Film - Jurassic World: After the Credits

Just a few extra thoughts about Jurassic World from our own genetic anomaly Nate McKenzie...

3D or not 3D: That is the question

While viewing Jurassic World on opening night I was struck by many of the cinematic shots and how beautiful they were. That was to be expected. However, a few were pulled off so well that I began to wonder how much more spectacular and immersive they would look in 3D. I'm not an advocate for 3D films, even those shot in Real 3D, but sometimes I get an urge to see what the filmmakers were able to do with the current technology.

So, as I said I would do, I bought another ticket for Jurassic World, this time for the 3D sampling.

Again, the movie is fantastic. As Kevin Smith recently said, it is "summer movie perfection". I won't go on about that again, I'll just tell you that you make bad life decisions if you don't go see it right away (and worse decisions if you don't like the movie).

However, the 3D version was less impressive than I had hoped. If not for a few scenes, the 3D would have been downright disappointing. The scene in which the raptors are hunting the Indominus Rex looked the best. The point of view as seen through night vision goggles gave me a feeling of being in a first-person shooter video game; it was had the intensity and immersion that I was hoping for. Unfortunately, those shots were few and the rest of the films 3D was underwhelming.

Thinking back to a scene in Avatar (which I had the chance to view in IMAX 3D) in which the characters are surrounded by glowing specks that seemed to float all around my seat in the theater; there was a chance toward the end of Jurassic World for the filmmakers to capture a similar shot with fire embers against a gorgeous (CGI, to be sure) starry night sky. They failed to do so. And that is an indication of the rest of the short-comings, in regards to the 3D. 3D technology should enhance the viewing experience of a movie; this was not the case with JW.

I highly recommend seeing Jurassic World (as many times as you can afford) but save a bit of money for the next film you're excited to see and stick with the standard version.

Di-no DNA

So many people were put off by technical inaccuracies in the plot and conception of Jurassic World. I understand when inconsistencies in a plot might deride the vision as it is perceived by the viewer, even if I am not particularly bothered by them myself. Prometheus is a great example; many problems within the timeline of the Alien universe combined with questionable action of the characters caused a lot of people to chide that film. I didn't care. It was a terrific sci-fi horror jaunt.

Jurassic World has inspired detractors as well. But I don't really understand why. Why the hell are so many of you concerned about what shoes a woman is wearing? Even if you are a woman (or especially if you are a woman) why is it so bothersome? I loved the determination of Claire to stick with Owen on his mission to find her nephews despite being in uncomfortable shoes. That's pretty ballsy if you ask me. Of course, she could have just taken them off and went along as well. But complaining mouths would just whine about how impractical that would be. It's a lose-lose situation for poor Claire. Good thing she doesn't have time to care what you think because she's trying to find her sisters kids before they end up as residents of Indominus' abdomen.

The biggest gripe about JW, however, is with the science itself.

Let me address that first off by saying this: Shut up.

In the age of Google, everyone thinks they are an expert on everything. Spoiler Alert: You're not an expert, you just have access to every iota of information in the history of the world through the same internet that everyone else does. You know less about genetic modification and bringing dead animals back to life than Frankenstein did about his hack-job of a Monster and resurrecting it and look how well that turned out. So, please... shut up.

And even though actual experts have taken exception with the particulars about the dinosaurs appearance and personalities that still doesn't make me any less excited about the film. For one thing, the dinos looked incredible. The animatronics and the CGI was absolutely stunning and as realistic as you can hope for.

As for the accuracies, let me point you to the scene in which Masrani is aghast at the liberties that Dr. Wu took in creating Indominus Rex. Dr. Wu acknowledges the aesthetic inaccuracies by stating that "if their genetic make-up was pure, they would look a LOT different."

He gave all experts an easy out, a free pass, to just sit back and not worry about all the technicalities and just enjoy the film as it is.

But nooo. Some people have to take the fun out of everything. Some people just want to watch the world learn. Sheesh. I'm glad I'm not one of those people.

Images - IMDb