Big Carnivore vs Three Stick Figures. Greeeeeat.
Early during the viewing of Jurassic Galaxy (2018) I had determined that the review would exclusively consist of
Dinosaurs! Yeah!
because Spaceship crashes on planet, Survivors of crew recover from the impact to discover themselves face to face with alien dinosaurs, followed by Frenzied munching of amateur actors by alien dinosaurs. I mean, even the title qualifies as wretched. It’s only one planet, for Big Carnivore’s sake!
And then the surviving Security guy, Marston, played by Eric Paul Erickson, came popping out, and, surprisingly – shockingly – he has what we like to call acting chops. And I’m not referring to his musculature, either. He knows how to act.
And then there’s this “lifer,” Flynn, played by Jonathan Nation, who has an unsettling resemblance to Mark Hamill. He’s clearly committed to his role, which is eventually blood sacrifice to the angry dinosaurs. I liked him. And then out came the fetchingly named Retch (Frankie Ray). We settled in to watch.
The special effects range from Wow, that’s beautiful to I think the dinosaurs must have invisible hoverboards, and the balance of the acting is OK to so-so. The science just sucks. And while the story could have used two or three more drafts, I have to admire its honesty. When a lot of storytellers would have made the effort to Save the leads, these storytellers didn’t.
The leads go down fighting to save the baby.
Look, parts of this are awful. Like, where are the herbivores? my Arts Editor asked. But I had to admire other parts of it, such as the sincere and even effective acting efforts.
They don’t save the story.
But they’re within viewing distance.
