'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' Review

Years after the disaster at Jurassic World, a rescue mission is set to retrieve the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar where a volcano threatens all living species. This mission soon turns for the worst with the dinosaurs being auctioned off to the highest bidder as weapons. Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) must stop these creatures being sold off for the world's sake.

'Fallen Kingdom' starts off with a horror-esque, dark and creepy sequence with director J.A. Bayona showcasing his talents yet again using larger than life creatures. This suspenseful scene joins the original 'Jurassic Park' as one of the best starts in the franchise's history and offers hope for the remainder of the film. Unfortunately, there is little of this creativity and originality to be found in the rest of the film.

The latest installment of the 'Jurassic' series may as well be titled 'Greatest Hits' as the film is filled with moments found in previous films with little more to them. Audiences will feel the nostalgia being forced upon them as the film tries to re-create classic scenes and moments with updated CGI and technology. The problem is that the film doesn't have the magic and engagement of the audience to get the maximum effect from these scenes. Due to this, it just seems like a cheap imitation more often than not. Unfortunately, there isn't much to rave about in terms of new additions to the series, with a potentially interesting look at John Hammond's relation with previous partners being squandered for more explosions and dinosaur attacks. The 'Jurassic' series now has very little meaning to it, other than dinosaurs being a metaphor for nuclear weapons, with the action spectacle being the main feature. 

The biggest strength of the film comes from its casting, with Chris Pratt's unquestionable charm and charisma making the film a lot more enjoyable. His pairing with Bryce Dallas Howard works tremendously yet again, giving the audience a genuinely likable pairing to root for. Rafe Spall and Toby Jones provide good support in villain roles with greedy motives and although not given much to work with, leave a lasting impression on the film. With better material, this cast could do wonders with a wide range of quality actors featuring but we just have to settle with them making the film watchable. 

'Jurassic' is undoubtedly now just another franchise that offers very little to be excited by. We can expect sequels to come out every other year but they won't be much different to each other or worth the time. It's a shame to see this series go further and further away from what made it so great in the first place. 'Jurassic' is now just another 'Transformers' or any other franchise that is just being milked for money which audiences will eat up undoubtedly. As far as generic blockbusters go, 'Fallen Kingdom' ticks all the boxes and although it's watchable, it offers a very limited experience in terms of shocks, thrills and excitement. 

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

'Passengers' Review

'Passengers' is a sci-fi disaster film starring two of Hollywood's biggest stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. This has all the potential to be one of the years best with great star power and an interesting story but would it actually deliver?

5000 passengers are on board the 'Avalon', a spacecraft that will travel over 100 years to reach its destination where they will start a new life away from Earth. A malfunction happens and disturbs the hibernation pod of Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) waking him up 90 years too early. After a year of loneliness, he wakes up a woman, Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) to solve that. As the two grow closer, secrets are spilt as the ship comes close to great danger with Jim and Aurora the only ones who can save it and the passengers on board.

'Passengers' works fairly well early on as it establishes that the ship isn't indestructible and malfunctions, waking up only Chris Pratt's character Jim Preston. We see Pratt shine here as he has to amuse himself for the time being which does show some of his comedy talents. But as expected, he becomes bored of this lifestyle, even to the extent of becoming depressed. Pratt does well again, this time showing more of a dramatic side. The situation he is in leads him to some dark moments which is fairly understandable. This leads him to wake up a fellow passenger, a decision that brings up a great discussion.

Preston becomes overwhelmed at first of the beauty of one Aurora Lane. The film really wants to get the message that Jennifer Lawrence is beautiful in this film. Apart from the obvious naming her after 'Sleeping Beauty', the film wants to show Aurora as touched up as possible when exercising, eating or doing anything really. Aurora is completely oblivious to what has happened to her and believes that she was accidentally woken up like Jim was a year prior. This does bring a very interesting premise to the film as you know that the truth will end up coming out. This brings a great deal of tension to the film as you await this truth being found out. Once Jennifer Lawrence is introduced, we see great chemistry between herself and Pratt is fantastic and it is enjoyable seeing two of Hollywood's biggest stars on screen. The romance seems realistic as the two bond over everything they do and take comfort within each other's company. The two are likeable actors which does help the film, but only for so long.

The main talking point that has caused some controversy with this film comes once Aurora finds out that it was Jim who woke her up. For me, I didn't like how this revelation was brought up simply out of the blue by Michael Sheen's robot bartender character. This seemed to be forced entirely to create some drama which ultimately did not work. At this point, the film does lose a lot of its quality. We see the fallout of the decision as Aurora completely loses it and cannot stand Jim at all. This part was actually handled fairly well but the film then throws in Laurence Fishburne. Fishburne is a great actor but his character is thrown in for one reason, to solve a problem with the story and disappear. He is brought in so that Aurora and Jim have access to parts of the ship that are restricted to passengers before he is quickly killed off. This was a very poor part of the film as it seemed to be thrown in for that reason alone which was incredibly obvious. 

Once Fishburne's character is gone, the ship's troubles become worse, leading Jim and Aurora having to work together in order to save everyone on board.The film should have capitalised on this aspect, having the two work together with Aurora still unhappy about the situation. This would've shown the human spirit a lot better than it did the film with the ending being much more engaging and emotional. Aurora looks back at a video message sent from her friends back on earth where one friend says that she hopes Aurora finds someone to be with. This is apparently enough for Aurora to completely forgive Jim for what he did and fall straight back into love. This is what has caused most controversy about this film and I'd be lying if I said that this doesn't effect the film heavily. At this moment, you lose faith as you can't behind the motives of Aurora in this situation. Maybe they could've crafted something to get them back on decent terms but the film jut lazily throws her back into love with Jim. After this, you don't really care about what happens to either character.

The finale for this is quite the space spectacle as Jim and Aurora work together to save the ship. This involves Jim having to go outside of the ship and deal with many dangers. This full scene looks incredible - as does the rest of the movie- but there is one glaring problem, you've lost all interest in caring for these characters. The decisions that have been made lose the audience in a finale which really needs you to care. This goes to show, you can have a beautiful and well-shot action scene but if you don't care about the stakes, it is ultimately worthless. That is the main problem as 'Passengers' rounds up.

'Passengers' most definitely isn't as bad as everyone has been saying it is. The film for the first half works fairly well and works around Jim's action delicately as you anticipate the payoff. The payoff, however, is ultimately the downfall of the film. Pratt and Lawrence do well together and the film is shot beautifully with great looking sets but the film loses you towards the end. Disappointing as this film could have been so much more.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Passengers'? If so, what did you think of the film? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the film. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

'The Magnificent Seven (2016)' Review

It seems as if we can barely go a couple of weeks without their being a remake nowadays. 2016 has been full of them with 'Ghostbusters', 'Ben-Hur' and 'The BFG' being released so far. None of these films however have fully delivered making you ponder why they were even remade. Then films like 'The Magnificent Seven' come along and show us how remakes can work.

Looking to mine for gold, greedy Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) takes the small town of Rose Creek through force. With innocent lives at risk, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) turn to bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) for help. Chisolm recruits a team of  seven deadly gunslingers to come together to face off against Bogue and his men.

Technically a remake of a remake, the new creation of 'The Magnificent Seven' is most definitely a fun theatre experience. Something that seems to have been lacking in remakes seems to be a fun and enjoyable experience. This film has life in it and that can mainly come down to the characters within the film. The remake actually builds upon these characters bringing some diversity to the roles, with Denzel Washington leading the group featuring Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Martin Sensmeier- actors who all come from or descent from where their characters were from. This is great as we still see bizarre castings that should never happen and 'The Magnificent Seven' fully delivered on this aspect. 

Adding to this, the roles were all well cast talent wise as well. The actors fit the roles perfectly with the likes of Lee and Sensmeier coming across as cool action heroes with silent demeanour's. The film also features Chris Pratt and Vincent D'Onofrio who provide some comedy to the film adding another fun aspect to the movie. Denzel Washington brings leadership and a calm head providing a good contrast to the other characters as well. For me, Ethan Hawke was the stand out in this film as his character had the most interesting back story and overall had the most depth behind him. Hawke also delivers incredibly well showing good range throughout the film leading to a great performance. 

A problem that this movie does have like other remakes is that it seems to be dumbed down. The relationships between the members of the group seem to be brushed over fairly quickly and isn't used nearly as well as it could've been. Same with the motivations of the characters, it all seems to happen really quickly with no bickering which you'd expect at least from a group of completely different people. This could've added more to the relationships and also adding more comedy, making the film much better along the way. The film doesn't capitalise on moments like these with the effort seeming half hearted at times.

'The Magnificent Seven' really succeeds in feeling like a true western with the sets and locations fitting the story perfectly and looking beautiful at the same time. The soundtrack only adds to this with seemingly cliche music accompanying the western but that's not a problem if they are done well. Combined with the action throughout the film with some good old fashioned standoffs. These create a great Western feeling that fans of the genre will surely enjoy. 

Overall, 'The Magnificent Seven' is good, entertaining remake that is worth seeing. A fun and diverse cast really brings it with some great action especially the finale that is pure entertainment. One of the better remakes, however it isn't entirely clear to why we need so many right now.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'The Magnificent Seven'? If so, what did you think of the movie? I hope that this review was useful for if you were planning on seeing the film. Once again, thank you for taking time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor