Support NeoGAF

[B33]

I don't agree at all. Spielberg is better, yes. Trevorrow's film had much better content to me, and nothing that I found downright bad. TLW is full of things I find downright bad. That's how I'm looking at this.

The characters are unlikable in both films and neither one have good stories. It comes down to the effects and direction and Spielberg trumps Trevorrow.

It sounds like Jurassic World was more entertaining to you and that's fine, but I genuinely couldn't stand the film and I love Jurassic Park. We'll have to agree to disagree.

My original point still stands, there's no way Jurassic World is better than Jurassic Park.

 

[FortuneFaded]

JW was better than JP1 so I'm all for this.

 

[brandonh83]

My original point still stands, there's no way Jurassic World is better than Jurassic Park.

I certainly liked the characters in Jurassic World far more. So for me it had better characters, a much better story, and wasn't this dark, murky, and to me just plain ugly movie like TLW. I don't think being better directed makes it a better film. It also didn't have Kelly which already boosts it to greater heights alone lol

Jurassic World was just a fun spirited and energetic film to me. TLW is just this dull thing with a story and characters I absolutely cannot stand. Except Eddie. Anyways I don't think Jurassic World is better. Just different.

 

[ZoddGutts]

Now this dude has talent unlike the previous director.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Massive step up. Good pick

 

[brandonh83]

Well.

At least the pre-release threads should go more smoothly as we have a more seasoned director that most people seem totally fine with. I'm not the conductor of the Trevorrow hate train, was super excited and the film personally delivered what I was looking for, so it was pretty shitty that most threads were full of negativity. There was little joy to be had, plenty of people liked it but plenty didn't and the ones that did were a lot less vocal than the ones that didn't.

Which is fine, opinions. But it was a fucking drag.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Yeah for some reason people tend to be less negative about movies with directors attached who have made actually good movies before

 

[brandonh83]

Yeah for some reason people tend to be less negative about movies with directors attached who have made actually good movies before

I didn't say it was a mystery, and Safety Not Guaranteed was pretty good and critically acclaimed. I'm only saying it was kind of a drag, even before we saw a damn thing from it.

 

[aeolist]

Yeah for some reason people tend to be less negative about movies with directors attached who have made actually good movies before

it's not like the trevorrow hate proved unfounded either

 

[Fancy Clown]

I honestly can't decide if Saftey Not Guaranteed is worse than Jurassic World or not. I flip flop. They're both terrible. I have no idea why they tapped him for JW other than to easily control a rookie director and inject some "indie" "humor" into it

 

[FoxSpirit]

Did anyone else read "Juan Antonio Banderas" at first?

 

[brandonh83]

I honestly can't decide if Saftey Not Guaranteed is worse than Jurassic World or not. I flip flop. They're both terrible. I have no idea why they tapped him for JW other than to easily control a rookie director and inject some "indie" "humor" into it

You have no idea because you didn't like SNG. But that doesn't seem to be the consensus. Trevorrow was originally attached to The Force Awakens, to co-direct with Brad Bird during the period when Abrams declined, so Jurassic World wasn't the only big thing he was attached to after SNG. I mean you don't like it, fine, but you're taking your personal opinion and applying it to this, rather than understanding that it was an acclaimed film and the producers liked him.

Anyway it's a new movie and a director that people are seemingly more comfortable with. I was immediately happy about the announcement because I knew it would make for more... pleasant conversations-- unlike this one

 

[freenudemacusers]

JW was pretty dumb but it was a dumb theme park kind of dumb. I suspect this will be even more dumb but still fun and maybe a little more exhilarating given the director because I really don't see story wise where they can go except laser guided raptor drones or something.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

Hopefully women will get better treatment in JW2 than they did in JW1.

Oh and more likable child characters. Especially the older kid who kept trying to be unfaithful to his loving gf back home in JW I found irritating as shit and felt deserved more the cruel death the female assistant needlessly got instead.

Hell, the "bad" guy in JW got a more honorable death (off screen and a vague blood splatter) than the poor assistant who's only sin was doing her job and, judging from this movie, being a woman.

Also: lolhighheelslol.

*cringe*

And yet you contradict yourself with your closing comment. Who says a woman can't run in high heels? You (and the many bloggers across the web who claim the film hates women for actually being given a cool movie death or having a lead actress go by her own set of rules to achieve her badass moment)? Just stop, it's embarassing.

 

[freenudemacusers]

I want to know who her cobbler is those things took a lot of abuse.

 

[Fancy Clown]

JW was pretty dumb but it was a dumb theme park kind of dumb. I suspect this will be even more dumb but still fun and maybe a little more exhilarating given the director because I really don't see story wise where they can go except laser guided raptor drones or something.

Yeah I'm still expecting this to be bad/mediocre overall even with the better director, unless they go in a totally different direction from JW, which I doubt they will. But then again there's really no story they can write at this point to have dinosaurs in a theme park attacking people yet again and have it not be dumb.

You have no idea because you didn't like SNG. But that doesn't seem to be the consensus. Trevorrow was originally attached to The Force Awakens, to co-direct with Brad Bird during the period when Abrams declined, so Jurassic World wasn't the only big thing he was attached to after SNG. I mean you don't like it, fine, but you're taking your personal opinion and applying it to this, rather than understanding that it was an acclaimed film and the producers liked him.

Anyway it's a new movie and a director that people are seemingly more comfortable with. I was immediately happy about the announcement because I knew it would make for more... pleasant conversations-- unlike this one

Hey now don't be that way, I thought this was a very pleasant conversation. Don't let people hating on Trevorrow's forgettably bad movies bring you down homie, and I'll try to forgive the fact that critics ---even Ebert--enjoyed SNG.

 

[aeolist]

i'm fine with dumb blockbusters but JW was overtly obnoxious with no interesting or likable characters and a really weird and dissonant way of both condemning and lauding crass commercialism

 

[brandonh83]

Hey now don't be that way, I thought this was a very pleasant conversation. Don't let people hating on Trevorrow's forgettably bad movies bring you down homie, and I'll try to forgive the fact that critics ---even Ebert--enjoyed SNG.

It doesn't really bring me down and I wasn't trying to "be that way," guess it just came across like that lol. SNG isn't even my kind of thing, but I thought it was well done. I was just saying that while you didn't personally like it, the people that picked him did, so it's just not something that confusing.

 

[Fancy Clown]

It doesn't really bring me down and I wasn't trying to "be that way," guess it just came across like that lol. SNG isn't even my kind of thing, but I thought it was well done. I was just saying that while you didn't personally like it, the people that picked him did, so it's just not something that confusing.

It's confusing in the sense of producers watching it and thinking "Oh yeah he'd be a great fit for *insert gigantic action blockbuster here* regardless of how good it may or may not be. I mean, if I get cynical about it I can think of plenty of reasons why they would pick him since grooming rookie directors for big blockbusters before they have a defined aesthetic, bargaining power, or high price tag is something studio heads like to do. But I mean at least Gareth Edwards' debut was topically similar to Godzilla lol. This was like when Marc Forster got tapped for Quantum of Solace.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

 

[brandonh83]

It's confusing in the sense of producers watching it and thinking "Oh yeah he'd be a great fit for *insert gigantic action blockbuster here* regardless of how good it may or may not be. I mean, if I get cynical about it I can think of plenty of reasons why they would pick him since grooming rookie directors for big blockbusters before they have a defined aesthetic, bargaining power, or high price tag is something studio heads like to do. But I mean at least Gareth Edwards' debut was topically similar to Godzilla lol. This was like when they tapped Marc Forster for Quantum of Solace.

Directing is directing. They thought he did a good directing job and considered him. They liked his interview and his pitches. It doesn't matter that it's a "big summer blockbuster," the producers handle the checks; he just directed it and apparently made a strong case for himself at the meetings. That's what ended up landing him the gig, and Lucasfilm again was also interested and had him on Star Wars (and now doing Episode IX).

It is what it is. Things work in certain ways sometimes. Whatever the case, we're behind it I want to talk about thiiisss shit

 

[Discotheque]

It's confusing in the sense of producers watching it and thinking "Oh yeah he'd be a great fit for *insert gigantic action blockbuster here* regardless of how good it may or may not be. I mean, if I get cynical about it I can think of plenty of reasons why they would pick him since grooming rookie directors for big blockbusters before they have a defined aesthetic, bargaining power, or high price tag is something studio heads like to do. But I mean at least Gareth Edwards' debut was topically similar to Godzilla lol. This was like when they tapped Marc Forster for Quantum of Solace.

They're doing the same thing with Kong Skull Island. Hire some random indie director who made some small comedy with kids prior to this big budget monster flick.

We'll see how it pays off, he's not on the script at least

I wonder how the original script was for jurassic world before Trevorrow hopped on it. The apes guys were behind it and I enjoyed those movies far more. Plus they never had such awful exchanges such as the one when you first see Pratt and Howard together

Interesting director choice here. But I worry about the writing. Whatever. More dinos will be fun.

 

[BlackGoku03]

I'm more surprised he let JP3 happen while he was still alive.

That too. To a lesser degree, The Lost World as well.

To be fair, there are a lot of shitty adaptations of his novels.

Some of his themes and ideas were in the film that weren't in the others. I think in spirit definitely.

I recognized some of the themes, which is why I liked the film despite glaring issues.

Hopefully they can incorporate more in future films, but I wonder how they can if they won't be on the island anymore.

 

[brandonh83]

Thought the first Apes was abysmal but the second was well made because Matt Reeves. However it's not something I'd rewatch personally, though I've never been into that series.

The original script from what we know was much like what it was, and the things we know Trevorrow and Connolly rewrote was for the best. Jaffa and Silver had Owen teaming up with the raptors by the first third of the movie to track the Indominus, and Trevorrow thought it happened too fast. And he was right. Instead he made it better by having it across the entire movie and when Owen takes the headset off Blue, it feels earned and a big deal. They actually wrote it and built it up into being what is, to me, a wonderful moment.

 

[Gorillaz]

I hope Masrani comes back as Mecha-Masrani or something, Irrfan Khan was glorious in the first one. I would almost not even mind a retcon of his death lol.

I hope they just throw away all his death plotline away like it never happened and do it with a straight face.

 

[brandonh83]

I hope they just throw away all his death plotline away like it never happened and do it with a straight face.

No no how's it doing are my guests having fun, are my animals enjoying life?
The key to a happy life is to accept that you are never actually in control.

Dude's a quote machine.

 

[freenudemacusers]

I hope they just throw away all his death plotline away like it never happened and do it with a straight face.

he was injected with cat and chameleon dna prior to the movie timeline and thus landed on his feet, invisibly, right before his crash.

 

[brandonh83]

he was injected with cat and chameleon dna prior to the movie timeline and thus landed on his feet, invisibly, right before his crash.

We didn't actually see him die. If you don't see it, it didn't happen. It's that simple.

 

[Fancy Clown]

They're doing the same thing with Kong Skull Island. Hire some random indie director who made some small comedy with kids prior to this big budget monster flick.

We'll see how it pays off, he's not on the script at least

I wonder how the original script was for jurassic world before Trevorrow hopped on it. The apes guys were behind it and I enjoyed those movies far more. Plus they never had such awful exchanges such as the one when you first see Pratt and Howard together

Interesting director choice here. But I worry about the writing. Whatever. More dinos will be fun.

Yeah the new Planet of the Apes movies, by some bizzare twist of fate have ended up being perhaps the best ongoing blockbuster series at the moment. Until we get those Fury Road follow ups confirmed, that is.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

So, with this news, what do people expect Bayona to bring to the table, or what would they like to see the film do with him involved?

 

[Verendus]

This is actually an inspired choice. First was surprisingly decent, and this is likely to be better with someone like him.

 

[Madao]

hopefully this guy doesn't have the problems the guy that directed the Robocop remake had.

the story was similar. director with interesting movies and promising career gets notable hollywood franchise, then studio execs meddle and kill the potential.

 

[Harry Stewart]

hopefully this guy doesn't have the problems the guy that directed the Robocop remake had.

the story was similar. director with interesting movies and promising career gets notable hollywood franchise, then studio execs meddle and kill the potential.

Padilha went on to do Narcos so all worked out fine in the end, but Robocop must have been such a frustrating experience for him. You can tell there's a great movie in there somewhere just waiting to get out. And I don't care what anyone says, the scene where

Spoiler

Murphy sees what's left of his body for the first time

may be the best scene in any Robocop movie.

 

[Fancy Clown]

So, with this news, what do people expect Bayona to bring to the table, or what would they like to see the film do with him involved?

Bring some intensity and realism to and hopefully stray from the cartoonish nature of JW. Basically make the dinosaurs scary again and provide some thrills. And also the movie will hopefully be shot better and have better performances.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Bring some intensity and realism to and hopefully stray from the cartoonish nature of JW. Basically make the dinosaurs scary again and provide some thrills.

I totally agree, and this seems to be the sentiment everywhere online. Jurassic Park took itself seriously, and had a sense of intimacy that Jurassic World lacked. I'd really like to see that return, and Bayona seems to be a fantastic fit for that to happen with.

 

[brandonh83]

For me the first Jurassic World wasn't necessarily scary, but seeing it for the first time in one of the greatest IMAX screens in the United States, I'll admit that there were a few times with the Indominus Rex that made me feel super uneasy. The kids in the gyrosphere--- I loved it when they're "counting" the dinosaurs that they can see, but they both see the Indominus in the reflection of the gyro globe. I thought that was very clever and intense, especially with the slow-build nature that Trevorrow directed it with. I thought the original Jurassic Park was terrifying, but I had the utmost privilege of seeing that when I was 10 years old. I imagine that my 10 year old self would have also found Jurassic World terrifying, especially with that gyrosphere scene with the kids that I could have related to more at that age, or with the soldiers being attacked by the Indominus in the jungle-- which I still found, at age 32, to be pretty fucking horrific. It was a relatively gory scene.

With Bayona, you know, the question I have is this: he made El Orfanato which is a straight up Spanish horror film with dramatic undertones, but he also made The Impossible, which is more of a "summer blockbuster" in its DNA than El Orfanato. I wonder which one Jurassic World 2 is going to be closer to.

 

[Fancy Clown]

I would say The Impossible is certainly a better barometer for what we might expect out of him RE Jurassic Park (World 2?), but even that has some incredibly intense sequences. Like when the wave hits and immediate aftermath, shit was painful to watch.

 

[brandonh83]

I would say The Impossible is certainly a better barometer for what we might expect out of him RE Jurassic Park (World 2?), but even that has some incredibly intense sequences. Like when the wave hits and immediate aftermath, shit was painful to watch.

I haven't seen the full film yet but like when Trevorrow was announced to direct Jurassic World, the first thing I did was check out Safety Not Guaranteed. Again it's not my type of film, but I thought it was well directed, acted and edited. When I look at directorial work, I check out the basic stuff. Are they good at directing actors? How's the editing? How does it flow as a story/film? It isn't a movie I'd ever watch again, but it was a decent way to see the guy's talents as a director.

Really, I don't find it that much different as Rian Johnson directing Star Wars: Episode VIII. He's really good, but despite Looper I don't think he's made anything that screams that he would make a great Star Wars film. He certainly has had more experience than Trevorrow, but now with Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World, and The Book of Henry (coming out this year, and also scored by Michael Giacchino) I expect him to have had the experience under his belt that could pave the way for a really good Star Wars movie. I mean truth be told, who isn't better than George Lucas at directing?

With Bayona, I have even more faith than I did with Trevorrow. With Trevorrow, I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt and thought he made a damn cool movie. With Bayona having directed The Orphanage, The Impossible, and now this new film about the giant, I'm far less concerned than I ever was with Trevorrow. It reminded me of David Yates coming into Harry Potter, who had only done some British TV shows but ended up making Potter films that I found personally to be the best of the bunch.

I'm very happy that they went with Bayona, because I'm not in this flurry to put the guy on trial-- I've seen his work and have been a fan since 2008 when I saw The Orphanage. I really hope his horror roots really come into play here, and I equally hope that if he makes a darker film than Jurassic World, it won't be the Play-doh version of dark that The Lost World was, which is a film I truly hate because for me it sucked the fun and spirit out of Jurassic Park and went for muddy and moody, something I don't ever want to see for the franchise again.

I'm cool, again, with a darker and scarier film than Jurassic World, but not the kind of scary and dark that The Lost World went for, which I just ultimately found really fucking stupid and ugly. You can have a vibrant, fun film that is also terrifying-- the first film handled it perfectly. Jurassic World was perhaps a shade too cheery, but nonetheless, I'd rather have that than what The Lost World was.

 

[Fancy Clown]

If I had my way I'd make an R rated Jurassic Park that strives for pure terror lol. And I actually think the scary stuff was by far the best part of Lost World. When I think of redeeming qualities of that movie I think about the T-Rex's attacking the trailer, the raptors in the tall grass, and Peter Stromere getting eateb alive by lil shithead dinosaurs. It was just the rest of the movie ruined it.

But your right, Jurassic Park struck a really good balance of awe and discovery, some levity, and then visceral moments that really do a good job of selling the "realism" of the horror of being attacked by giant prehistoric creatures. That's partly why Jurassic World's set-pieces didn't work for me: spinning gyro balls, army squads, raptors with cameras on them running with motorcycles, Dino tag teams...I no longer felt like I was connected to what was going on since it had all gotten so over the top, and none of the danger felt real to me.

Jurassic Park was great because it was like: the powers out, the dinosuars are loose, all that's seperating several tons of killing flesh is the tiny wall of a 4x4, or a fence, or a kitchen cabinet. It took very real situations and milked them for a lot of tension, and that's something I very much value about Jurassic Park--and a very core part of the theme-- is taking these incredible, terrifying things, and putting them in our very familiar world, and showing the horror of and folly of these two incongruous things.

I think Bayona will at least be able to nail the horrifying side of Jurassic Park--or I'm hopeful he will anyway.

 

[brandonh83]

Yeah dude I'm with you. The Lost World was definitely the scariest of the bunch, but it was unfortunately to me by far the most fucking stupid. That's what infuriates me about it. It has so many scenes/sequences that could have just been incredible, but they're just ruined by bad and nonsensical writing. I'd be cool for Jurassic World 2 being like The Lost World but without the really terrible writing and characters. Say what you will about the writing/characters in Jurassic World, but they never actively annoyed me personally or made me hate them. I can't say that about characters like the ones in TLW, especially Ludlow, Kelly, or even fucking Sarah who is supposed to be this brilliant animal person but brings a baby fucking T-Rex on board a trailer that is almost on the edge of a cliff with the parents nearby.

Just nothing in JW struck me as that stupid, but I get that people don't like Zara or the high heels. It still never bothered me that much and I thought things about TLW and JP3 were much worse, but opinions are opinions. I'm just hoping next time that we can avoid all this and having something more unanimous to agree on.

 

[Tagyhag]

PHEW, I was worried when Trevorrow was sitting back from directing but now I'm very excited.

I want more horror in JP!

 

[Melon Husk]

I yawned while watching Orphanario more than once but The Impossible was solid.

More this, less annihilating megasaurs with ordnance please.

 

[AuthenticM]

I haven't seen any of his movies, but they seem good so I'm excited!

 

[paragonpro]

I honestly enjoyed jurassic world for what it was. A fun, dumb popcorn flick that i had a great time watching. Second best jp movie next to the first.

 

[Galang]

He seems like a good choice! And I liked JW. Hopefully only up from there

 

[Delio]

I enjoyed Jurassic World but hey better director is better. Besides all the Trevorrow pain will be in Star Wars threads soon enough so lol. I'm guessing poor Nick Robinson has no reason to come back for the sequel ah well.

 

[brandonh83]

I enjoyed Jurassic World but hey better director is better. Besides all the Trevorrow pain will be in Star Wars threads soon enough so lol. I'm guessing poor Nick Robinson has no reason to come back for the sequel ah well.

I saw Nick Robinson in The 5th Wave and he wasn't bad. I guess it depends on where the story goes. He was good in Jurassic World but it'd depend on the script.

 

[RustyNails]

It felt like something was missing from JW. Sam Neil/Jeff Goldblum is the obvious answer. But I dunno. JW felt more like a spinoff than a sequel to me. I felt like Masrani's character was completely wasted/unnecessary. Some idiotic divorce plot was shoehorned in. The pep talk between boys was groanworthy.

Oh and remember when they fixed grandpa's car one time? They can TOTALLY fix a broken jeep from 20 years ago.

 

[brandonh83]

Oh and remember when they fixed grandpa's car one time? They can TOTALLY fix a broken jeep from 20 years ago.

eh, why not. It was a great callback moment.

 

[Tagyhag]

It felt like something was missing from JW. Sam Neil/Jeff Goldblum is the obvious answer. But I dunno. JW felt more like a spinoff than a sequel to me. I felt like Masrani's character was completely wasted/unnecessary. Some idiotic divorce plot was shoehorned in. The pep talk between boys was groanworthy.

Oh and remember when they fixed grandpa's car one time? They can TOTALLY fix a broken jeep from 20 years ago.

Remember how they extracted dino DNA and infused it with frog DNA to make living dinosaurs complete with a full blown park?

Yeah I guess that's easier to believe than someone fixing a jeep.