Fanboys of the Universe

It’s been three years since Jurassic World (the in-universe theme park) came crashing down and the dinosaurs took over the now-abandoned Isla Nublar. However, the island’s volcano has become active again, threatening to erupt and cause the dinosaurs to go extinct for a second time.

The opening shots of Hereditary, the debut feature film from writer/director Ari Aster, slowly bring focus onto a meticulously-designed diorama of the house where we’ll spend most of the next two hours. As the camera zooms in on a bedroom, it imperceptibly changes into the actual bedroom, the plastic doll in bed becoming a flesh-and-blood human. Or does it?

If you loved the first film and are coming in with expectations of more of the same but just…well, a lot more of the same, you might be slightly disappointed. To be sure, DP2 doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the fourth-wall-breaking, irreverence, and brutal, hard-R action sequences that defined the original and helped it stand out from a sea of superhero films. But there is a level of seriousness and depth here that wasn’t in the first one.

This is it. Ten years, 18 movies, and countless end credit scenes leading up to one of the most anticipated and unprecedented events in genre cinema. Dozens of characters coming together in what’s billed as the pinnacle of what a shared universe narrative can accomplish.

The first two acts drag on forever as we learn motivations and histories that don’t mean much of anything and meet a cast of supporting characters whose net contribution to the final product is just a little more than nothing. The final act is exciting, entertaining and a whole host of other e-words, but the build-up to it is completely excruciating.