On Irresponsibus rex (spoilers? Yeah, spoilers.).

In which I finally get to see Jurassic World! by SkarmorySilver on 2015-10-15 15:23:00 UTC Reply

I would've posted this yesterday, or heck, on Monday, but things have been busy on my end. Anyway, this was a few months overdue, in no small part due to the movie rotations causing flicks to arrive at our theater much later than the more expensive ones, but after like, five months of waiting... I finally got to see Jurassic World.

My thoughts on this movie? Well, it's got its share of flaws, but these are relatively minor ones - and needless to say, the rest of it is truly a Jurassic-sized spectacle.

Check out my full review, in which I discuss marketing, female representation, and more teeth, over on Armor Bird Press!

RE: Jurassic World by dramaticsoprano on 2015-10-16 03:32:00 UTC Reply

i like that film if only because it is so ridiculous. Seriously, has no one learned anything from Film One? The characters keep making the same kinds of mistakes, only this time on a much larger scale. And yet I can help but enjoy the stupidity of the characters.
On Irresponsibus rex (spoilers? Yeah, spoilers.). by Huinesoron on 2015-10-15 16:15:00 UTC Reply

Okay, putting my hand up here: I loved this film to bits, it's the one I've been wanting to see since JP itself - the one where there is a working dinosaur park. I would gleefully watch a whole series of 'we built yet another park; it didn't work out' films. I loved the numerous nods to the first film (and decided for myself that the T. rex had to be the same one from the original film - before checking the Internet and discovering that yep, she is ^_^), and the... y'know... everything. Despite the 'duh' moments (#1 offender: 'we can't find the I. rex in its pen! Let us walk inside and open the doors, because cameras are haaaaaard!'), it was a ridiculously awesome film.

But. I. rex. It, uh... was basically a massive cluster of Chekhov's DNA. It can go IR-invisible, which was referenced once (okay, I guess it was vaguely relevant because they couldn't track it? But they managed to keep on top of things pretty well). It can camouflage... once, and I didn't even notice it had happened, except that someone yelled it. One of the best things in The Lost World (the book) was the camouflaging Carnotaurs - they were only a short sequence, and no-one even got roared at, but they were genuinely chilling. Things can be scary without roaring!

But I. rex... well, like you quoted, 'more teeth'. And that lost quite a few ways to make it scarier by being, you know... quieter and sneakier.

Still a very awesome movie, though.

~

So here's a question, then. If you were a struggling dinosaur park, whose guest numbers were flagging - what would you cook up to bring them flooding back? A hybrid (and of what?)? Some sort of event (come on, people would flood in to watch T. rex hunting flocks of Gallimimus)? Realism ('You think you know Deinonychus... you ain't seen nothing yeMURDERCHICKENOFDOOM!)? A concerted effort to find some particular dinosaur's DNA? What's the best plan, here?

(I. rex clearly isn't it. 'Let's build a socially-inept hybrid of all the worst things!' Yeah, no.)

hS

How to make I. rex work: by To The Scapemobile! on 2015-10-17 13:51:00 UTC Reply

Who here has ever played Red Alert 3? For them as haven't, you get bears and mammoths and things to use as units. I rex makes a lot more sense if it's a defence contract ballsed up by the Army and attendant mission creep. See also: F-35s. =]
I like how mocking its name is a thing. by SkarmorySilver on 2015-10-17 03:40:00 UTC Reply

And I second the notion that the I. rex should've used its abilities more often in the movie, because that would've at least helped drive home how dangerous it really was. You know the completely silent out-of-nowhere appearance of Rexy at the end of the first JP? Imagine that, but with the intent of killing the people rather than saving them. Now that would've made me jump outta my seat!

TBH, I think retooling the park to be more like a nature safari ("See dinosaurs IN THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS, and not stuffy CAGES! Watch them ACTUALLY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER! Let them FIGHT!") would be the best bet here, with realism optional because either people want accurate dinosaurs to please the scientists or movie-style ones for the casual fans. But yeah, if the Battle at Kruger is any indicator, people love seeing animals fight, and I'm pretty sure setting up a working ecosystem where the dinosaurs can freely prey on each other would be a good way of accomplishing that.

Realism by GlarnBoudin on 2015-10-17 19:07:00 UTC Reply

Honestly, I feel that going naked with the raptors was probably the best bet-no matter how they depicted them, some paleo-nut would be complaining that they weren't feathered in "the RIGHT way".
So, they need to use Isla Sorna? by Hardric on 2015-10-17 07:50:00 UTC Reply

The spectacle could be really great, but I think that the true problem is InGen and their... special take on the matter of security.

P.S. : The mocking of the Plotasaurus Rex really reminds me the Nostalgia Critic here.