Jurassic World Rebirth proves this legendary franchise still has teeth—and more importantly, a beating heart—thanks to the assured direction of acclaimed British filmmaker, Gareth Edwards.
Edwards, known for his ability to blend massive spectacle with grounded human stories (as seen in Rogue One and Godzilla), brings the same sensibility here. His talent for scale and atmosphere elevates the film’s intricate action set pieces, which range from nerve-racking pursuits through jungle undergrowth to thrilling dinosaur encounters staged with a meticulous precision.
Penned by David Koepp, a returning architect of the Jurassic Park and The Lost World universe, the script for Rebirth immediately benefits from his intimate understanding of Michael Crichton’s vision. Koepp skilfully navigates the delicate balance between scientific awe and the grave repercussions of unchecked genetic power. Yes, the central premise—a covert mission spiralling into a catastrophic dinosaur rampage—is entirely predictable. However, Koepp masterfully transforms this predictability into a virtue. Much like a classic campfire story, the familiar narrative beats are invigorated with fresh twists, compelling character work, and thoughtful moral dilemmas, ensuring audiences remain captivated.
The film follows Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a covert operations expert leading a team of skilled operatives to retrieve dinosaur genetic material from the original Jurassic Park’s island facility—a mission framed as a chance to unlock life-saving medical breakthroughs for humanity. Johansson is fantastic in the role, bringing both physical prowess and quiet vulnerability to Zora. She’s a hardened soldier, but one haunted by the weight of loss and painful memories.
One of the film’s cleverest choices is how it subverts the typical action-adventure dynamic. Instead of the usual male hero protecting a female scientist, Zora becomes the protector and guide for Jonathan Bailey’s Dr. Henry Loomis, a brilliant paleontologist who’s entirely out of his depth when faced with carnivorous dinosaurs. Their dynamic has an almost role-reversal quality and it’s deeply refreshing. Bailey plays Loomis as intelligent and principled yet believably rattled by the real-world consequences of the science he loves.
Mahershala Ali is magnetic as Duncan Kincaid, Zora’s team leader and the moral centre of the mission. Ali brings gravitas and palpable intensity, wrestling with the ethical implications of their task as the team uncovers a sinister secret buried in the island’s past. It’s a performance that elevates the film, reminding us that Jurassic stories aren’t just about monsters—they’re about human greed and hubris.
The supporting cast is uniformly strong. Rupert Friend makes for a riotous villain du jour, playing Martin Krebs—a pharmaceutical representative invested in the mission’s potential profit. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, and David Iacono inject a potent emotional thread as a shipwrecked civilian family caught in the crossfire, grounding the spectacle with real human stakes. Ed Skrein, Philippine Velge, and Bechir Sylvain bring distinct personalities to Zora’s team, preventing them from being generic action-movie soldiers.
Visually, the film is stunning. John Mathieson’s cinematography captures both the lush beauty and lurking menace of the island, while Jabez Olssen’s editing keeps the pacing taut without sacrificing character moments. Alexandre Desplat’s score threads a delicate needle, paying homage to John Williams’s iconic themes while creating new motifs that evoke wonder and dread in equal measure.
What truly sets Jurassic World Rebirth apart from its immediate predecessors is its heart. While dinosaurs remain the undeniable stars, Edwards and Koepp ensure that the story isn’t merely about creatures on the loose. It’s about ethical dilemmas, personal responsibility and the danger of valuing scientific progress over human lives.
Ultimately, Jurassic World Rebirth doesn’t radically reinvent the franchise—but it doesn’t need to. It understands what makes Jurassic stories thrilling: the awe of seeing dinosaurs walk the Earth, the terror when that wonder turns lethal, and the flawed human beings caught in between.
