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Friday, March 1, 2019

"Jurassic City" - Dinos, Prisonsers, Mercenaries and Sorority Sisters

"Jurassic City" is more than just a movie with Monique Parent and Dinosaurs, although those two elements would be reason enough to watch it.  Made back in 2015, presumably to coincide with the release of "Jurassic World", the movie has finally Prime Video and thus qualifies for inclusion on this blog.  (Sort of "free" to watch.)  Its 3.5/5 star review on Amazon is pretty impressive for an independent monster flick.  It's also well deserved.

The trailer concentrates more on what I saw as a "side story" within the movie.  There's some activity in the city, but the characters and action in the jail is what really held my interest.  There's a claustrophobic feeling intrinsic with a prison setting.  The isolation is increased when the communication with the outside world is lost due to certain dinosaur activity.

The raptors are a bit unconventional in their design, but made to menacing pretty much from the get go of the movie.  If you like your monsters to get a lot of screen time, you probably won't be disappointed here.  The quality of the CGI is exactly what you expect from a not-quite theatrical release quality movie.  It's far from outstanding, but no worse than your average SyFy channel outing.

The acting is where this movie rises above other independent fare.  The aforementioned Monique Parent turns in a solid performance as always.  She could have used more screen time, but overall she and the other "lady prisoners" were believable.  Ray Wise is fun as the no nonsense prison warden.  Other familiar faces include Vernon Wells as a villain with eyes on the oval office and Robert LaSardo as a Corporal with heroic tendencies.  Kevin Gage plays Doyle, a convicted rapist who finds himself part of a group of prisoners who are trying to escape when the dinosaurs find their way into the prison.  Kelcey Watson, who has an impressive body of work, did an excellent job as Armstrong, a prison guard caught in the middle of the mayhem. Finally, Dana Melanie wonderfully portrayed Pippi, the most petite, yet toughest of the sorority sisters who wound up in the prison that fateful night.  All three sorority sisters did well, but her performance left me wondering what background Pippi had that made her so tough in a pressure situation.

The movie takes some time to build  up to the main action.  It has a bit of very silly comedy surrounding the arrest of our sorority sisters and there are a few two dimensional characters, like the guys in the "drunk tank".  These aren't so much weaknesses as tools though.  The sorority party is essential to get our three "sisters" where we need them.  Two dimensional characters with immediately recognizable character flaws make it easy for us to identify them, relate to them and watch them react predictably to monsters chasing them through a maze.

Once the action starts it pretty much holds throughout the movie.  There's a great "Alien-esque" vibe about the whole thing.

Highly recommended for monster fans who don't mind CG blood and characters who do stupid things to move the plot along.

Also, check out more Monique Parent in Jack vs Lanterns

Buy the DVD for it here: http://www.hocfocprod.com/jackvslanterns
or stream it here: https://www.cocoscope.com/watch?v=10749


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