possible to view the creatures as the malevolent eating machines the climax requires them to be seen as , especially when they ’ ve spent much of their time loafing around amiably like the gratuitous beasts added into the backgrounds of the remastered Star Wars movies by a bored George Lucas . In the

1993 film we shat ourselves any time a character came within a mile of a T-Rex ; here Claire finds herself riding one like a bull in a ‘ comic ’ moment . You see it ’ s the humans who are the real villains in Fallen Kingdom , except they ’ re not remotely threatening either , and for the most part we don ’ t even get the satisfaction of watching them die horrible deaths at the hands of the dinos . Fallen Kingdom suffers from a severe lack of expendable characters , and no matter how many monsters it throws in the path of Owen and Claire , the stakes remain remarkably low . Even the shockingly apocalyptic in its implications ending carries no

You see it ’ s the humans who are the real villains in Fallen Kingdom , except they ’ re not remotely threatening either

real weight , especially when it ’ s immediately followed by John Williams ’ upbeat theme . You have to feel for J . A . Bayona , one of the most talented directors working in mainstream cinema today . There are brief glimpses of his brilliance to be found as he employs light and shadow to good effect and pulls off a ‘ how did they do that ?’