Sunday Matinee: The Jurassic Games [Film]

I was admittedly a little skeptical going into The Jurassic Games. The concept of the film is not one that usually draws me into the film. I was aware of filmmaker Ryan Bellgardt’s previous film, Gremlins, but knew that that was an entirely different feature altogether, so I decided that I probably shouldn’t compare the two. So, why did I decide that The Jurassic Games deserved a real go? It was simple really: Katie Burgess. She was the draw to watch this film, that turned out to be absolutely incredible only WITH the addition of Ms. Burgess, and not simply only because of her.

It has been almost a year since we were fortunate enough to have Katie Burgess on the site to talk about her young and thriving career, shortly after appearing in Bellgardt’s Gremlins. She had mentioned The Jurassic Games back then, and I had a feeling that if I were able to check it out, I would definitely like to see her in action again. And in action she was! I was only minutes into the film when I found myself wondering how exactly she was going to pull this role off. SPOILER ALERT: She’s not the nicest person. But as one can only imagine, she pulled it off absolutely flawlessly! Without giving too much away, let’s just say that there is a breakdown moment in the film where Burgess proves why she deserves to be the next big name in Hollywood to emerge from the child star to A-lister, in no time at all.

But, as I said before, The Jurassic Games itself was an absolute gem of a film. With a gruesome and sadistic premise, and some visual effects that made this indie sci-fi-fi film look like a major blockbuster, The Jurassic Games is a thrilling, well developed, and just a damn entertaining bit of cinema. The character development, as well as the “loss of characters” (you’ll get it when you watch it), was down-right compelling. And I dare say that the overall timing of the events that take place in the film are absolutely incredible. With a laundry list of up and coming actors thrown in the mix, the film really just seemed to hit every mark that a sci-fi-fi film featuring digital dinosaurs and grab bag of criminals really should!

I simply cannot recommend The Jurassic Games enough. If you need 90 minutes or so of unadulterated fun and tension release from the real world, I can’t think of a more perfect film than this one. It has the scares, it has the laughs, it has just about everything you could want in a film. To watch a filmmaker like Bellgardt progress from film to film like he has from Gremlins to The Jurassic Games is absolutely awe inspiring. The future appears to be ridiculously bright for this young man, and we will be following his career ever so closely with pride.

TheJurassicGames will be available on Digital June 12th and DVD July 3rd from Uncork’d Entertainment.