Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The fifth film in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a slight improvement over the previous entry though there are still a few issues leftover here and there. After the volcano on Isla Nublar becomes active, Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, introduced in the previous film and played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, are tasked in helping to find various dinosaurs so as to keep them from going extinct. That then leads to the two and some new characters to a conspiracy involving the selling of the dinosaurs to people wanting to use them as weapons and a brand new dinosaur created through the DNA of the Indominus rex and other dinosaurs. While the film keeps elements of the science fiction adventure tropes that the previous films had, this one has a lot more focus on horror, which is very effective. The effects, both CGI and practical, to depict the dinosaurs has improved from the previous entry and the design and actions of the Indoraptor is one of the most memorable. While the performances from everyone involved are all great, sometimes the villains can feel like over the top bad guys just to keep the story going. The ending has some good things, such as the dinosaurs escaping into the wild and humanity having to accept them, and some bad things, such as the reveal of a newly introduced character whose backstory needed more to go on. Seeing Jeff Goldblum return as Dr. Ian Malcolm was a lot of fun, even if his scenes were very short. I really hope that the ending of this film plays into what happens in the next one and shows how the world changes. Over all: 86%

2018 top list so far:
1. Incredibles 2

2. Avengers: Infinity War

3. Solo: A Star Wars Story

4. A Quiet Place
5. Deadpool 2

6. Black Panther
7. Ready Player One
8. Ocean's 8

9. Isle of Dogs

10. Game Night
11. Thoroughbreds

12. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom