Gareth Edwards, the director of the seventh film in the Jurassic series (‘Jurassic World: Rebirth‘ – 2025) was born in 1975, the year Steven Spielberg directed ‘Jaws’. In the last ten years he has specialized in monster and alien films, becoming one of the most appreciated directors of those genres. He was a little skeptical when he received the script written by David Koepp, the author of the scripts for the first two ‘Jurassic Park’ films, the ones directed by Spielberg himself (he was and is only a producer on the others). After reading it, he decided that he could not miss the opportunity to direct the film. I can suspect that Gareth Edwards responded to a challenge, that of proving that dinosaur films are not an endangered species. The rebirth in the title could also mean the rebirth of the genre and the series. Did he succeed? The answer can be given by each of the viewers who have watched or will watch the film.
The plot of the film follows the pattern already familiar to those who have seen other films in this series. Dinosaurs, resurrected through genetic manipulation, coexist uncomfortably on our planet, isolated on a few Caribbean islands, off-limits to humans. A group of heroes will break the ban and enter the dinosaurs’ territory. The reason: dinosaurs, as we know, were long-lived and their elixir of longevity concentrated in three test tubes (large ones, dinosaurs size) could be the source of a vaccine that would prolong the lives of all human species. The team includes the inevitable slightly absent-minded scientist, an evil representative of big-pharma corporations and a beautiful mercenary woman with experience in dangerous situations. There is also an ordinary family in the area, lost in search of ecological adventures. These are the premises, the rest are action scenes in which humans try to collect dinosaur DNA samples, and dinosaurs hunt humans. Not all heroes and not all dinosaurs will make it to the end of the film.
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth‘ offered me a double guilty pleasure. That of watching another episode in the genre inaugurated by Michael Crichton‘s superb book and that of watching Scarlett Johansson. The rest of the cast is OK, the almost entirely digitalized special effects are spectacular, with two or three scenes that add new visual ideas. The secondary thread of the innocent family caught in the events is a bit thin and not well connected to the rest of the story. This kind of movies survives and will probably continue as long as Spielberg is interested in putting the money for the production and the audiences respond by bringing profits to his studios. The declared fans, myself included, will be satisfied. But we too are waiting for more new ideas before declaring that this is a true rebirth.