Reality bites—literally—in “The Jurassic Games: Extinction”

Reality TV collides with prehistoric monsters, again, in The Jurassic Games: Extinction, the continuation of 2018’s sleeper hit. The movie answers the age-old question, “What if The Running Man starred raptors?” In case you’re wondering, the answer is a headlong, bumpy rush of adrenaline, body counts, and unexpectedly pointed political commentary.

Ten death row inmates sign up for the world’s most popular—and ethically compromised—virtual reality game show. If they survive being hunted by carnivorous dinosaurs, they win their freedom. New host Joy LaFort (performed by a pitch-perfect Katie Burgess) and the inmates adjust to the trial by a velociraptor, but the simulation deletes the rules at the last minute. The AI running the simulation goes rogue, turning the game show into a fully immersive war of digital survival.

Director Ryan Bellgardt doubles down on the gonzo energy that made the first Jurassic Games go viral. The production team takes pride in the fact that they did not use generative AI and hand animated all the dinosaurs in-game. While the animators keep track of the movements of the dinosaurs, the result is a tactile menace, something that makes the otherwise cheap-looking shots seem truly dangerous. You can sense that a team put a lot of love into these pixels, which makes the CGI less lazy and more chaotically entertaining.

The movie still struggles on the human side of the equation. The performers are the weakest link in the overall production, as most of the “inmates” are just generic sketches with one-dimensional character arcs that exist solely to be mauled, disemboweled, and devoured. And yet, the action scenes don’t get stale for too long. The set pieces are cleverly constructed around mutated hybrid dinosaurs, glitching virtual environments, and illogical escapes that defy the laws of physics. The movie feels like one played a PS5-survival horror game without any cheat codes.

The movie transcends the “forgettable B-movie” status and approaches “guilty pleasure” when it is at its most pointed. In the director’s statement, Bellgardt frames the movie as an intentionally crafted cautionary tale of how the logic of artificial intelligence will soon replace human intelligence and decision-making. Between the digital T. rexes and the internet bloodbaths, one can see a relevant message about our culture’s collective obsession with violence, control, and media spectacle.

The biggest winner in this franchise is Katie Burgess as Joy LaFort. She gives her character a razor-sharp wit and a business-class indifference reminiscent of shades of Elizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games. She is simply having too much fun, and it is hard not to share her mood.

Grade: C+

“THE JURASSIC GAMES: EXTINCTION” is Available on Digital/VOD now and arrives Blu-Ray/DVD on 7/22/25