A mockbuster mashup of Jurassic World and The Hunger Games with a little of Ready Player One thrown in for good measure. I stumbled upon this gem while scrolling through Redbox one day and decided to look it up out of curiosity due to my childhood love of dinosaurs. A quick Google search led me to the shocking discovery that it currently has an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. The score is based on only five critic reviews, but still managed to blow my mind as I never expected anyone to have watched this, much less rate it positively. So of course I decided to check it out for myself and I have to say that The Jurassic Games is a legitimately good B-movie. The premise is that a bunch of death row inmates compete in virtual reality game show that pits them against each other and the most dangerous animals to have ever walked the earth. If they die in the game, they die in real life. The last person standing gets to walk away with their freedom. Yeah, not the most original idea. Things get crazy though. There are plenty of the expected cheesy moments, but they actually come off as kind of cool thanks to some stellar production values for what I can only assume was a very low budget movie. The dinosaurs look pretty darn good. Especially the carnivores as they are given the most detail. The game itself doesn't start off on the most exciting note as the first goal the contestants are given is to find a safe zone. So the first act largely consists of them running around the woods and forming early alliances. Most of the action is also of the human-on-human variety which isn't as thrilling as what comes later. What kept me interested was the behind-the-scenes stuff. A good portion of the movie is dedicated to following the exploits of those responsible for putting the show together. That side of things explores the real world elements of the story, like how people are reacting to what is basically a series of televised executions for public entertainment. This allows The Jurassic Games to address some moral conundrums. Who would have expected it to do that? These moments are also where you'll find the majority of the best written characters. Given how long it takes for any of the characters to be fleshed out, the real star of the film is Ryan Merriman as the host. On top of having the right charisma and comedic timing to believably lead a game show, he was also given this really cool black skull mask that has this gonzo, sinister quality that carries through to the rest of the movie and feels like something from a comic book or anime due to what an eccentric touch it is. Merriman makes for a memorable villain and I would have loved more scenes of him just taunting the main cast. The movie uses the old wrongly accused father trope to ensure that we have a protagonist to emotionally invest in and root for. It weirdly works. Katie Burgess is also a standout as Joy because of how dangerous she manages to be despite her youthful appearance. Jurassic Games really hits it's stride when the participants complete their first task and move onto the maze. The sci-fi elements immediately become more prominent and watching the players get hunted through the dark, tight corridors by velociraptors is a blast. There's even a martial arts sequence that is nowhere near as dumb as it could have been. It's also the point where the movie sets into the comfortable rhythm of watching the characters get picked off one-by-one in inventive death sequences. There are some creative scenarios and we even get a straight up dinosaur battle where humans run around under foot. So there are some fun set-pieces. I also really liked how the cast has more prehistoric threats to face than just the dinosaurs. I find it strange to say that I enjoyed this movie more than the latest Jurassic Park film. Those who found World 2 to be lacking in things like character deaths may find Games to be a sillier, yet somehow satisfying alternative. I think it actually has the better characterization of the two. The acting isn't of the same caliber, but I liked the people onscreen so much more. Pretty impressive for a movie that likely only exists to exploit the popularity of a big blockbuster. It's like the people who made it actually had some talent and tried to make something decent rather than phoning everything in for a quick cash grab on the population who thought this was the newest sequel to Spielberg's beloved classic. As a result the movie rises above it's mockbuster roots and stands out as a solid B-movie.