druss44121-1

I didn't go in with very high expectations, but this still should have been better considering David Koepp was returning as a writer and Gareth Edwards is a good choice for director. I even liked his 2014 Godzilla movie more than most people, so I am far from a hater.

I'll break this down into three pros and cons to keep this short.

Pros:

1) There are dinosaurs.

2) Some great location photography, especially in Thailand.

3) There are a couple of great moments of grandeur, although the best one for me (revealing a herd in a valley) relies on a lot of nostalgia farming. Still, it's effective. There's also a sequence with a raft that feels like Spielberg could have directed it, in a good way.

Cons:

1) The script is bad. Lots of exposition, despite the fact that the plot is very simplistic. Some of the characters are annoying. Everything is very predictable, to the point that there's really not a single surprise. There's little tension or sense of danger or even mystery.

2) The cast. Most of them seem to be here to collect a paycheck. Scarlett Johansson seems a little miscast for the character she's playing, though I'd still primarily blame the writing rather than her performance. Jonathan Bailey is a non-entity. Mahershala Ali is wasted. None of these characters are memorable. The best character is probably a tiny dinosaur they meet along the way that gets a few easy "aww" moments. It's cheap, but it works.

3) The special effects. As far as I could tell, the dinosaurs are 100% CGI (or close to it). Dominion was far from good but the mix of practical and CGI effects was nice to see, and a step in the right direction. I was hoping for more of that here, especially since there are several opportunities for practical effects once they get on the island. Everything looks artificial. It's also one of those movies where despite the great location photography, some of the environments still look really fake.

Anyway... the last three movies in this franchise have all been pretty bad. I don't expect something on par with the first Jurassic Park, but I think we could do a little better than this!

5/10.

A lot of the complaints you have probably read are pretty fair. There's a lot of exposition. A lot of telling rather than showing. There are some retcons and callbacks, one involving a character from the first movie (played by Rolf Saxon) that works really well, and others that feel a little more forced.

The opening of this film almost feels like the recap of a modern TV show, a PREVIOUSLY ON essentially. The story gets very convoluted very quickly and, indeed, the production of both Reckoning films wasn't exactly smooth. Both COVID and several strikes interrupted the productions of both films, and you can tell that turmoil had an effect on the finished cut.

But...

There's still a lot to like! This is a good time in the theater. The two big set pieces in Final Reckoning are highlights of the entire series. One sequence that's underwater is reminiscent of the best scenes from James Cameron's 1989 epic The Abyss, while the other sequence that has been featured all over advertising and posters doesn't disappoint. It's some of the best stunt work you'll see.

And this isn't really a spoiler, but I also kinda like that the REAL villain of the movie is stupid people. Or, gullible people to put it in a nicer way. The idea that an algorithm could cause so much chaos by predicting how people will react-and manipulating them to react certain ways-is eerily plausible in 2025, even if most of the actual plot is utterly ridiculous. We almost enter the territory of magic here with some of the technology, and Hunt himself is almost portrayed as a messianic figure.

Speaking of which, in this film there are some major world altering events happening, but we don't ever really see the reaction on the streets except briefly in the opening. I think an action scene through a riot or clashing protesters could have been fascinating and felt very visceral, while also really showing the stakes of everything that is going on (and this one goes much further than previous MI films as far as the threat to the entire world).

Anyway, if you like the series, this is worth catching in a theater! My rankings, so you can decide whether to take this review with a grain of salt...

6 5 4 1 8 7 3 2

I actually think the third film has a great opening, great villain, and fantastic action set pieces, so for me this is a pretty consistent series. Fallout is still easily my favorite. I could see Final Reckoning going either up or down on the list with a rewatch. I saw it in IMAX, and the expanding scenes looked great.

Really wanted to like this. The previous trilogy is excellent, and I'd even say it's one of the best genre trilogies ever made (LOTR is #1, of course). Dawn is especially a masterpiece of intelligent sci-fi adventure spectacle, a movie that is both exciting and intelligent. The entire trilogy is emotionally engaging and Caesar is an incredible lead.

Unfortunately, this film doesn't have any characters as good as Caesar. In fact, it feels like a lesser retread of the same ideas and themes of the previous trilogy. There's nothing really new here. You've already seen a better version of this movie before.

With that said, let me get the good out of the way first. The cinematography is excellent. The visual effects are still incredible, both as a technical and artistic achievement. The first 45 minutes of the film are really solid. There's a lot of good visual storytelling in the opening act.

However, once we meet the main antagonist, things kinda fall apart. The pacing is off. Some scenes drag, while major character moments feel rushed. There's a friction between two major characters that doesn't feel earned, especially since the characters kinda come to an understanding, and then a few scenes later they are butting heads. What could and should have been an interesting dynamic feels incomplete, like entire scenes were cut out.

The main antagonist could have been really cool. The idea of a cult-like warlord obsessed with human history, there's so much they could have done with that idea. But he simply doesn't have enough scenes to really make him anything more than Koba Part II. And Koba had better motivations and more complexity. None of the characters here are as well written as the previous trilogy and the last 10 minutes feel more like a TV finale than a movie.

Oh, and the music score is pretty generic and forgettable. Really disappointing, because I love the music from the other movies. Caesar's theme is so good. Nothing here comes close.

Anyway... Kingdom is far from terrible, but to quote another major franchise with a movie coming out May 2024: "Mediocre!"