A solid but forgettable, back-to-basics dino thrill ride.

I think it’s fair to say there are plenty of film franchises out there that have long since passed their use by date. These are those long-in-the-tooth movie series that have, like a particularly stubborn fart, been lingering for years, sometimes even decades, and appear completely unwilling to accept their fate.

Some linger despite their lack of profitability, yet many continue to exist through a staggering ability to consistently draw audiences and make money. As perhaps the most resilient of these long-running franchises, the Jurassic series remains one of the most impressive in the game, largely through its mindbogglingly tenacious refusal to die, regardless of overall quality.

Such perseverance does feel rather fitting for a franchise that once told us that “life, uh, finds a way,” and with 32 years, 7 entries, and billions of box office dollars under its belt, this series is very much proving Dr. Ian Malcolm right, as it continues to endure.

So, with the newest entry in the series - Jurassic World Rebirth - now with us, are we about to witness yet another step in its evolutionary journey? Or is it finally time to let the franchise go extinct?

Ex-military covert operative, Zora Bennett (Scarlet Johansson), leads a team of skilled mercenaries to the most dangerous place on Earth – an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park. Their mission is to secure genetic material from dinosaurs whose DNA can provide life-saving benefits to humankind. As the top-secret expedition becomes increasingly perilous, they soon make a sinister discovery that's been hidden from the world for decades.

Admittedly, the bar is incredibly low, however, Rebirth is almost certainly the best of the franchise’s modern era, and perhaps even pips every Jurassic outing outside the original film. However, despite its numerous upsides, Rebirth is still far from being perfect and is undoubtedly way off the lofty standard set by the original Jurassic Park.

To his credit, Gareth Edwards has stepped into the director’s chair and made the incredibly wise decision to go back to basics in a noble attempt to rescue the Jurassic World franchise from the bloated mess it had become. It’s a streamlined approach that was long overdue and one that offers the kind of simplified dino pleasures we all crave from this famous franchise.

By keeping the action confined to a cordoned off, dinosaur-infested island, and to a relatively small cast, all while retaining the survival horror elements that made the original Jurassic Park so entertaining, Rebirth takes us back to where it all began, and the results are surprisingly enjoyable. It’s a pleasingly simplified approach and precisely the kind of scaled-down shot in the arm the franchise needed.

What this approach isn’t, however, is original in any way. Between the isolated island set up, an overly familiar plot, and a character mix of scientists, military types, corporate douchbags, kids, and normal family folk, Rebirth offers absolutely nothing we haven’t seen before, and the result is all rather underwhelming.

When it arrives, the action is certainly fun in a very theme park ride kind of way, yet it’s all incredibly derivative and feels intent on copying Jurassic Park’s homework without offering anything close to the memorable moments that made the first film so iconic. There are certainly solid thrills to be had throughout, and if you’re coming at Rebirth for a good, old-fashioned cinematic dino ride, then there’s plenty to appreciate here, but for those that want a tad more than that, this movie is likely to disappoint.

As undoubtedly Rebirth’s biggest weapon, Gareth Edwards continues to prove that he remains one of the most reliable action directors in the game, as he takes the skills, visuals, and techniques built up from his time on the likes of Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One, and The Creator and applies them all so effectively here.

Fantastical genre action in real world/realistic settings is something Edwards has made his calling card so far in his career and it’s no surprise to see these visual techniques transfer over into Rebirth. The man clearly knows how to get the most out of his shooting environment and it really shows in the final product, as the film’s dinosaurs meld seamlessly into their surroundings, something that cannot be said for many of Rebirth’s Jurassic predecessors. Good looking, immersive, fun dinosaur action is the bare minimum requirement for any Jurassic instalment and after the lacklustre, often outright ugly, CGI effects that hampered Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, it’s just nice to have a steady action hand like Gareth Edwards’ behind the wheel this time around.

Far less impressive, however, and a factor that Edwards really cannot rescue, is Rebirth’s writing and character work. It’s certainly great that a writer of David Koepp’s calibre has returned to the franchise fold having previously penned the first two Jurassic Park films, yet something seems a little lacking with the script this time around.

With wafer thin, wholly uninteresting characters and a plodding, predictable plot, Koepp, despite his laudable career and reputation, appears to be taking things easy here. Despite an impressive cast, the characters are unmemorable and almost entirely unremarkable, adding to a desperate lack of distinctiveness that really hampers the film’s impact.

Despite their best efforts, the likes of Scarlet Johansson and Mahershala Ali just can’t get going with the clichéd, stodgy material they’re given, and even with reliable faces such as Jonathan Bailey and Rupert Friend around to back them up, the characters and their hackneyed backstories fail to leave any real impression. And this is all before you get to the presence of Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and his family, who appear as if from nowhere and are deployed as a forced emotional hook and a painfully clunky plot device.

It’s this general lack of impression that undoubtedly hampers Rebirth the most, and while it’s certainly a relief that old franchise faces aren’t dragged out of Jurassic retirement and wheeled out for our entertainment like the last few instalments, their absence is certainly felt in the film’s overall lack of charm and personality. And as this franchise aimlessly hurtles forward, you have to wonder whether the film’s execs have been so preoccupied with whether or not they could continue with this increasingly creaky franchise, that they haven’t stopped to think about whether they should.

It’s undoubtedly a low bar, but Rebirth marks the best of the Jurassic World entries, however, it’s still far from a great film. While the action offers theme park level fun and bringing it back to basics is a wise idea – especially considering just how much of a bloated mess this franchise had become – with flimsy, uninteresting characters, a predictable, plodding plot, and a distinct lack of personality, Jurassic World Rebirth is seriously lacking in bite.

Jurassic World Rebirth is in cinemas now.