by Sean Narborough
The Terminator franchise isn’t the only franchise being rebooted in 2015. Next year we’ll be returning to Jurassic Park, but it’s had a bit of makeover. For starters, the fourth instalment is called Jurassic World. In this film, Isla Nublar is now a fully functional theme park called, well, Jurassic World. One of the park’s employees starts conducting behavioural research on the site’s Velociraptors while the park launches a new attraction to bring in new visitors, a genetically modified dinosaur. But, this being a movie, it backfires in a big way when it escapes. While the idea is a little passé, the potential of the story is big. How this story is presented is down to one of two ways, one, it follows past Hollywood films and becomes a clichéd mess, or two, they do something different and fresh to a stale story and kick start the Jurassic Park franchise for a new generation.
The Terminator franchise isn’t the only franchise being rebooted in 2015. Next year we’ll be returning to Jurassic Park, but it’s had a bit of makeover. For starters, the fourth instalment is called Jurassic World. In this film, Isla Nublar is now a fully functional theme park called, well, Jurassic World. One of the park’s employees starts conducting behavioural research on the site’s Velociraptors while the park launches a new attraction to bring in new visitors, a genetically modified dinosaur. But, this being a movie, it backfires in a big way when it escapes. While the idea is a little passé, the potential of the story is big. How this story is presented is down to one of two ways, one, it follows past Hollywood films and becomes a clichéd mess, or two, they do something different and fresh to a stale story and kick start the Jurassic Park franchise for a new generation.
One of the best things Jurassic World has going for it is the incredible cast. Chris Pratt will top the bill of his third franchise after The Lego Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy as Owen, who is the one researching the velociraptors. Due to the success of the aforementioned films, this is Chris’ chance to send him to superstardom. If he can front a third successful franchise, he will become unstoppable. It’s incredible to see how much Chris has changed, literally (Google him in Parks and Recreation, it’s incredible). While Pratt has the star power at the moment, not everyone else does, for example Bryce Dallas Howard. The famed redhead has always been on the cusp of becoming a big name starring in the Twilight and Spider Man films, but she always falls short. The reasoning behind this is that she isn’t given a big role and not enough space to show off her acting abilities, but she does have that potential. Bryce is great in The Village (the only M. Night film I like) and brilliant in a number of independent films. Jurassic World sees her in her biggest role to date as the leading female role for the film, Claire, a scientist who helped create the genetically modified dinosaur. The fact that she’s in one of the few screenshots of the film shows that Universal have some faith in her. Plus she also has her cult fanbase, so hopefully they will turn up in support.
As stated, Jurassic World has a great cast and for many of them, this their opportunity to make their mark. First up is Vincent D’Onofrio who is an actor you would’ve seen before in past films but never in a big role. His most notable roles have been in films like Full Metal Jacket, Men In Black and most recently The Judge. Jurassic World has Vincent playing the CFO of the Masrani Corporation (who now own the park) and the corporate villain of the film. The other corporate villain is Masrani himself played Irrfan Khan.
As stated, Jurassic World has a great cast and for many of them, this their opportunity to make their mark. First up is Vincent D’Onofrio who is an actor you would’ve seen before in past films but never in a big role. His most notable roles have been in films like Full Metal Jacket, Men In Black and most recently The Judge. Jurassic World has Vincent playing the CFO of the Masrani Corporation (who now own the park) and the corporate villain of the film. The other corporate villain is Masrani himself played Irrfan Khan.
Predominantly a Bollywood actor, Irrfan has starred in a few western made films too, including Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire and The Amazing Spider Man. Having Vincent and Irrfan playing the corporate villains is a great idea, it gives both actors great exposure to mainstream audiences and everyone loves seeing people overcome the higher authority. The film also stars most notably, French actor Omar Sy who recently played Bishop in X-Men: Days of Future Past, comic actress turned serious Judy Greer, who plays mum to Melissa and Joey star Nick Robinson and Iron Man 3’s Ty Simpkins, and Morgana herself Katie McGrath. While these actors have unspecified roles in the films, one actor, with the exception of the main actors, does have a name. Jake Johnson, best known for playing Nick Miller in New Girl, will be playing a character called Lowery, a tech-savvy operations overseer. This is a big role for Johnson, considering how New Girl has lost most of it’s momentum, but is he only in the film because of the director?
Directing Jurassic World is Colin Trevorrow, who directed 2012 indie flick Safety Not Guaranteed. Safety Not Guaranteed, for those who haven’t see it, is a great surprise of a gem. Beautifully shot, has an interesting message about life and is written brilliantly, so brilliantly that the writer of the film, Derek Connolly, was bought on by Colin to write the script for Jurassic World with Colin. Safety Not Guaranteed starred Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass and Jake Johnson, so it’s obvious that Johnson built a good relationship with Colin that could now inject new life into his career, but you do have to feel sorry Aubrey and Mark.
Directing Jurassic World is Colin Trevorrow, who directed 2012 indie flick Safety Not Guaranteed. Safety Not Guaranteed, for those who haven’t see it, is a great surprise of a gem. Beautifully shot, has an interesting message about life and is written brilliantly, so brilliantly that the writer of the film, Derek Connolly, was bought on by Colin to write the script for Jurassic World with Colin. Safety Not Guaranteed starred Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass and Jake Johnson, so it’s obvious that Johnson built a good relationship with Colin that could now inject new life into his career, but you do have to feel sorry Aubrey and Mark.
I think having Colin Trevorrow direct and co-write Jurassic World alongside Derek Connolly is a great idea. The two of them can help bring something fresh to the franchise while still honouring the past. But there is also a problem with having Colin and Derek involved. Both men are very under experienced for a big, summer, Hollywood blockbuster. Safety Not Guaranteed was their first feature film so both men will be faced with the pressure of proving that they are not one hit wonders. But they are not the first to be given a big franchise after making just one film. Earlier this year Gareth Edwards was given the mantle of rebooting Godzilla, which did gain mixed reviews but mainly positive. It’s definitely going to be tricky for Colin and Derek to prove that they are not flashes in the pan, but there is faith with this duo and Universal wouldn’t have hired them if they didn’t.
Unless you have been following the whole story of Jurassic World, you may be surprised that this isn’t the first time Universal has wanted to make a fourth Jurassic Park. In fact, this fourth installment has been stuck in “development hell” for nearly 14 YEARS! Questions of a fourth film started in early 2001 when Joe Johnston, director of Jurassic Park III, stated that Steven Spielberg was working on a story idea that would take the mythology of the series to a new level. In 2002, Spielberg himself confirmed that there would be a fourth film coming out with a summer 2005 release date. After many years, many redrafts, which included a leaked script, and many casting rumours including Keira Knightley, Jeremy Piven and Emmy Rossum, the film was put on hold, with Joe Johnston and Jack Horner working on another draft. The idea was to have the film start production by the time Spielberg had finished with Indiana Jones 4, but there was still script problems and problems locking down actors for the film, which carried on for many more years. Finally in 2013 we started hearing very good news. Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly were signed onto the project to kick start the franchise into a new direction, actors were getting confirmed for the film and another release date was being announced. Then, mercifully, in April 2014, fans heard the sweetest of words. Jurassic World was in production. Since then we’ve had a few pictures, character descriptions and concept art released. It’s been a long journey but what started over 14 years ago will finally come to fruition next summer.
Unless you have been following the whole story of Jurassic World, you may be surprised that this isn’t the first time Universal has wanted to make a fourth Jurassic Park. In fact, this fourth installment has been stuck in “development hell” for nearly 14 YEARS! Questions of a fourth film started in early 2001 when Joe Johnston, director of Jurassic Park III, stated that Steven Spielberg was working on a story idea that would take the mythology of the series to a new level. In 2002, Spielberg himself confirmed that there would be a fourth film coming out with a summer 2005 release date. After many years, many redrafts, which included a leaked script, and many casting rumours including Keira Knightley, Jeremy Piven and Emmy Rossum, the film was put on hold, with Joe Johnston and Jack Horner working on another draft. The idea was to have the film start production by the time Spielberg had finished with Indiana Jones 4, but there was still script problems and problems locking down actors for the film, which carried on for many more years. Finally in 2013 we started hearing very good news. Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly were signed onto the project to kick start the franchise into a new direction, actors were getting confirmed for the film and another release date was being announced. Then, mercifully, in April 2014, fans heard the sweetest of words. Jurassic World was in production. Since then we’ve had a few pictures, character descriptions and concept art released. It’s been a long journey but what started over 14 years ago will finally come to fruition next summer.
Thankfully around the time of writing this article, Universal released the first full trailer for Jurassic World. I personally loved the trailer, ignoring the clichéd story I’ve already mentioned. What I love about the trailer are two things, one, the little callbacks to the original film, it’s something familiar but different, and two, the horror aspects. The music, the shots and the overall feel of the second half of the trailer makes you feel like you are watching a horror film. But after the trailer was released, there was a lot of backlash over the visual effects, a lot of people saying that it’s worse than the visual effects in the original Jurassic Park film. To those people I have two words for you, seven months. Jurassic World doesn’t come out until June 12th; nearly seven months away, the visual effects aren’t finished yet. They had to get a build ready in time for this trailer; it didn’t need to be perfect, but good enough for the trailer. If you look at the first trailer for Dawn of the Planets of the Apes, the effects for the apes are completely different to how they look in the finished film. To get a visual effect perfect, it takes time, so just wait everyone, the effects will get better… hopefully.
So, will Jurassic World be the catalyst to reboot the Jurassic Park franchise and introduce a new generation of kids that become scared of dinosaurs? Yes. I have great faith in Colin and Derek to have written a great script after so many years of development and being passed around so many people, faith in the cast and what they could accomplish and faith in bringing something new and familiar back to the cinema at the same time. I will be honest, I’m not the biggest Jurassic Park fan but I did have respect for the film. After looking closer at Jurassic World, I’m really excited for the film and think it could be one of the best film experiences of 2015.
So, will Jurassic World be the catalyst to reboot the Jurassic Park franchise and introduce a new generation of kids that become scared of dinosaurs? Yes. I have great faith in Colin and Derek to have written a great script after so many years of development and being passed around so many people, faith in the cast and what they could accomplish and faith in bringing something new and familiar back to the cinema at the same time. I will be honest, I’m not the biggest Jurassic Park fan but I did have respect for the film. After looking closer at Jurassic World, I’m really excited for the film and think it could be one of the best film experiences of 2015.
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