (2016), and dystopian A.I. tale The Creator (2023). All these films showcased the filmmaker’s remarkable talent for utilising superb VFX work against real-life locations.

As good as all these films are, it was his first feature, the micro-budget Monsters (2010), made for just $500,000, that first got him noticed by Hollywood. For this, Edwards created all the effects himself using off-the-shelf Adobe software from the cosy confines of his home computer. Edwards’ career has been incredibly successful, and no doubt his track record was largely responsible for helping him secure his latest gig. It’s just a shame he didn’t have a better script to work with, as the final product comes off as a pale mishmash of the first and third film.

What’s frustrating is that you can get a real sense of what the studio was trying to do: bring back scary dinosaurs with people navigating their environment. But where early Jurassic Park films had interesting, relatable characters, this entry is left with only paper-thin roles that seem to exist solely to facilitate the next action scene.

Scarlett Johansson does her best with what she’s given: there are moments throughout where her tough mercenary role is allowed to shine. The scene on the boat where she has to get close to the Mosasaurus is a highlight, and I think it was an intentional nod to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) – and the chemistry between her and palaeontologist Dr Loomis is convincing enough.

Aside from Johansson and Jonathan Bailey’s decent efforts, the rest of the cast are generally fine, though I thought Rupert Friend was miscast. His take on the ‘bad guy’ role is never convincing, which is odd as he is normally a reliable actor. Again, this can largely be blamed on the weak script, which, coming from original Jurassic Park (1993) screenwriter David Koepp, is all the more annoying.

Perhaps the worst element of the whole affair, though, is the obvious attempt to cash in on easy merchandise with the pointless inclusion of a baby Aquilops americanus dinosaur, adopted by youngster Isabella (Audrina Miranda). The creature, soon called Dolores, serves no real purpose in the film other than to make silly noises and look cute.

For me, the one genuinely standout sequence—and it’s fantastic—involves our good old dinosaur friend, the T-Rex. In a scene apparently intended for the original Jurassic Park film, we see our favourite dinosaur chase the rescued family in a life raft down a river. From the first time we see the frightening creature asleep in an obviously post-meal nap, to being woken up and then beginning the pursuit, everything is a textbook example in setting up tension and suspense, going all-out with the scares. And the CGI effects are brilliantly utilised throughout. It’s not the only good scene, but it’s by far the best.

Alongside the first-rate visual effects, John Mathieson’s cinematography makes full use of the exotic scenery on display—most of the exteriors were shot in Thailand. French composer Alexandre Desplat also puts his musical stamp on John Williams’ famous score to good effect.

Despite my negative thoughts about this film, no doubt it will make a ton of cash, and another Jurassic World film will hit our screens in a few years’ time. I just pray the next one has a stronger story and better characters than what this has to offer. When you cast your mind back to the original some 32 years ago and remember how amazing that was, it would be lovely to think there’s at least one more great Jurassic film to be made. Here’s hoping, anyway!

USA • UK • MALTA • INDIA • TAIWAN | 2025 | 133 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Gareth Edwards.
writer: David Koepp (based on characters created by Michael Crichton).
starring: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, Audrina Miranda, Ed Skrein, Bechir Sylvain & Philippine Velge.