Morning peeps, let’s do this!
If somehow you’ve missed the news, Battle at Big Rock is a short film by the latest JW director to bridge the gap between Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic world 3 (June 2021). It’s amazing!
Usual spoiler warning blah blah, in fact… scrap the spoiler warning; here’s the link to the video (if you haven’t seen it already) then there are no excuses when you get to reading my review.
So, these shouldn’t be spoilers but you have been warned.
Let’s start with the opening credits; news voiceovers announce baby dinos being born in the wild and more frequent sightings. The music in the background is vintage JP/LW and the world with rex-shaped landmass.. just… 😍🤩❤ I need that on every possible piece of merch! Love it!
It opens with a family in a trailer park grilling some meat… anyone who has ever seen a dinosaur film will probably guess what’s gonna happen.
They go into their trailer to eat and a ceratops and her baby show up and sniff around the camp (cutest thing ever!)
The adults seem nervous (as if with a bear) but not hugely surprised so they must be aware of free range dinosaurs, the kids are fascinated and there is a running commentary from the little girl who is totally a Tim/Gray-type dino expert. 😁 I love her already.
An allosaurus (as our young expert tells us) appears and threatens the baby ceratops… I honestly thought they were going to go really brutal for a moment, but daddy ceratops steps in and the 2 dino parents ward off the Allo and take the baby to safety. Great SFX and scene setting in this battle, reminiscent of the spinosaurus or Rexy’s night scenes.
The human baby starts crying in the trailer which gets the attention of the Allosaurus and gives us another “this could be really brutal” action sequence. Also, I was convinced the dad would die (or at least lose a leg) because the scene where he is laying on the trailer floor and the Allo’s mouth is close behind is shot at a similar angle to the guy in the opening of JP who gets eaten by Raptors… nice nod to the original and adds to the tension if you’re expecting that.
The parents fight bravely but are saved by someone else… not a huge surprise, but for a moment you just think it could be the guy in the other trailer. Nicely done.
So the family are safe, for now, and the credits roll…did you keep watching? The best scene is still to come..
There is a girl being chased by compys, which is a nice nod to The Lost World film, but if you’ve read the books it’s a lot more disturbing.
There is a car swerving to avoid a stegosaurus (I hope the steggy is ok) and the car leaves the road down a steep slope..we don’t know if the driver is ok, or if there are carniverous dinosaurs nearby..!
The doves at the wedding have always seemed a bit cheesy to me (no offense if you did, just my own opinion) so I was amused by the pterosaur snatching one…I’m sorry but I was, just being honest with y’all.
The last, and possibly best scene, is the mosasaur! We already love it and it fits so beautifully with the end of both Jurassic World movies (it must feature in JW3 but I hope they don’t turn it into a Meg/Jaws type hunt..😕). I dont know much about SFX, or computers generally, so couldn’t tell you if that was a real shark or CGI but the very fact that there is no obvious seam or SFX issues makes it look flawlessly realistic…I love it! (Sucks for the shark though!)
Overall I was really impressed (if you haven’t guessed that already) and it makes me even more excited for JW3.
Prior to the short film’s release yesterday, there were rumours that the battle might be an engineered animal fight (like cockerels or dogs) I’m soooooo glad that wasn’t the case.
I’m slightly disappointed that the rumours of an original cast member being in it were false though (unless I missed something). I’m sure theories will abound.
I am majorly impressed with how it was kept under wraps this whole time though! The mystery and excitement gave us more tension.
Were you pleased with it? Are you excited for what comes next? I am!
Happy roaming peeps!
Anna x
A Peace of Life 