Imagine you’re at a party. A fancy, invite only affair. Everyone’s having a grand old time. There’s plenty of food, folks are getting along, and all of your friends made it. Even the ones you only PRETEND to get along with. Then, suddenly, you realize… Something ain’t right. Like, who the heck is that person standing alone in the corner? Gasp. We’ve got a party crasher in our midst.
Said party crasher in this instance, is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on the Netflix Global Top 10 film list right now. It crept in through the front door when no one was looking, and now we’ve got to call security. Well, sort of.
Honestly, there was a brief moment in which I thought I hadn’t even seen Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — because it’s so forgettable. It’s up against current heavy hitters like The Monkey King, The Boss Baby, and You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah. It doesn’t stand a chance.
In truth, Fallen Kingdom isn’t THAT bad. The 2018 science fiction film certainly has it’s moments, and as the fifth installment in the franchise overall — fans were entertained long enough to watch this ongoing story continue through a few satisfying beats. And, of course, the visual effects don’t disappoint.
Still, it didn’t become the critical darling we’re sure the filmmakers hoped it would, with many panning the movie on account of some larger narrative inconsistencies and an unrealized scope. For a flick all about breakthroughs, Fallen Kingdom lacked many of its own.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom currently sits at the number six spot on Netflix’s top 10 English film list, and at present, there’s no telling how long it will be there. Moreover, no one really knows how it’s ended up there in the first place. Especially in light of the franchise’s most recent addition, Jurassic World: Dominion.
The original Jurassic Park didn’t just reshape the landscape of cinema, it reshaped societies collective imagination of what was possible in contemporary storytelling. Here’s the problem… Once that T-Rex sized genie is out of the bottle, you kind of can’t put it back in.
How many times are the dinosaurs going to escape? How many times are the failsafes going to fail? It’s a vicious cycle based on human hubris, and one that gets old. Maybe the best thing for these films is to give them a break. Let them go extinct. But what do I know? I’ve got a metaphorical party to get back to.