Was Fallen Kingdom as dark as you had hoped for?

I'm just curious what everyone's expectations for the movie, specifically the second half of the film were in terms of how dark the film was going to be.

I am a fan of Bayona's The Impossible, and I think certain aspects from that film could be felt in Fallen Kingdom. I have not seen The Orphanage or A Monster Calls, so I don't know what those films were like tonally.

And I know that the series is PG-13, and you can only get so dark before you start getting into light R-rating territory.

But I was surprised at how little blood there was in the movie. You can argue that subtlety is more terrifying than showcasing off blood splatter.

But Jurassic World was arguably the bloodiest film of the franchise, and (despite the comic relief scenes) really pushed the PG-13 rating.

Ellis and Nick's deaths, the ACU attack scene, and Hoskins' death are arguably the most graphic in the franchise outside of Gennaro and Eddie's deaths. And let us not forget the ACU Trooper that got impaled by a Pteranodon beak.

In terms of brutality, I was hoping to see some super creepy death scenes, and we didn't really get any. The closest I can think of was Eversoll's death (which was off-screen, but the light flashing, bringing us closer to his face was rather cool).

Wheatley's death surprised me insofar as the fact that he had his arm bitten off. And the mercenaries that got killed during the stampede sequence (Pteranodon dropping one onto the hood of a SUV, and a Triceratops crushing another guy).

Eli Mill's death actually made me jump, because I was not expecting Rexy. That was a surprise I was glad to get a fresh experience with.

I think what really set this film apart was the fact that no "good" characters are killed, except for Benjamin Lockwood. And he was murdered.

I wasn't expecting Zia or Franklin to bite the dust, but at least Franklin had a close call with the Baryonyx nearly tearing off his leg.

I know a lot of people like when the terror comes from what you can't see, which means your brain is filling in the blanks, and others like more visceral terror.

I think having some mercenary deaths that had a bit more "oomph" to them would have worked a bit better.

Now as for atmosphere? I definitely think the movie hit the nail on the head for having a dark atmosphere. From the island scenes to the manor scenes, the movie was very tense IMO. Especially the second half.

I know a lot of people did not like the Jurassic Park meets Resident Evil vibe it had, but that was something I actually wanted the film to do.

I honestly thought that the deaths in FK were more violent than the other films.

Mills and Wheatley's deaths were definitely pushing the boundary of how far they can take these deaths and keep a PG13 rating. I was actually surprised in the cinema how gruesome and shocking those deaths were. Wheatley's death in particular is the most violent death in the franchise imo. The initital bite is so visceral and shocking, and then it freaking lifts him up by his arm and rips it clean off his torso. They we see a shot of the indorator eating his arm. And you can actually hear him screaming in agony for like 10-15 seconds when it starts eating him.

Mills death was shocking and violent too. The mercenaries killed by Blue also had quite long, violent deaths. Even the indoraptor had a gruesome death.

Overall, I did enjoy the atmosphere of the movie. The opening scene and everything after the indoraptor was revealed at the auction felt very dark, which I loved, but most of the scenes on Nublar had quite a light, fun atmosphere which gave us a nice break from the dark atmosphere.

1morey wrote:

But Jurassic World was arguably the bloodiest film of the franchise, and (despite the comic relief scenes) really pushed the PG-13 rating.

It's weird you say that, because one thing that always bothered me about Jurassic World is that, while the death count in the movie is high, the deaths are visually much tamer than the deaths in the original trilogy (and honestly, they're kind of lame in comparison). Other than a few blood splatters, there's really no gore or dismemberment.

That's one aspect I was pleasantly surprised in Fallen Kingdom: while there are far lesser deaths, they are quite gruesome and visually interesting, and there's even some decent (PG-13) gore. They even got away with showing human blood in Wheatley's death scene, you can see blood dribbling from the Indoraptor's mouth after it swallows Wheatley's arm.

"Jurassic Park meets Resident Evil"

So...Dino Crisis?

Anyway, I agree with what was already said on the thread. Imo the tone of the movie was just as I expected:  slightly lighthearted and fun on the island (before the volcano blows up), and then dark and horror inducing during the 2nd and 3rd half. I definitely felt real tension during some scenes, which I didn't really feel with JW. I can see why some people expected it to be even darker and more horror inducing (I myself would have not minded to see more scenes like the opening and the mansion), but alas, the PG13 rating exists.

But I have to say, the deaths were absolutely horrible (in a good way lol ). Sure there were a few, and yes- only the bad guys died (I really didn't expect any of the main cast to die, so I was not surprised), but when the deaths happened, they HAPPENED. Seriously, I was actually caught off guard at Wheatley's and Mills's death scenes and how brutal they were (I remember that the entire audience had a "holy s**t" moment when the Indoraptor ripped Wheatley's arm off, and another one where rexy appeared to munch on Mills).

I think its whats left to the imagination that makes it so horrific (and awesome). That scene when those people are hiding in terror in the elevator only to die violent deaths? Wow.

It was less dark than I expected, but I liked it better that way.