Month: January 2024

Let’s Speculate About The Next Jurassic World Film

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Well… That didn’t last long.

For those of you who didn’t follow ‘Jurassic World: Dominion,’ it was set up as the grand finale to the Jurassic Park/World franchise. It was the end of an era, the conclusion of a storyline that had gone on for almost 30 years. It was a big moment, and a chance for Universal to wrap everything, end the story of how man should have made an island filled with cloned condors instead of prehistoric meat-eaters, and let everyone walk into the sunset… and then we got a movie about a cloned girl and some really hungry bugs.

Needless to say, I was… not very happy about that.

Of course, the ‘Jurassic’ series wasn’t going to stay dead and gone, not when each film continuously raked in that sweet, sweet box office money. Yesterday, word broke that, yes, the franchise will continue with a new movie, and screenwriter of the first two films David Koepp is coming back to write the script (which is apparently so far along that the movie could be filmed and out next year). While reports are flip-flopping between if this is a complete reboot of the series, or a continuation from ‘Dominion,’ all of them say that Chris Pratt and other ‘World’ trilogy characters aren’t coming back, and neither are the trio from the original film (which is a shame; their chemistry and charisma were one of ‘Dominion’s highlights). Either way, this new film is apparently intended as a fresh start. But what’s that start going to look like?

My track record of trying to guess the story of upcoming blockbusters is… not good at all, but hey, why not give it another try?

So, what do we know about the next film? Aside from it not having any returning characters… well, nothing. But I think one thing the film won’t do is try to up the stakes: Before it came out, many – including myself – thought that ‘Dominion’ would focus on if dinosaurs or humans were going to end up having dominion over the planet. It… didn’t, but to be fair, a world-wide famine that could lead to the end of civilization as we know it is a pretty big threat. So where do you go from such a big threat, storywise? Two options come to mind:

1. Up the stakes and have the world be at risk again from an even bigger threat.

2. Go for a smaller-scale, self-contained story

Personally, I think option 2 is the smarter choice, as going smaller and more intimate would work better than a globe-trotting adventure is a way for audiences to take a break and recuperate from world-ending stories. And even better, we already have two examples of this formula at work: ‘Battle at Big Rock’ and the prologue to ‘Dominion’

Both shorts work beautifully as stand-alone mini adventures that only require a basic knowledge of other films in the series. The smaller scope lets the story and the viewer focus more on the characters and their journeys instead of a cast of dozens with CGI action scenes every few minutes. That, I think, is the smart path for Jurassic 5 to take… but there’s one path in particular that would satisfy long-time fans of the series like myself, and those who want a clean break. What’s this path? Well, it involves two old friends who haven’t been seen for years: Tim and Lex Murphy.

Imagine the scene: It’s a few years after the events of ‘Dominion’ and dinosaurs continue to spread across the Earth. Tim and Lex are now all grown up with families of their own, and one weekend they all meet up at a remote camp for a family reunion where they catch up and have some fun together. But wouldn’t you know it, those pesky dinosaurs decide to ruin everything, trapping Tim, Lex, and their families at this remote location. Now, far from help and without any weapons that can kill the dinosaurs, Tim and Lex have to once again face the creatures that almost killed them as children in order to save their own children, using only their wits and quick-thinking against prehistoric predators who want them for dinner.

I think this is the perfect path for the ‘Jurassic’ saga to go: You get a small-scale story that has a minimal connection to what has come before (allowing for a soft reboot) while also bringing back two fan-favorite characters to once again run away from dinosaurs, and revisit the sci-fi horror atmosphere of the first film. If Universal can do something those lines, it can be a satisfying palette cleanser to wash away all those hungry bugs and help the series go in a good direction… or Universal could take inspiration from Jason Vorhees, and send the dinosaurs to outer space. That’d probably doom the series for good, but it’d be pretty awesome, too.

Revisiting The Syphon Filter Trilogy: Part 4 – Conclusion

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If you were fortunate to have played video games in your youth, you probably had some favorites that you loved going through again and again, and the idea of going back to them years, if not decades later, can feel like a trip back to a more innocent time. But time is a cruel thing, and revisiting said games often reveals outdated graphics, a story that isn’t as gripping as you thought it was, frustrating gameplay, or being so outdated that you just can’t enjoy it anymore. But for me, the Syphon Filter trilogy manages to withstand the test of time. While graphically and technologically outdated, the gameplay is still as gripping as ever, the story and characters still hold up, and the music is as awesome today as it was over twenty years ago. From beginning to end, the PS1 Syphon Filter trilogy is a solid example of an action-adventure spy thriller done well… with one exception.

When going back through the trilogy, I expected the first two games to hold up well, which they do. When it came to the third game, I was expecting to be a fun experience, albeit with the weakest story. But with the passage of time, I was surprised at how much Syphon Filter 3‘s story stumbles, sometimes quite badly. In the first two games, every level – no matter how frustrating or mediocre – advances the story in a meaningful way. But Syphon Filter 3 has several levels that don’t do that, due to its biggest issue: there are too many flashback missions.

Like every literary tool, flashbacks are not inherently bad, but Syphon Filter 3’s problem is that half the game consists of flashbacks, and most don’t add anything to the main conflict of stopping the Syphon Filter virus. All the Afghan missions, Montana militia missions, and Costa Rica missions could have been removed and the story wouldn’t have been harmed by their absence. By comparison, there’s only four levels from the first two games that could be removed to similar effect (Pharcom Elite Guards, Colorado 70 highway, returning to the Pharcom museum in Syphon Filter 2, and Volkov park). Had Syphon Filter 3’s flashbacks been removed, it would have freed up more time for modern-day missions that would have continued to move the story forward.

When we step back and view the Syphon Filter trilogy as a whole, it has a very strong first act, an equally strong second act (with a few stumbles), but comes to a halt in the third act, only finding its footing again at the very end when Gabe starts gunning down terrorists in the Senate hearing building. And with that in mind, I believe the greatest lesson the trilogy offers writers is this: limit using flashbacks in stories as much as possible, and if they do appear, to have them directly contribute to the story’s main conflict. While it’s nice to take the time to develop protagonists and see what adventures they had before the story, that development shouldn’t come at the expense of the story, especially not one that’s in its final act. And much like revisiting a beloved game series, there’s nothing wrong with reminiscing about the past, but not when it comes at the expense of the present.

Favorite Moments: The Vanishing of S.S. Willie

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We all have our favorite moments in movies, books, and games, moments that stay with us long after the story is over. This column is my attempt to examine my favorite moments and see why they stick with me.

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The Video

Why it’s great

January 1rst, 2024 marked one of the most monumental days in pop culture, as that was the day that Mickey Mouse, one of the most famous animated characters in history, passed into the public domain… Well, the version of him that appeared in ‘Steamboat Willie,’ at least. While every version of the mouse that came after is still under Disney’s lock and key, everyone is now free to do whatever they want with Mickey 1.0, and people are already doing what they do best: creating cheap horror movies that turn a beloved children’s icon into a blood-crazed killer.

One video, though, takes the unique route of turning ‘Steamboat Willie’ into a found-footage horror documentary. What I adore about this video is that, unlike countless horror films and shorts, it doesn’t rely on gallons of blood or jumpscares, instead using mystery and the unknown for its scares. Like the Norwegian camp scene from 1982’s ‘The Thing,’ we see the aftermath of something horrible and are left to imagine what horrible things happened on the S.S. Willie. As the old saying goes, what you don’t see is scarier than what you do see, and your imagination can come up with horrors far more terrifying that anything CGI can create.