Dino Crisis: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

Director: Gareth Edwards

Notable Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein

 

Truthfully, I could go on for ages about how fascinatingly bizarre and laden with misfires the Jurassic World series has been. The entire Jurassic Park franchise, now with seven entries, has been a roller coaster, with ups and downs that have been both thrilling and perplexing. It’s one of the reasons why I love franchises. Yet, I’m pretty sure all the best and worst choices around Jurassic World can be dissected by looking at how Universal approached Jurassic World: Rebirth, the latest entry into the dinosaur mayhem franchise. 

 

The previous film, Jurassic World: Dominion, was bloated, filled with too many ideas, too many characters, too much nostalgia, and a wild approach that felt like it was simply trying to be both a legacy sequel and take the series into a new era. It didn’t work. Like, at all. Thus, Jurassic World: Rebirth aims to reignite the franchise by continuing the series as a sequel while moving away from the issues that have plagued Dominion and Fallen Kingdom. It also doesn’t work. Like, at all. 

 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Director: Gareth Edwards

Notable Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Jimmy Smits, James Earle Jones

Even before The Force Awakens was released, I was already feeling more hyped for Rogue One. The talent on and off screen for the film partnered with the concept of having a team of renegades steal the plans for the Death Star to kick off the events of A New Hope just appealed to me in so many more ways. Now that the first Star Wars Story is out to reign destruction on the box office worldwide, the question has to be asked…does it fulfill on those promises? Quite frankly, it does. After a slew of worrisome turns concerning massive reshoots, changed tones, and new talent being brought in to make it more Star Wars-y, Rogue One would seemingly pull off exactly what it intended to do: expand the universe without stepping too far out of bounds to alienate the fans. In fact, it rides the line so well that it may end up being one of the best Star Wars films to date falling shy of The Empire Strikes Back, but rising above the others by limiting the fantasy elements and adding in enough grit and darkness to make it feel like its own film. It’s still definitely an entry into this iconic franchise with some of its fan pandering and it could have gone darker for my tastes, but still the film massively entertains and retains that kind of emotional punch needed for this story to add to the layering of the original trilogy.