JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018)

The written companion

Draft companion · Awaiting editorial review

Fallen Kingdom: A Revisit Makes Room for More Appreciation

Fallen Kingdom grows on the group during their franchise revisit, even without displacing their favorites. The surprises that once dominated a first viewing become less distracting, leaving room to notice individual moments and relationships.

Owen's early bond with Blue is one of those moments. The footage of him discovering something different in her behavior feels unexpectedly tender in their discussion, closer to pride in a small breakthrough than to another demonstration of trained action-movie competence.

Dan remains wary of the franchise's habit of building a more powerful hybrid threat. He sees repetition in both the creature escalation and the human villains, and he does not think another layer of capability automatically adds suspense.

The later comparison of rankings makes an interesting distinction. Matt can recognize one film as better made while still choosing another more often because he grew up with it. Their favorites list and their evaluation of quality do not have to be identical.

Fallen Kingdom benefits from that willingness to reconsider. It still has problems for them, but revisiting turns a first reaction into a more differentiated opinion.

Did Fallen Kingdom improve when you knew its surprises were coming? Is your favorite Jurassic sequel also the one you think works best, or does nostalgia pull your choices in another direction?

Watch their Fallen Kingdom discussion ↗

Based on auto-generated captions. The source includes major spoilers; this companion avoids the final revelation.