Beyond all the major plot, script and character problems with Jurassic World , one of the more annoying irritants was the way it was just barely perceptive enough to lob meta-critiques at itself, but not smart enough to avoid falling into its own traps. Yes, TV Tropes fans, we’re talking about Lampshading. But there’s good news for Jurassic World 2, since Lowery Cruthers (Cruthers!?), the comic relief control room dude played by Jake Johnson, won’t be returning for the sequel.
Not that Johnson is to blame. Nope, this was all about the script.
Lowery is used to make jokes or references to Dennis Nedry’s messy desk, chaos theory and fanboyism for the original Jurassic Park . But the worst has to be the product placement joke. “Why not just go the distance, Claire, and just let these corporations name the dinosaurs?” Lowery says after Claire announces that Verizon Wireless would have their logos all over the Indominus Rex paddock. There’s little in this world more insulting than paying for a movie, enduring the endless expansion of advertising into our narrative worlds, only to have the movie give us a nudge nudge, wink wink. As if it lessens the sting of paying for the corporate-consumerist subjugation of our very imaginations by reminding us that you’re doing it.
I’m sure this means there will be zero product placement in Jurassic World 2.
