’Jurassic World Rebirth’ review: Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali star in toothless addition to franchise | Reviews

Dir: Gareth Edwards. US. 2025. 133mins

Viewers have never had to worry about the dinosaurs carrying their weight in the Jurassic Park franchise — instead, these films often live or die on the strength of their human characters, who are meant to provide a rooting interest amid the thrills and carnage. Unfortunately, Jurassic World Rebirth suffers mightily in that regard, burdened by a bland collection of mercenaries, scientists and capitalists running for their lives. But this sequel’s real sin is the fact the usually fearsome beasts are not suitably terrifying, resulting in some mildly effective action sequences but nothing that suggests the series is in the throes of a creative renewal.

 Attempts at homage only underline what is otherwise threadbare 

Rebirth follows on the heels of a wildly lucrative trilogy — 2015’s Jurassic World ($1.7bn worldwide), 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($1.3bn) and 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion ($1bn) — all of which starred Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard as bickering lovebirds. The new film, which is directed by UK filmmaker Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) features Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, so there is plenty of commercial firepower for this seventh instalment in a franchise that began with 1993’s Jurassic Park. Indeed, box-office tracking indicates Rebirth should be another massive hit, with critics’ complaints swiftly ignored by the masses.

Johansson plays Zora, a master of covert operations, who is recruited by slimy pharmaceutical liaison Martin (Rupert Friend) for a highly secretive, extremely illegal operation. Five years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, and with public interest in dinosaurs waning, the animals now reside only along Earth’s equator, where they can survive thanks to the higher temperatures and richer oxygen. Humans are no longer permitted in those regions for their own safety.

But Martin will pay Zora — as well as her right-hand man, expert boat captain Duncan (Ali) — millions to infiltrate the area in order to retrieve the blood of three mammoth dinosaurs that could provide key ingredients to life-saving drugs. Joined by nerdy palaeontologist Henry (Bailey), the team embarks on this dangerous expedition, discovering one of the islands contains mutant dinosaurs created in a lab that was soon overrun by the monstrous creatures.

In his films Monsters and Godzilla, Edwards has demonstrated an ability to render otherworldly beasts in striking, almost poetic fashion. So he would seem a good fit to conjure up the wonder and horror of towering dinosaurs, especially as he is joined by screenwriter David Koepp, who wrote or co-wrote the first two Jurassic Park pictures. And yet, Rebirth feels puny in its ambitions, struggling to execute its potentially novel narrative ideas.

The film consciously echoes the 1993 original, which was directed by Steven Spielberg (who serves here as an executive producer), with composer Alexandre Desplat mimicking John Williams’ soaring Jurassic Park themes. But the attempts at homage only underline what is otherwise threadbare about Edwards’ approach. The humans’ inevitable run-ins with the hungry critters produce few memorable moments — whether by land, sea or air — which is made worse by the fact the characters are not particularly interesting.

Despite her confident performance as the lethal, acrobatic Black Widow in the Marvel films, Johansson rarely gets to shine as Rebirth’s would-be action hero. In between scare sequences, Zora is permitted a few moments to show a softer side, but Koepp’s underwhelming script keeps her one-dimensional. A crucial early scene between Zora and Duncan — old friends who spend a quiet interlude mourning the loved ones they have lost — means to establish their bond but has little emotional impact. The same goes for the introduction of an everyday family, led by protective father Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), that Zora will need to safeguard along the way.

In fact, because all the characters do consistently foolish things, which put them conveniently in harm’s way, one might be forgiven for cheering on the beasts attempting to devour them. At least the creatures exude a little moxie, with Edwards’ design team dreaming up a few truly nightmarish mutant dinosaurs that evoke memories of Alien. Rebirth is the sort of film that makes it easy to guess which supporting characters will be eaten first, because they have no personality – but even the main players come across as utterly disposable dinosaur fodder.