JW: Fallen Kingdom is a nice demonstration of what a director can and cannot do for a movie

Usually when I come out of a bad movie by a director I really admire, I get upset. It often feels like they almost betrayed me, like goddammit, I was looking forward to this because of YOU. Like David Lowery for Pete's Dragon - the movie wasn't terrible, but way below par for the director.

Now I personally felt that Fallen Kingdom by most accounts was an aggressively dumb movie to the point where I would frequently find myself shaking my head in disbelief. The plotting, character motivations, the bizarre twists, the overall weird narrative and little details that don't make sense (seriously, there is no reason a Silicon Valley engineer should be able to afford a down payment on a stegosaurus) all kind of add up into a bad movie...and yet I came out of the theatre wanting to turn to director J.A. Bayona and be like 'Hey bud, nice work!'

FK is one of the most competently made direct-to-video B-movies ever filmed. It feels like Bayona looked at it, realised how inherently stupid the movie is, then said 'Fuck it, let's just do it wild.'

I love how physical his characters are. The good guys look rugged and helpful. The baddies are all snivelling assholes with zero redeemable qualities and dress like pricks. It's like they extra slimed Toby Jones hahaha. I like how when Bryce Dallas Howard's character is sad, she's not just feeling sad, but she's literally on the ground smacking her hands in the sand like a child. They can watch this movie in Japan with no subtitles and get the whole story clearly.

I also love how Bayona has fun with his blocking and framing. Characters frequently burst into frame, there's always the feeling of dinosaurs around every corner, and overall sequences are kept moving. People don't hang out in one place for very long. It's an energetic movie.

The embracing of the B-movie is perhaps my favourite part, though. The dinosaurs of Fallen Kingdom are not animals - they are movie monsters, and they are ridiculous. There's a Baryonyx who gets creamed with lava but STILL chases after the protags. Dinosaurs will stop whatever they're doing to have a fight with each other or attack humans (except for goodie dinosaurs, they only attack baddies).

Look, I'm not saying this makes a good movie. But I do think it shows what a director can bring to a stupid, stupid script. A lesser captain would have made something like this nigh-unwatchable. Bayona feels like he's on our side, like 'Hey guys, I know this is dumb as fuck, but just stick with me and we'll have a little fun.'

Submitted July 03, 2018 at 11:58PM by mrdinosaur https://ift.tt/2NhpPtn