Jurassic Games Extinction review (2025)

November 6, 2025 Jeffrey Lyles Adam Hampton, Jurassic Games, Jurassic Games: Extinction, Katie Burgess, Leila Annastasia Scott, Ryan Bellgardt, Sophie Proctor

Jurassic Games Extinction is the overdue follow-up to the 2018 guilty pleasure B movie. Conveniently timed for release right around the same year as the latest chapter in the Jurassic World saga.

Unlike its predecessor, Jurassic Games Extinction lacks the same biting wit and fun coming off more like a by-the-numbers effort.

It’s been several years since the last Jurassic Games and public demand has warranted its return. To drum up excitement, new games director Sage (Leila Annastasia Scott) introduces the new host, former participant Joy (Katie Burgess).

That announcement doesn’t come without controversy as Joy was a death row inmate and very bloodthirsty participant in the last game.

The more obvious host likely should have been Tucker (Adam Hampton), the last winner. Tucker is indisposed as he’s back in prison once again estranged from his son, Andrew (Alex Payne) and daughter Haley (Abby Miner).

Director/screenwriter Ryan Bellgardt spices things up a bit by having a corrupt AI program (is there any other kind?) interrupt a walkthrough of the new Games by Sage and four of the game operators. Worse, the AI makes the games active and broadcasts everything to the world in real time. Like the previous edition, in Jurassic Games Extinction participants who fail to make it to the safe zone in a set time in the virtual world will die in the real one courtesy of a lethal injection. It didn’t hurt that Jurassic Games made its debut three years before the first season of Squid Game.

To help steer the carnage along is virtual host Adrian (Ryan Francis, standing in for original actor Ryan Merriman). Despite a matching haircut, Francis is unable to deliver the dialogue with the same zeal and zest as Merriman, who’s absence is definitely felt.

Ditto for the loss of Perry Reeves (Entourage), who was the previous game director Savannah. Jurassic Games Extinction seemingly has a larger budget based on some of the CGI work, but Bellgardt probably would have better utilized those funds to bring back two of the best performers from the first film.

Jurassic Games Extinction also suffers due to its less interesting game participants. Previously, the games involved death row inmates of clearly questionable moral fiber. Some were more honorable than others, who truly embraced the last man/woman standing theme of the Games and did whatever it took to survive.

With this round, there’s no killers or depraved characters among the bunch. Bellgardt’s script doesn’t develop the cast to any extent to make these participants more engaging. If anything, William (Bronsonn Taylor), Amanda (Madi Bready) and Seth (Cory Phillips) seem like they’re just biding their time before they get wiped out. Of the four, Echo (Sophie Proctor) is the most useful as she was the actual game designer who came up with many of the challenges and power ups that can be used throughout the various zones.

To retain some continuity with the first film, Tucker gets thrown back into the mix thanks to an outside feed after learning that Arthur has been brought into the Games as well. Hampton is more of the brooding tough guy, which worked fine when he had more charismatic and engaging performers to play off against. Scott is more of a stabilizing presence with her steady performance, but it’s not exciting enough to help carry the film.

Annoyed at seeing her rival re-enter the Games, Joy has the tech crew insert her into the competition as well. In a disappointing decision, Joy can pop in and out if the situation gets too hairy for her. That removes some major stakes this time since she’s basically invulnerable.

Burgess was in her late teens during the first film allowing her to lean into the psychopath teen role needed to make Joy such an over-the-top character. In her mid-20s the unhinged performance Burgess provides for Joy isn’t nearly as effective.

Jurassic Games Extinction features more elaborate contests, but Bellgardt made a miscalculation by giving the players the ability to use power ups that transform them in the virtual world into dinosaurs themselves. A large portion of the fun with the first film was how Bellgardt wisely countered any criticism on the dinosaur CGI — they were supposed to look cheap. This time, there’s too large a focus on just dinosaurs battling each other instead of the overmatched participants struggling to survive. The CGI doesn’t look as cheap, but it’s offset by more attention being focused on it than the previous film.

There are still a few inspired moments in Jurassic Games Extinction as some power ups include speeder bikes and mech suits. The latter was especially fun and was something Bellgardt could have leaned into further to balance the odds for the players.

Jurassic Games Extinction doesn’t have the same bite as its predecessor as the lack of quality performers and questionable game execution.