The Bad Guys (2025)

So I missed the first one when it came out in 2022 and only watched it the night before. I thought it was fine and enjoyed the characters but didn’t think it required a sequel but the first one must have made enough money to warrant a sequel so here we are. The story is that the Bad Guys have fallen on hard times trying to be good but are tricked into helping Kitty Kat who secretly has a plan to use a space rocket to go into space and make a huge device to bring all the gold from the earth. 

As they dont have to introduce all the characters then the film has to fill the running time with stuff so we have to see the Bad Guys try to get jobs and fail before being forced into returning to their bad ways. The idea of taking the story into space is usually a sign that a franchise has run out of ideas (I’m looking at your Fast and the Furious and Friday the 13th), but it doesn't seem out of place in this film. There are things that happen during the space portion of the film that would totally be laughable but to be honest there is no point in trying to use logic in this type of film. I thought that the film was sort of plodding along until they got into space and this is when things got interesting and even with farting Piranha, I almost forgot that I was watching an animation. 

I don't mind admitting it but I am 42 years old and still find fart jokes funny. I have long since past the point of finding them funny (or so I thought) but I watched the first film the night before and found them funny and I still found them funny.

It’s very clear that they are setting things up for future films and I don't think it's a bad thing. The characters are likeable and as long as the stories are good then I think the films could do well. I saw this after seeing Smurfs and The Bad Guys 2 is a much better film because it has a story that is fun, the jokes are funny (even the fart ones) and the animation is very good and works very well for this story. It will probably get missed because most people will be seeing Superman or The Fantastic Four but when this eventually gets onto streaming in about three weeks then it is something that you should watch. I think that the first film is slightly better but there is plenty to like about this sequel.

Smurfs (2025)

Why do I do this to myself? Ok so a 42 man is not the target audience for this movie and I never really grew up watching the Smurfs so I don’t know how faithful the film is to the characters. The set up of the film is that Papa Smurf (John Goodman) has been taken by evil wizards and Smurfette (Rhianna) & No Name (James Corden) lead the group to try and find him. 

I didn't know that James Corden was going to be in it as Rhianna seems to have taken the marketing and had I known that Corden was in this then I may have had second thoughts about paying money to see this. He is irritating at the best of times but add singing to it and then it is 100 times worse. Rhianna can sing but act is a bit of a stretch. Together they are passable and mercifully there are only a few songs which seem to have been put in to pad the run time out as it comes to 92 minutes. 

There are things that I liked about this. First there were plenty of funny named Smurfs which indicate what their job is and I liked them but I thought Sound Effect Smurf was the best one. He had some of the funniest jokes in the entire film including when he bleeps No Name three times which makes it funny each time. 

The film starts in the Smurf world and it’s a sea of very bright animation. It doesn't get better when they get to the real world but at least it’s not as bright but that’s Paris for you. The animation might appeal to the target audience but I just found it generic and whilst things looked colourful it seemed to lack any warmth that we have come to expect from films like Toy Story or Shrek.

The best moment and the one that I found interesting was the different dimensions that they go through. Due to the fact that I am of a certain age, the clay universe as well as the hand drawn universe. Then there were the 8-bit and anime dimensions which were fun. Had the film had more of this then I would have liked it a lot more but I suppose the target audience would have hated that.

There were a couple of families in the screening I was in and the kids seemed to like it but I think the parents were not as interested. It’s harsh to try and rate it to some of the more grown up films but I thought that the story was fine, the villain was what it needed to be and the songs sung by James Corden were kept to a minimum. It just didn’t connect with me but as I said before, I’m not the target audience so what would I know. Whether this will lead to more will depend on how it does at the box office but given that there are Marvel and DC films out at the moment I don't think it will do as well but I think if you have young children then this might work for them

The Goonies (1985)

The Goonies is one of my favourite films ever. It has been in my favourite four on Letterboxd since I created my account about three years ago. The set up is that Mikey (Sean Astin) and his Goonie friends Chunk (Jeff Cohen), Mouth (Corey Feldman) & Data (Ke Huy Quan) are about to be broken up as Mikey’s mom and dad are being forced to sell the house to property developers. To try and save their home, Mikey goes in search of treasure. They also have to deal with the Fratelli’s who are trying to hide from the police after breaking Jake (Robert Davi) out of jail. 

The film works because of the central four cast members. You totally believe that they are best friends and it would be very sad if they got broken up. Each one of them has a personality which makes them important to the group. Mikey is the leader with a kind heart, Chunk is the comedy one because he is either always eating or looking for something to eat, Mouth is useful cause he can speak Spanish even though he uses it for mischievous effect when translating for Rosalita and Data is the technical one who has a host of gadgets to make life better even though they are usually not very good. Even Josh Brolin some 32 years before he turned purple and wore a bejewelled glove to wipe out half of existence is a likeable person despite being the older brother of Mikey and being a bit of a killjoy at first. 

There are a couple of shots that don't quite work. Having never seen this on the big screen some of the effects have not aged well. One of the ones that I didn't notice was towards the end when rocks are falling into the water and the effect of the water entering disappears quickly and it looks like nothing fell. Also there are a couple of shots where it looks like they are standing in front of a blue/green screen. These are few and far between and more of something that I would only notice watching this on the big screen. The main thing that always bothers me is when Data talks about an octopus and this got cut out of the film and was never filmed but it would have been cool to see but I suppose in 1985 this would have been too expensive to pull of convincingly. The issues are ones that would only have come in my later years because at the time I thought this was a fantastic film and I wished that could have happened to me.

There is very little that has changed in my overall opinion. I think that this is a perfect movie and whilst there is a certain amount of nostalgia that goes into my opinion but I still think that the story is very good, the performances are all very good and it has a fun vibe that is lacking from films nowadays. I know that it might be my age saying that but this sort of film isn't made anymore and there are talks of a sequel but I hope it doesn't come but there is a very real chance that it could undo the goodwill that I have for this film. 

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

An opportunity to see E.T at the cinema. I never really watched it growing up but it’s one of those films that is much loved and arguably one of Spielberg's best although I think there are better such as Jurassic Park. This is a story about a boy who befriends an alien who is left on earth mistakenly. It’s not long before the authorities are after him and they are painted as the bad guys, in particular some guy who we only see from a shot of his keys hanging off his belt. Had this film been made today then this guy would be Elliott’s dad who is working for the government but as it is the dad is in Mexico and so its just this typical 1980’s family.

Henry Thomas is very good as Elliot. He has a lovely bond with E.T. and that is at the heart of the film. Child actors in the 1980’s and even until quite recently were very patchy in terms of quality. Most of the time the child actors are terrible but Thomas was a rare find and at the end when E.T. is gone you feel sorry for Elliott as he is left without his friend. Had this film been made now then there would have been a sequel and we would have found out that he has become a drug addict or alcoholic and he suffered with the loss of his friend.

I did like the scene where E.T is moving about at home and is reacting to things but Elliot is also reacting as it’s affecting him and it's good that this is the way they show that E.T. and Elliott are connected as when E.T. starts to get ill and it also makes Elliott unwell. I chuckled when there were the two references to Star Wars. One was when Elliott was showing E.T. the Star Wars figures and the better one was when some kid was dressed as Yoda. Bearing in mind that we were still a year away from Return of the Jedi, it was a fun nod to Star Wars.

The way they E.T. is hidden at first is done well and it was also clever how we never saw him run in the early scenes because it probably would have looked silly. It is nice that Spielberg learned from his time of Jaws to not show everything and use lighting and camera angles to get E.T. over. 

John Williams’ score is beautiful and it shows why he is one of the greatest of all time. Some scores just stay with you and you can imagine bits of the film just hearing the score and Williams’ is filled with those scores and is just as big a part of the reason for this film being as good as it as the directing or acting or anything else.

My opinion hasn’t really changed because I saw it on the big screen. I never grew up watching this so I dont have the emotional connection to it that most people my age would do. I do think that it’s a lovely film to watch as it has a lot of heart and this type of film shows why Steven Spielberg was king of the cinema during the 80’s and 90’s. Some of the effects haven't aged as well but thats only really noticeable during the final act but bearing in mind that it was made in the 80’s I’ll forgive it. Some films made in the 2020’s have aged poorly but E.T. is a lovely film that is one I can regularly watch and enjoy.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

Fantastic Four has had a torrid time at the cinema. There were the 2005 and 2007 versions with Jessica Alba that were fine but nothing special and then there was the 2015 Josh Trank which had some interesting moments but was a car wreck with one of the worst combinations of leading characters that there had been for quite a while. 10 Years later we have a new attempt to try and make these four characters work and continue the current MCU phase. This time we get Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach & Joseph Quinn as the new fantastic four. The story is set on an alternate version of Earth and at this point they already have their powers so we don't have 40 minutes to an hour worth of origin stuff. Things are going well until the arrival of the Silver Surfer who tells them that the earth is going to get destroyed and we learn that the Silver Surfer is working for Galactus who is played by Ralph Ineson. The only way that Galactus will spare earth is if Sue Storm gives up her newborn, which she and the rest of the team refuse to do.

There is plenty to like in this film. Firstly the film is set in an alternate earth but there is a hint of 1960’s from the furniture to the costumes and also the whole vibe is trying to make it seem very different to most Marvel films if not all of the Marvel films is to create something that isn't set in outer space and yet isn't set in modern day earth so in that sense this is quite refreshing. Another thing I like are the leads. I think we are getting to the point where Pedro Pascal is reaching saturation point by seemingly appearing in everything. Vanessa Kirby is quite good as Sue Storm and Joseph Quinn is perhaps the best of the four with Moss-bachrach doing his best under the CGI/Prosthetics. As a foursome they have great chemistry and you end up caring about them and wanting them to succeed. It’s nice to have superheroes that aren't hated by the general public. After seeing this in Superman it was refreshing that they seem to be liked. The big battle sees the Fantastic Four battle Galactus and the thing about this is that it didn't feel like it went on forever. It lasted exactly the right amount of time and Galactus was made to feel like a big enough threat but clearly not one that is going to be the backbone of the next phase of the MCU.

It does perhaps take a while to get going but once it does it never stops and I found myself entertained by what is happening. There is enough to feel like you are watching a superhero movie but it doesnt feel like its getting bogged down with public expectations like a lot of recent Marvel films. 

I thought that after Thunderbolts*, it was too soon to say that Marvel were back but I do think that after seeing this film, its an argument that could be made. Thats two very good and highly enjoyable Marvel films in a row and it shows that have gotten over their creative slump that seems to have lasted several years and its crazy that the same studio that released The Fantastic Four: First Steps & Thunderbolts* is the same studio that released the dross that was Captain America: Brave New World.

There are two end credits with one being the appearance of Doctor Doom but we don't see Robert Downey Jr’s face so it may not have been him and that is clearly a lead into the next Marvel film which will most likely be Avengers: Doomsday and the second is an animated Fantastic Four which is fine but nothing really substantial. I do think the first one is better because at least it appears to lead to something. Not sure how all this will connect with what we saw at the end of Thunderbolts* where the Fantastic Four ship appears but I suppose time will tell. 

Overall this is a fun Marvel film and I can see it doing well because everyone can get something from this film from die hard comic book fans to people like myself who have a passing interest in comic book movies. Good stuff.

Spirited Away (2001)

I previously watched this film on Netflix back in 2024 but with an opportunity to watch it again on the big screen, I felt like I couldn't miss the chance. The set up is pretty straight forward but there are parts of the film that are anything but. Chihiro and her parents are moving when they come across an abandoned amusement park and after pigging out on what appears to be food in this clearly abandoned area, they are turned into pigs and the rest of the film is about trying to help her parents.

The first 30-40 minutes are really good and the final 30 minutes is really good but the middle is where the film really is confusing as to what is actually going on. Despite not knowing what is really going on at times, it never felt like weird things were happening just for the sake of things. This may be a case of something being lost in translation but I think things would have made more sense if I had watched this when it originally came out or grew up with this kind of cinema. I was never bored despite the running time being around two hours and that is a good sign the film worked. The film works as well as it does because the character of Chihiro is rather charming. She starts off as a typical child but by the end of the film she becomes a much stronger individual even though she has been through a lot and seen a lot and also has pretty much lost her boyfriend and seems ok with it. I know the idea is that they would meet up outside of the film but I still think that they don't stay together at the end of the film was a pretty sad note to finish the film.

I liked Spirited Away a lot more than the first time I watched it. I think the animation is like all Miyazaki films and that is beautiful. I don't normally stay as the credits are rolling usually because without being too crude nature calls, but this time I stayed because the song that was being played was beautiful and we got stills of various scenes from throughout the film. I think that had the film been about 20-30 minutes shorter then the film would have connected with me a lot more than it did.

 

Bring Her Back (2025)

After enjoying Talk To Me, I was intrigued with what Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou would come up with next. The set up is that Piper and Andy are step brother and step sister who after the death of their father are sent to Laura and as Andy is nearly 18 he has three months to show he is responsible to be the legal guardian of Piper. This is a slow build up type film which might put some people off but I like this type of film but it has to feel like it's building up to something and this definitely does, there is something strange happening every so often and then the story progresses. The vast majority of the story takes place in this house which despite being quite big (compared to British houses with this being an Australian house), the film still feels claustrophobic.

This was an 18 certificate film and boy did it deserve that rating. There were about four occasions which made me look away. The first time was by far the worst as it involved Ollie eating the knife with the blade going into his teeth and it cuts away and then back to those teeth which on a huge cinema screen just looked gross. Another instance came when he started tearing strips of his arm as for something to eat and then he tried to eat the wooden dinner table which must have been done as a slightly comedic moment because of how absurd it is.

Sally Hawkins deserves awards for her performance though she probably won't because horror rarely gets nominated. There is something off with her from the very moment we see her and as the film progresses she becomes unhinged. It is difficult to fully hate her because even though what she is doing is terrible, she is doing it to bring back her deceased daughter so there are mixed emotions when it comes to how I should feel about Laura and her actions. Billy Barrett and Sora Wong are very good together as two people who are looking after each other and want to be together. Even when Andy is framed for attacking Piper, there is a sense that she doesn't 100% believe that he did it. Despite being visually impaired, Sora Wong more than holds her own and her fight scene with Sally Hawkins was unexpected although it felt like the shaky cam was used to hide things but I thought that Wong was very good as was Jonah Wren Phillips who is front and centre of the story and if anyone deserved your sympathy then is Ollie who has been kidnapped and used to effectively bring Laura’s dead daughter back to life. His own life ruined and its hard to believe that if/when Cathy knew the truth she would be happy with what happened.

Talk To Me is the film you make when you want to get noticed in a crowded horror genre, Bring Her Back is what you make when you want to show that your first film wasn't a one hit wonder. I had high expectations and they were met. It does everything that a horror film should do. I saw this immediately after the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot and one of these films had tension, horrific moments, tension, a great story and performances ... .and the other is the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot. When people talk about how good horror films have been in 2025 and in the last couple of years then they should talk about this film because not only is it horrific and very good, but its an original story and not based on an existing IP. Definitely worth your time.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

Legacy reboots are all the rage these days and we have now reached the I Know What You Did Last Summer, the first came out in 1997, the sequel the following year and then in 2006 we got the last terrible instalment. The film follows a new group of irritating young people after they are involved in an accidental death and the following year they start getting a note saying…you know what it says. One of the few positives that they at least tried to do something different to make it less like they rehashed the original plot. In this version, the death happens when the car avoids hitting Teddy who is being irritating by thinking he has the right to be standing in the middle of the road at night when lighting is not great.

Like Jurassic World and Star Wars there is a mix of new and old. We have Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. return along with a surprise cameo from Sarah Michelle Gellar. Jennifer Love Hewitt makes a Ralph Macchio level appearance. She only appears in two or three scenes and only gets involved in the story in the final scene. It's like they had her for two days and this was what they came up with. Freddie Prinze Jr. has a bit more of an impact on the plot but it's not too much that it steals the spotlight from the new group. Freddie Prinze Jr seems at first to be a nostalgia return but the big twist is that he is the killer to try and make people remember what happened in 1997. It’s a twist which feels a little bit lazy and doesn’t really make much sense as to make people remember after the town was being redeveloped isn’t the worst thing in the world.

The new group aren’t as annoying as I would have expected. Danica walks the fine line as at times she is annoying but then she is less annoying. Ava is clearly the one that is the new Jennifer love Hewitt as she is the less annoying one but still has a personality. I thought that Chase Sui Wonders was the best of the new group and along with Madelyn Cline, its clear that if there are more films then these two will be the face of the franchise. I suspect we may get more because they probably made this cheaply with the big paychecks going to Hewitt, Prinze Jr. and Gellar.

I was slightly distracted with Milo ( Jonah Hauer-King), I thought he looked familiar but I couldn’t figure out where I had seen him before and I didn't want to turn my phone on so it just bugged me for the rest of the film and then and it turns out that he was Conrad Clarke who was a pretty important character in the last series of Doctor Who. Tyriq is your typical bloke who thinks he could take on anything and goes to the gym to try and be able to fight him off and when he has the chance to fight him then things go predictably wrong. I disliked him enough that I enjoyed it when he wasn't able to put up much of a fight against the killer.

I Know What You Did Last Summer wasn’t crying out for a legacy sequel but I suppose it was inevitable and it could have been worse and at best it is on par with the 1997 original. I hope that if there are more then they will attempt to do a better story. I’m not sure what they could do but anything would be more creative than what we got in this safe and slightly underwhelming horror outing. The 1997 version came at a time when we had Scream and films like that but the horror landscape has changed and you can't put this little effort into a film and expect to get away with it.

Watch the Skies (2022)

I didn't know too much about this film except that it follows Denise who is always in trouble with the law and is on the hunt to find out what happened to her father who disappeared years earlier and she enlists the help of the UFO group that he was a part of. The central performance from Inez Dahl Torhaug because she has this thing about her that she is missing something as the film progresses, she realises that the thing she was missing is family and the misfit group of UFO Sweden is her family. 

Despite the slightly cliched ending, I thought that it was interesting enough. I was never bored and thought that the pacing was quite good. Also Denise is driven enough to be likeable and the members of the UFO group are quirky enough to be interesting and the one one that stood out was Gunnar who is reluctant to trust Denise and when the rest of the group decide to follow her journey he effectively gets stroppy and hobbles away. 

The scene where Denise actually meets her father it’s a nice moment because it feels like a moment that makes Denise complete and she becomes a better person when she realises that she has everything she needs. The reality that it wasn't aliens but in fact an anomaly that led to a black hole (got lost in the exposition to be honest) is quite a bold thing to do in a film that makes it seem like aliens are going to be involved. When the story moves 2 years, I did think it was strange how no-one mentions it. There wasn't even a line a dialogue.

When I bought the ticket, I thought that it was a Swedish language film but was disappointed when it turned out to be in English. There is trivia that they used AI to move the lips so that it matched with the english dubbing. For the most part this works but there were a couple of times when it didn't quite work but on the whole it was fine. There is still something to be said to see how a film was made. If the film was made in English then fine but it was made in Swedish so that is how I would like to have seen it. Overall the film was fine. It was one of those films that would have been just as enjoyable watching on TV at home. 

Superman (2025)

Superman is the first film in the James Gunn led DCU. After nearly 2 decades of missteps after missteps, Warner Bros decided to hire James Gunn which might be a smart move based on how good the Peacemaker TV series turned out to be and how I felt after the end of this film. The film decides to start when people are aware of Superman and Lois Lane knows that Clark Kent is Superman. I didn't mind this as I felt that it saved about 40 minutes to an hour of plot which probably wouldn't have helped that much so getting on with it was quite refreshing.

First of all, they cast Superman well. I didn't know who David Corenswet really was before this film but his version of Clark Kent/Superman had the vibes of Christopher Reeve but still felt like it had his stamp on it. I liked how they addressed the thing that always bothered me which is how the resident of Metropolis never worked out that Clark Kent is Superman and in this film they say that Kent is wearing Hypno-Glasses which is a completely stupid idea but at least it addresses it and we will never have to ask that question again. I also thought that Rachel Brosnahan was really good as Lois Lane. She is someone who is smart but never made to come across as smug or arrogant. Brosnahan and Corenswet had good chemistry together which is something that has been lacking from Superman films recently. I also thought that Nicholas Hoult was a good bit of casting as Lex Luthor. I’ll admit that I wasn't keen on his casting when it was first announced but I like the intensity that he gave especially in the latter half of the film. 

This might not be a shocking statement but this is the most Marvel film that DC have ever done. That was something I was expecting but it didn't feel like DC were trying to copy Marvel like they have done to disastrous results in the past. The film had some of the things that James Gunn is known for such as the well choreographed fight scenes and the great songs that they use. I really loved the score and thought that John Murphy and David Fleming did a very good job and made me go out and buy the soundtrack after the film.

This isn't a perfect film, There were two main issues for me. The first is that it felt like they threw too much at the plot. I think if they had gone down the introductory route of explaining who people are and what's going on then it would probably have been a more streamlined plot but they introduced so much that it felt a little bit bloated. It could have been a bigger problem had they given this to someone who isn't James Gunn and managed to make the Guardians of the Galaxy films work. The second issue is that the film takes the view that everyone knows all the characters. I didn't know about Krypto the Dog or the Justice Gang. The only one of the Justice Gang that I was aware of was The Green Lantern and that was it.

Interesting way to bring in super girl. I know we are due to get a Supergirl film in 2026 and so having her appear in the final moments of the film felt like it was a nice teaser but didn't feel out of place in the film.

The film reveals that Lex got a strand of Superman’s hair and that is why he is able to get into Superman’s lair or whatever you want to call it. It would have been nice to have a little flashback even if it only lasted 30 seconds or so. It just seemed to have been thrown into the exposition dump that Nicholas Hoult has to give. A rare Cinematography critique is When we have the scenes set in the parallel world, I found the lighting to be quite bad. It did remind me of alien vs predator requiem. Which is one of the worst lit films I think I have ever seen. It did feel like a bit of a misstep given that the rest of the film is lit perfectly but it was difficult to see what was happening.

Overall I really liked this film. It’s a good start to James Gunn’s vision for the DCU which is what it needed to be. I suppose time will tell whether it was a good idea to start in the middle of a story and not introduce things but as I write this I enjoyed it and hope that Corenswet gets a long run in the role and I am looking forward to what other films in this new DCU bring us. There are two post credit scenes which aren't really worth your time, the first is Superman and Krypto looking at the earth which I am sure I have seen a picture of before and the second is of Superman and Mr. Terrific looking at a building and Superman criticising that Terrific didn't do a terrific job.

Good job James Gunn.

Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

To paraphrase a famous quote from this franchise

“Universal were preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should”.

It’s only been three years since the last disappointing Jurassic World film. I don't know if it's been long enough before they hit the reboot button but they have. The set up being that Scarlett Johannson plays Zara who is tasked by Rupert Friend’s Martin who works for a pharmaceutical company that wants genetic material from living dinosaurs and they rope in Jonathan Bailey’s Henry Loomis and Mahershala Ali’s Duncan. As they go to the island they come across a father, his two daughters and the elder daughter’s lazy boyfriend who are attacked by a dinosaur. 

There are many problems with this film. Mainly the family is an annoying distraction. The boyfriend is so unlikeable that when the scene comes where the father accepts him, I just didn't care and was hoping that one of the dinosaurs would kill him. Another issue is that Martin wasn't the most trustworthy of people and it was hardly a surprise. Also the fact is that it didn't seem long before he got eaten so it just seemed like a rush job and that's the overall impression because despite being two hours a bit long, there seemed like scenes cut out to speed the whole thing up. Another reason is because the budding romance between Zora and Henry is sort of hinted at but never really goes anywhere and it's like the writers were saying to the audience that they knew that we knew where it was going so they didn't really need to put too much effort into telling the story. Also we are told that Zora lost someone close but aside from a scene with Duncan, very little is told to us about why she is the way she is. A little flashback scene would have done a lot to make this seem more important.

There are things I liked. I thought that Johansson was very good as Zora and it does feel like she has put Black Widow firmly behind her. The scenes with the dinosaurs are all well done, in particular the scene with the sleeping T-Rex chasing the family down the river. It was probably one of the most exciting parts of the film and one that felt like genuine peril. Mahershala Ali is always good in whatever he is in and whilst the character wasn't the strongest, he manages to make it likeable and the friendship chemistry that he has with Johannson was nice to watch. I even thought that Jonathan Bailey managed to get a lot more out of the character than most people would have been able to extract. Gareth Edwards was the main reason why I had a lot of optimism for this movie and whilst it's not up there in terms of Monsters, it is a lot easier to connect with than The Creator.

I also appreciated that they didn't try to shoehorn the previous trilogies in. The closest we got was an Alan Grant reference from Henry and the events of the previous trilogy seem to be what have led to most species becoming extinct. There is the possibility that they won't show the same restraint in future films because they won't have the bravery of not going to the nostalgia well. There is enough of the familiar stuff to make it feel like a Jurassic World/Park film but new enough to feel like a fresh story. 

Whether this is the first in a new trilogy remains to be seen but I am hoping that they do better with future plots. This is a better film because of Gareth Edwards who knows how to get as much as he can out of the material but I am worried that if this film does well they will think that they can try so little in the screenplay department and get the maximum results. This isn't the worst in the Jurassic franchise but it probably won't be the one that most people (myself included) will be rushing to rewatch. If only the film didn't have the family then this would have been a much better film because it would have had a streamlined plot and time to tell a stronger story.