(Spoilers for the movie, obviously)
One
of Fallen Kingdom’s biggest flaws to me is some of the dinosaurs’
behavior during the volcanic eruption. Why are they bothering to attack
the humans or each other when there’s a basically-apocalypse to run
from? I think the Carnotaurus and Sinoceratops probably don’t have much
of an excuse other than to get a cool shot of Rexy roaring (an aim not
devoid of merit, admittedly, it was a cool shot), but I’ve heard some
kind-of plausible ones for the Baryonyx.
One is that life had not been easy for it out of containment and it was starving, and Claire and Franklin were the first snack it had come across in a long time. Fair enough, the Baryonyx doesn’t look like it’s in very good health and does look pretty skinny. Still, you’d think its survival instinct would be more focused on the lava and finding a way out. If that’s its order of priorities it should probably have died already a long time ago. Another is that, well, it’s attacking senselessly, behaving like a rabid animal, right? Maybe it actually does have rabies. I feel like that should have been in some way established better, though, if that’s what the filmmakers were going for. A mention earlier of a rabies epidemic on the island they should watch out for, or just one of Claire and Franklin saying so during the scene itself, maybe.
As exciting an action scene as it makes, I think a better direction to go in would have been to have the Baryonyx not be hostile towards the humans at all, and barely even pay attention to them, as all three focus on trying to get out of the bunker alive before it’s buried in lava (which you’d think would be an effective enough threat on its own). It’s just an animal, after all, not a monster, right? That would have been an excellent way of conveying that message.
I guess if I’m going to try to explain what did happen in the movie, though, maybe attacking the humans, in the Baryonyx’s understanding of the situation, did equal trying to get out of the bunker? Baryonyx were created already for the first park, though not brought to Isla Nublar before humans left both islands. The movies don’t confirm whether the original part-frog population or its descendants could be among the Baryonyx of Jurassic World, but going by the Blue VR game featuring a Baryonyx nest with eggs, I’d say it’s likely. So potentially this Baryonyx could have lived through growing up in captivity on Sorna (or not, if it’s from a later generation, but I guess its unhealthy appearance could also just be caused by old age), the conditions on Sorna getting less and less survivable, humans suddenly showing up soon after and recapturing it, living in captivity in JW, and now its environment getting difficult to live in again, and wouldn’t you know, humans show up. Maybe it’s just used to a lot about the world around it being controlled by humans, so lava pouring into the tunnel it’s in? Might as well be humans’ doing. Maybe if it kills the humans all that will stop.
..
I just rewatched the scene, and actually I don’t think the Baryonyx starts behaving in a way that’s unquestionably hostile until after it’s hit with lava to the face (which should have killed it, but I’ll let that slide, because that’s just how lava works in this movie and most works of fiction anyway). It’s stressed and kind of aggressive, but it’s trying to escape a fiery death, so that’s not unexpected. It gets the lava on it by trying to walk to Claire and Franklin’s side of the room, which understandably has the humans scared, because it’s a big, potentially dangerous animal, but the opening of its mouth as it takes the step could be a bite attempt or it could be just to vocalize.
Going by its apparent poor health, and especially if assuming it’s a result of, or at least not helped by, being old enough to have been created already for the first park, I don’t think there’s anything in the scene indicating the Baryonyx couldn’t perhaps be mostly blind. In which case, it knows it’s in danger, but can’t see well what’s happening around it, and then something hits it and that hurts, while it can smell there’s humans around. For all it knows, the humans attacked it.
I doubt that’s what the filmmakers’ intention was, or if so it should have been made clearer, but sure, that could work.
In any case, the only exit from the room is where the humans are going, even though the bite attempts make clear the Baryonyx isn’t following Claire and Franklin just because of that. It would have been really cool if it had been the Baryonyx that actually found the way out, though, wouldn’t it? The humans expect it’s trying to get to their side of the lava flow because it wants to kill them, because of course, but no, it just smells fresh air coming from the vent and is trying to get out. We can still have suspenseful close encounter with dino jaws, though, because the Baryonyx can’t open the hatch at the top, and can’t be explained to that it needs to back off before one of the humans climbs up to open it. So it’s climb over a dinosaur up a narrow vent to wrestle open a hatch while right next to its snapping mouth (and then quickly climb out before it runs you over), or stay with the lava.
One is that life had not been easy for it out of containment and it was starving, and Claire and Franklin were the first snack it had come across in a long time. Fair enough, the Baryonyx doesn’t look like it’s in very good health and does look pretty skinny. Still, you’d think its survival instinct would be more focused on the lava and finding a way out. If that’s its order of priorities it should probably have died already a long time ago. Another is that, well, it’s attacking senselessly, behaving like a rabid animal, right? Maybe it actually does have rabies. I feel like that should have been in some way established better, though, if that’s what the filmmakers were going for. A mention earlier of a rabies epidemic on the island they should watch out for, or just one of Claire and Franklin saying so during the scene itself, maybe.
As exciting an action scene as it makes, I think a better direction to go in would have been to have the Baryonyx not be hostile towards the humans at all, and barely even pay attention to them, as all three focus on trying to get out of the bunker alive before it’s buried in lava (which you’d think would be an effective enough threat on its own). It’s just an animal, after all, not a monster, right? That would have been an excellent way of conveying that message.
I guess if I’m going to try to explain what did happen in the movie, though, maybe attacking the humans, in the Baryonyx’s understanding of the situation, did equal trying to get out of the bunker? Baryonyx were created already for the first park, though not brought to Isla Nublar before humans left both islands. The movies don’t confirm whether the original part-frog population or its descendants could be among the Baryonyx of Jurassic World, but going by the Blue VR game featuring a Baryonyx nest with eggs, I’d say it’s likely. So potentially this Baryonyx could have lived through growing up in captivity on Sorna (or not, if it’s from a later generation, but I guess its unhealthy appearance could also just be caused by old age), the conditions on Sorna getting less and less survivable, humans suddenly showing up soon after and recapturing it, living in captivity in JW, and now its environment getting difficult to live in again, and wouldn’t you know, humans show up. Maybe it’s just used to a lot about the world around it being controlled by humans, so lava pouring into the tunnel it’s in? Might as well be humans’ doing. Maybe if it kills the humans all that will stop.
..
I just rewatched the scene, and actually I don’t think the Baryonyx starts behaving in a way that’s unquestionably hostile until after it’s hit with lava to the face (which should have killed it, but I’ll let that slide, because that’s just how lava works in this movie and most works of fiction anyway). It’s stressed and kind of aggressive, but it’s trying to escape a fiery death, so that’s not unexpected. It gets the lava on it by trying to walk to Claire and Franklin’s side of the room, which understandably has the humans scared, because it’s a big, potentially dangerous animal, but the opening of its mouth as it takes the step could be a bite attempt or it could be just to vocalize.
Going by its apparent poor health, and especially if assuming it’s a result of, or at least not helped by, being old enough to have been created already for the first park, I don’t think there’s anything in the scene indicating the Baryonyx couldn’t perhaps be mostly blind. In which case, it knows it’s in danger, but can’t see well what’s happening around it, and then something hits it and that hurts, while it can smell there’s humans around. For all it knows, the humans attacked it.
I doubt that’s what the filmmakers’ intention was, or if so it should have been made clearer, but sure, that could work.
In any case, the only exit from the room is where the humans are going, even though the bite attempts make clear the Baryonyx isn’t following Claire and Franklin just because of that. It would have been really cool if it had been the Baryonyx that actually found the way out, though, wouldn’t it? The humans expect it’s trying to get to their side of the lava flow because it wants to kill them, because of course, but no, it just smells fresh air coming from the vent and is trying to get out. We can still have suspenseful close encounter with dino jaws, though, because the Baryonyx can’t open the hatch at the top, and can’t be explained to that it needs to back off before one of the humans climbs up to open it. So it’s climb over a dinosaur up a narrow vent to wrestle open a hatch while right next to its snapping mouth (and then quickly climb out before it runs you over), or stay with the lava.
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