Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom (12A)
Directed by JA Bayona
★★★★★

UNLIKE the latest Star Wars “epic” which has crashed and burned at the box office, this addition to the landmark Jurassic Park franchise is hugely entertaining, suspenseful and guaranteed to give terrific value for money.

Three years after Jurassic World theme park was destroyed, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), now head of the Dinosaur Protection Group, and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) return to the island Isla Nublar to save the threatened dinosaurs there from a volcano on the verge of erupting, only to uncover an evil dinosaurs-for-cash conspiracy.

Their battle to save the creatures and foil the money-makers delivers near-nonstop thrills, chills and monstrously impressive prehistoric creatures who ultimately prove to be far nicer than those seeking to sell them.

Armed with a sizzling screenplay (Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow), Oscar-worthy special effects and a cunning storyline that balances rampaging monsters with even nastier villains, director JA Bayona delivers a thrilling sequel that grabs the attention from the start. And a potent cast never allow themselves to be overwhelmed, as actors, by the legions of creatures they have to deal with.

The opening line “Relax!” could hardly be less likely because everyone on both sides of the camera ensures you never do by delivering picture-perfect raptor rapture from start to finish.

Trevorrow, who directed the previous Jurassic picture, has declared that a franchise “must evolve or perish.” How true — evolution wins the day here.

Alan Frank

All the Wild Horses (15)
Directed by Ivo Marloh
★★★

THIS is a fascinating up-close and personal insight into the Mongol Derby — the longest and toughest horse race in the world — in which film-maker Ivo Marloh follows a number of madcap riders from Britain, Ireland, the US and South Africa as they embark on the gruelling 1,000 kilometre eight-day race on wild horses across the Mongolian wilderness.

Within minutes of the race starting there's an incident in which one horse clips another which results in one of the riders suffering a broken clavicle after falling off his mount and having to drop out, while the other contestant believes she has sprained her ankle only to later discover she has punctured a lung.

It's a brutal and unforgiving race, in which participants can suffer dehydration, hallucinations, paranoia and severe physical injuries from falling off their rides. And it's one in which animal safety is paramount, with riders receiving two-hour penalties if their horse does not pass the 30-minute vet check on arriving at each of the 27 horse stations along the route.

Writer-director Marloh captures the thrills and drama of this bizarre race, a recreation of Genghis Khan's horse-relay postal system, along with the stunning sweeping vistas of the Mongolian expanse. It's humbling to watch this solitary and never-ending landscape, even though the Western thrill-seekers trying to conquer it sometimes induce a sense of incredulity.

All the Wild Horses depicts a dangerous venture that some might find pointless, but it's a surreal and car-crash-style documentary that you can't help but keep watching.

Maria Duarte

The Boy Downstairs (12A)
Directed by Sophie Brooks
★★

HAVING never seen the hit US TV series Girls, its star Zosia Mamet appeared fresh and new to me in this film-making debut by director and screenwriter Sophie Brooks.

Perhaps Mamet was hoping that this low-budget, but regrettably even lower-impact, independent romantic comedy would be the vehicle to bring her big-screen fame.

Unfortunately, all her patently hard work and similarly dedicated contributions from everyone else involved come to little in a film that largely fails to bring an overlong and underpowered fable of lost love to life.

When twenty-something aspirant writer Diana (Mamet) returns to New York after spending a couple of years in Europe, her first assignment is to find somewhere to live. She can’t believe her luck when she rents an attractive apartment in the Bronx and moves in, only to discover that her previous lover, musician Ben (Matthew Shear), is now living in the basement.

Cue flashbacks to their one-time love affair and eventual break-up, triggered by her London trip. But despite efforts to rebond, there's no reignition of their romance in what's a dull and uninvolving affair.

Well-chosen New York locations and key supporting characters such as Ben’s Jewish parents and Diana’s landlady hold the attention. But too often Mamet and Shear come across as ciphers in an increasingly limp story that cries out for, but never gets, some desperately needed humour to help the film rise above minor mumblecore level.

AF