Alas, Poor Scrappy: Dinosaur Protection Group information reveals the new dinosaurs seen in the third film, namely the Spinosaurus, were illegal creations who were brutally experimented on for nine months by a black operations group from Masrani Global before escaping/being released, only to die in a Bus Crash between the third and fourth film, eliciting some sympathy from former detractors.
Is Mills just a very ambitious entrepreneur who sees his business plan as being the norm given the circumstances or is he a sadistic psychopath who is essentially a glorified terrorist arms dealer selling each dinosaur as a WMD? While he's not above killing people who may be a liability to his schemes, the guy nonetheless claims that Lockwood entrusted him to take his fortune to "the future" and seems to genuinely thank Claire and Owen by calling them "The parents of the New World". There’s also the sense of whether or not one sees what Mills does as being no better than what Owen and Claire each did or if he’s a hypocrite who is actually doing way worse because they each intended no damage while he didn’t care about the consequences for others.
Many of the lackeys working for the villains, of course, excluding the ones accompanying Mills, Wu, and Wheatley. It's entirely plausible that they were not told the entire reason for the mission and may have been misinformed about Owen and Claire's motives for being on the island. Chances are likely that they knew nothing about the auction and genuinely thought the main goal was to rescue the dinosaurs from extinction. That explains why some of them left the back door of the boat open so that Owen, Claire, and Franklin could get in. At most, they were Punch-Clock Villains, not hardened killers.
The Indoraptor. Depending of how you see him, he's either a murderous hybrid without any soul, or the least evil and most tragic villain in the franchise. Is he really a crazy psychopath in dinosaur clothing, or just a horribly misguided creature who went crazy from all the tortures he went through? Was he meant to represent the ultimate killing machine, or a realistic portrayal of how attack dogs becomes hazardous due to maltreatment?
Anti-Climax Boss: The Indoraptor is built up as a murderous super hybrid that outclasses the Velociraptors and even the Indominus rex in terms of ferocity and cunning. However, even though he is a significant threat to the humans, Blue manages to fight him solo without much trouble, even managing to throw him out of a window despite being much smaller than her opponent. The fact that he is almost tricked into jumping to his own demise and then again knocked down by Blue is also much less impressive than the climactic final duel against the Indominus in the previous movie.
Broken Base: Once again, Rexy's roar has become a point of strife between the fandom. Multiple trailers for this movie showed her uttering her original 1993 roar completely unaltered, and indeed, in the final film itself she does utter it, but it has been rather noticeably modified to sound much more deeper, guttural and bellow-like likely as a way to convey Rexy's elderly age. One handful of fans supports this change, claiming it makes sense, as vocal cords in living beings obviously get weaker upon reaching old age, yet another handful decry it for making the big girl sound tired and anticlimatic instead.
Catharsis Factor: Given what slimy and unlikable bastards Mills and Wheatley were, it's hard not to feel extremely satisfied as they get killed in gruesome ways by the very dinosaurs they tried to exploit.
Contested Sequel: Although critics consider the film to be a downgrade from the first Jurassic World, fans are more split. For some, it's an unworthy sequel with a disjointed plot, lack of self-awareness, immersion-breaking scientific inaccuracies, and subplots about cloning that go nowhere. For others, it's an adequate or even improved follow-up with better effects, more emotional depth, a Gothic Horror feel that differentiates it from the other sequels, and a willingness to break status quo by destroying the island and implying that dinosaurs will reclaim the earth.
Creepy Awesome: The Indoraptor's sleek and threatening design, wicked villainy and sadistic streak manage to make it one of the most memorable dinosaurs in the series.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Stiggy, the Stygimoloch, for being one of the few genuinely helpful dinosaurs in the series. Despite its limited screen time, it's fondly remembered for helping Claire and Owen escape their cell and steals the scene during the auction fight.
Epileptic Trees: With Maisie being a clone, a lot of fans are taking various clues in the film as evidence that she is actually part raptor!
Evil Is Cool: The Indoraptor is psychopathic and vicious, but also looks extremely cool and shows off some wicked intelligence.
Fan-Disliked Explanation: The reveal that the Brachiosaurus we see die to the pyroclastic cloud and is the last dino to die at Isla Nublar (that we see) is the very same Brachiosaurus that is the very first dinosaur we see on-screen in Jurassic Park (1993). Some people called it as the writers trying too hard to add heartbreak for the sake of heartbreak.
Fan Nickname: Some have taken calling the Indoraptor "Yellow" due to the yellow stripes on its body to contrast Blue. Thanks to this video, fans have also picked up the name “Ripper.”
Foe Yay Shipping: Surprisingly, quite a lot between Blue and the Indoraptor (which some have given the fan-nicknames of "Yellow" or "Ripper").
According to Word of God, the Brachiosaurus that walked to the end of the dock calling for help until it was consumed by ash and smoke wasn't just any other long-neck: it was the same Brachiosaurus that Alan Grant and company encountered in the first film. The very first dinosaur we saw on Isla Nublar was also the very last. Even more tragic when you remember that Rexy is the same T. rex from the first Jurassic Park, and came back to wow audiences once more 20 years later. This Brachiosaurus is just as iconic and as old as she is, except that when she returned to the big screen, she only did so to graphically die and break everyone's hearts.
The film’s first half revolves around the volcanic eruption of Mount Sibo, and was released to theaters barely a month after the destructive eruption of Mount Kilauea in May 2018 (many of the series’ scenes have been filmed in Hawaii to boot). Even more, a mere week before the film's release in some parts of the world there was a lethal eruption of Mt. Fuego in Guatemala.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: Lockwood's statement that Maisie's mother, the original Maisie, would save all the dinosaurs. After The Reveal, Maisie isn't just releasing and saving dinosaurs, she is releasing and saving her brothers and sisters.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: One of the most common criticisms of the film in the wake of the final trailer’s release is that it's just a rehash of The Lost World, since the premise is once again an environmental group setting out to save InGen-bred dinosaurs while a smug, greedy businessman takes the creatures to the mainland where they inevitably cause havoc.
Jerkass Woobie: The Indoraptor. Not only is he suffering from a very severe genetic disorder that causes flaking of his scales and a respiratory illness, but he was abused throughout his entire life, as shown when he is tased (for no clear reason) by the guards both in the film and in concept art (Word of God further confirmed the mistreatment inflicted upon him). He never had anything to interact with (unlike the I. rex, who at least had a sibling before her increasing aggression led to her killing it) and was raised for the specific purpose of being a killing machine. All of this implicates that the Indoraptor was doomed from the moment he was born, as he lacked basic survival skills and was just a disposable specimen whose only purpose was to further Wu's research.
Memetic Badass: The Lion that Rexy encounters has quickly garnered this status, since instead of running away, the lion stands his ground and defiantly roars back at her, despite being physically far bigger than him.
Already planning to sell the dinosaurs as weapons of war, Eli Mills crosses the line when not only he killed Lockwood when the latter protested, he also allows the sale for the Indoraptor, a highly intelligent and unstable killing machine who could kill many people if let out of contanmient.
Wheatley crosses it when he betrays Owen and the rest, before leaving them behind on the island to die from the erupting volcano. He may also have crossed it again when he painfully extracts the teeth of every dinosaur he's captured as personal trophies.
Claire's melodramatic "It was all a LIE!" line is delivered without a hint of irony and comes across as unintentionally campy. That and the fact that almost everyone in the audience had already realised that Wheatley is an obvious villain.
"It needs a mother!" Even though the reveal is important in explaining the Indoraptor, the way it's written, and the delivery itself from BD Wong makes it sound like both he and Mills are fighting over custody rights of an orphaned child.
The dramatic shot of Lockwood's amber cane shattering after the discretion shot for Mills's use of Vorpal Pillow is seen by some viewers as being a bit too over the top to take seriously.
The overblown choir in the soundtrack has made many an audience chuckle during otherwise serious and dramatic moments. In particular, the scene where the Indoraptor slowly climbs up the roof of Lockwood Manor is accompanied by loud and ostentatious chanting that makes it much funnier than intended.
Claire and Owen going back to the island to free the dinosaurs, which helps result in them escaping, makes some see them as partially culpable for the several deaths that ensue, similar to Dr. Malcom's group in ''The Lost World''. But while one can debate the ethics of humans risking their lives for dinosaurs, and Claire could probably have done more to figure out if Eli was telling the truth, everyone who went on the mission to Isla Nublar volunteered to go, knowing the risks (at least intelectually), unlike Dr. Malcolm, who was essentially blackmailed into going to the island by his girlfriend having already gone, or his daughter who snuck onto the mission. Mills told them they were simply moving the dinosaurs from one island to another, with no evident potential for civilian casualties even if something did go wrong.
Maisie freeing the dinosaurs to save their lives has caused some critics to paint her as a completely sociopathic individual or the true villain of the movie. While there's no denying she made a questionable choice that put countless lives in danger and displaced many invasive species onto an unprepared ecosystem, she didn't do it with any malicious intent, but out of a genuine, albeit impulsive, desire to save those she sympathized with from an unpleasant demise.
Isla Nublar being a volcanic island was already mentioned in the original Jurassic Park novel, where there are references to volcanic activity helping to replicate the atmosphere of the Mesozoic era.
In addition, the same volcano can be seen in the Jurassic World mobile game, with the volcano being named Mount Sibo by Jurassic Park: The Game and the Masrani Global tie in website.
The Stygimoloch who breaks Owen and Claire out of their cell, and then goes along with Owen in causing mayhem on the dinosaur bidding event before more dinosaurs could be sold to dangerous people. Owen basically became Bash Brothers with the Stiggy during this whole scene.
Jack, purely due to the sheer Yank the Dog's Chain that he goes through in the opening of the film.
The Scrappy: Franklin gets a lot of hate for being a walking nerd stereotype who does nothing but complain and whine during 90% of his screen time, as well as for being comic relief in a movie that honestly didn't need any. The fact that he does nothing of importance other than take out Wu, which could be just as easily accomplished if Zia had released Blue a few seconds earlier, doesn't do him any favors. Granted, Zia was handcuffed by Wu to Blue's cage at the moment, meaning any wrong movement could have resulted in her undoing.
The tragic death of the original Brachiosaurus Alan Grant and company met, as well as the ensuing final shot of Isla Nublar being consumed by the volcanic eruption. J.A. Bayona revealing that it was this specific Brachiosaurus attracted quite a bit of coverage.
Rexy toppling the Carnotaurus and roaring in triumph while Mount Sibo continues to erupt in the background. The image is prominently featured in movie posters and tends to be the first thing that pops on Google Images when you search the film's title.
The Indoraptor escaping from his cell. More specifically, the sequence in which he plays possum for Wheatley and cracks his now infamous smirk, which became a meme due to the amusing concept of a smiling dinosaur.
The Indoraptor slowly raises his hand at Maisie while she is hiding underneath the sheets of her bed. This scene has appeared in many trailers as well as a movie poster.
Quite possibly out of ironic coincidence, the latter half of the movie aligns with numerous plot points (i.e.dinosaurs running amok in the manor of an eccentric noblemen, a Dromaeosaurid chasing protagonists through a museum after blindsiding a soldier, the type of dinosaurs used, the dinosaurs getting released into civilization, a Tyrannosaurid roaring at a lion, etc.) from John Brosnan's novel Carnosaur even more than the novel's own movie adaptation did.
Also, the latter half of the film might make a better Resident Evil film than the actual film adaptations themselves did. What with the action taking place in a large mansion in the middle of a dark forest owned by a visionary old man, a hidden laboratory dedicated to modifying genes to create a living biological weapon, a dangerous prototype of said weapon escaping and preying on the heroes trapped in the mansion who struggle to survive with limited resources and their own wits. And the ending that features the mutated creatures set loose on the outside world.
And thus, through all of this (minus time-travel MacGuffin shenanigans) in an admittedly very roundabout way, it is probably the closest we are going to get to an actual Dino Crisis movie.
Take That, Scrappy!: According to the Dinosaurs Protection Group tie in website, the Spinosaurus is now extinct. Although this fell under Alas, Poor Scrappy after the DPG released a new article.
Visual Effects of Awesome: If there is one positive thing most people can agree on about this movie, it's that the special effects are amazing. The dinosaurs in particular have never looked better. The CG quality is a big upgrade from the previous movie, and the animatronics don’t look too shabby either. The volcano eruption on Isla Nublar deserves special mention for its effects.
Benjamin Lockwood is an old friend of John Hammond, who helped him in the early foundation of dinosaur cloning, before the two ended their friendship after heavy disagreements over certain parts of the process. Despite Remember the New Guy? being in full effect, his character could have been used to help explore the early foundations of Jurassic Park, giving us insight into John Hammond in ways we had never seen, such as how he was when he was younger, what motivated him to become the man he was, among other things. In the end, Lockwood is anticlimactically killed, and his past with Hammond is used as more or less Flavor Text to make the audience think back to the first film for what amounts to cheap "fanservice". Little of his past is explored, and his inclusion seems nearly pointless.
The Indoraptor himself. There could have been more written about his strange fascination with Maisie, his psychopathic sense of humor that seems disturbingly human-like, or the fact that he is a male raptor who could be a source of conflict for Blue's loyalty once again. However, he ends up being a minor antagonist who only appears at the third act, and is killed off relatively quickly.
Ian Malcolm is treated as a major part of the marketing, and the cast made a big deal about his return. In the actual movie itself, he appears twice in the movie to literally deliver the point of the film in a Senate hearing that feels awkwardly forced into the story. While his cameo is nice, it feels like an empty use of the character, especially with how the films pacing is. Jeff Goldblum was quite vocal about his dissatisfaction with the role.
Henry Wu shows up in the movie for roughly three scenes before once again being quickly hurried out of the plot just after the Indoraptor's escape. Like with Ian Malcolm, his involvement in the film feels more like a cameo instead of a development from the previous film. Plus, it begs the question of why he is still around if the films don't plan to use him, except as some sort of Big Bad, but even still the audience hasn't gotten any reason to care about his appearance so far.
Despite being fairly well-liked characters from the previous movie, Lowery and Vivian don't appear and aren't even mentioned in this one, even though they could easily have filled the role of Franklin and Zia.
The idea of rescuing dinosaurs from the park would have been an interesting feature-length movie in and of itself, along with a more suspenseful/political second half focused on shady oligarchs trying to use dinosaurs for their own ends and things inevitably falling apart once the dinos get loose. Instead, the two plots are lumped together into a single story and neither live up to their full potential.
The implications about movie's plot twist (Maisie being a human clone created from the technology that revived the dinosaurs) are never explored in the movie and are all but ignored by the characters themselves, in spite of the movie spending a significant amount of time setting the plot twist up in the first place.
Despite appearing being in the same room together, Stiggy and the Indoraptor never fight each other. Sure the latter would've destroyed the former but it still would've been a fight worth watching.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: Many who didn't like the film's script still thought that J.A. Bayona did a fantastic job in the director's seat and did the best with what he had to work with.
The Indoraptor in a way, with his playful tendencies and mocking smirk when he's playing dead. For a bloodthirsty killing machine, he's got a surprising amount of personality.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: The Indoraptor is a Tragic Monster that got to enjoy at most a couple hours of freedom before meeting its end impaled on a fossil triceratops skull. After spending it’s entire life in a tiny cage being tortured and abused to make it an effective Attack Animal and suffering from several genetic disorders that caused its scales to flake off and respiratory problems. It also had neither a dinosaur or non-villainous human kill count which makes it considerably more sympathetic then the Indominus Rex which killed other dinosaurs for sport.
The Woobie: Maisie. Hands down one of the most tragic human characters in this entire franchise. In the span of just one night, she meets the Indoraptor, gets locked up by Eli Mills for discovering his Evil Plan, finds her grandfather dead, gets cruelly told to her face by Mills that she's not a naturally-born person, becomes unknowingly separated from Iris, is continuously hunted and stalked by the Indoraptor for his own sadistic pleasure, and witnesses her beloved dinosaurs dying from cyanide gas poisoning. Eventually, Maisie pressures herself into releasing the dinosaurs because she sees them as family due to their connection as artificially-created beings, even while realizing that, albeit indirectly and unintentionally, she'll be held accountable for the deaths of numerous people, leaving her utterly devastated. It's heartbreaking to witness this Cheerful Child turn into a traumatized little girl.
, fans have also picked up the name “Ripper.”