'Jurassic World: Rebirth' review: Gareth Edwards brings back the goodness and grace of the Spielberg films

I had given up on the 'Jurassic' franchise when I saw Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, because there was such a strong and offensive decline in quality that it felt like they were beating a dead horse (or dinosaur). So I did not bother to see the last one, 'Dominion', because everything that came before in the Jurassic World series was bland, with a phoned-in quality to them.

So, the only reason a spark of interest was ignited in me to see Jurassic World: Rebirth was the fact that, this time around, they hired director Gareth Edwards ("Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", "The Creator") to make it. After all, Edwards is a monster movie veteran given that he made his debut with a low-budget creature feature titled, well, Monsters, and directed the 2014 Godzilla reboot. Some of his films may not have worked on a storytelling level; however, there's no denying the man has a great visual sense; he has proven himself adept at handling visual effects seamlessly while conjuring up stunning images with a far lesser budget than some of his contemporaries require. His entire filmography up to this point is a testament to that.

One of the prime reasons for Jurassic World: Rebirth being, in my view, the best of the franchise since the first two films directed by Steven Spielberg — Jurassic Park (1993) and The Lost World (1997) — is the involvement of Edwards and David Koepp, the writer of those two films. If you ask whether this film brings something new to the franchise in terms of storytelling, I'm going to have to say no.

What it does bring back, though, is the sense of awe, atmosphere, grace, and all the other goodness that we remember the Spielberg films for. Rebirth proves there is no better filmmaker right now than Edwards to emulate the look of the early films of Spielberg (who is an executive producer on this franchise). You get the feeling that the makers were more serious about delivering a competent product than the last time.

Rebirth has the usual stock characters, but they are relatively more tolerable than the ones in the previous 'Jurassic World' entries. Scarlett Johansson's past action movie outings come in handy for the part of a covert operative named Zora. Jonathan Bailey plays a palaeontologist who is a mix of Indiana Jones and Sam Neill's Alan Grant. He gets some terrific lines about how man is nothing in front of nature — and dinosaurs, of course. There's also the shady corporate guy (Rupert Friend) that we love to hate, who has much in common with another shady corporate guy from James Cameron's Aliens. His creepy vibes are even mentioned to his face, and become part of a running joke.

If there's one character we feel the closest to, it has to be Mahershala Ali's Kincaid, Zora's longtime friend and liaison, who becomes a more integral character as the film progresses. More characters join them later, and that's one of the best things about Rebirth — it splits them into two groups confronting their respective threats from all kinds of creatures with names ending in 'saur', on land and air.

But let's not pretend that we watch these films to see Oscar-worthy performances. We go for a rollercoaster ride that gives bang for our buck. And Rebirth has enough creatures, friendly and unfriendly, to ensure that we are in for a great time. We get multiple scenarios that evoke the memory of watching the first Jurassic Park, and composer Alexander Desplat applies a reworked version of the classic John Williams score of the original in pleasing ways in the most suitable places.

Moreover, Edwards and cinematographer John Mathieson ("Gladiator") give us striking vistas of the remote island the principal characters venture into, and present them in such a way that we can sense the menace lurking around in every nook and cranny, under every rock, behind the bushes, on tree trunks, in the skies.... All these unseen dangers reveal themselves in good time. And it's in the staging of these revelations, peek-a-boo, and surprise attacks that Edwards excels as much as Spielberg did.

Interestingly, it's not just Spielberg's first two Jurassic Park films that Rebirth reminded me of. There are also obvious nods to other Spielberg properties, such as Jaws (which is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary), Indiana Jones, and even E.T. (you'll know when you see it).

And Edwards employs light, sound, smoke, and colours in the same way that filmmakers once did in the 80s and 90s, when they used to shoot on celluloid, when everything didn't look so dark and underlit as in most films shot on digital today, when the green screen use wasn't obvious. You know what? I think I'll go for one more round.

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