Pop Culture & the Law: Jurassic World Rebirth

The morally wrong person gets eaten. That’s the law of movies. At least most of the time. Sometimes, an innocent minor character is sacrificed to ensure the audience knows the stakes are real. 

In Jurassic World Rebirth, the tension is high and the special effects are stunning. Early on, we meet a few potentially morally gray characters: Bobby Atwater, a mercenary who seems eager to shoot neurotoxins at the dinosaurs, Martin Krebs, a pharmaceutical representative looking for the next big cure for heart disease and willing to break the law to find it, and Xavier Dobbs, a boyfriend too lazy to take his turn at the sailboat steering wheel.

‍

Tort Law and the Duty of Care to Others

Tort law is filled with its own gray areas. Compared to other types of law, wrongdoing is often less black and white. Like in Jurassic World, a tort case may deal with a wrongdoer that is not one of the defendants. Instead, a jury may be asked to decide if secondary actors share blame for the injury. 

In Jurassic World Rebirth, the dinosaurs are the obvious enemy. However, various other characters establish themselves as antagonists. Shortly after the lazy boyfriend, Xavier Dobbs, refuses to take his turn at the steering wheel, the boat is attacked by a Spinosaurus. It seems that Xavier might get eaten but barely survives. The family is able to send a distress signal and they await help on top of their capsized boat.

Our boat of dinosaur hunters picks up the distress signal. Both Martin Krebs, pharmaceutical tycoon, and Bobby Atwater, mercenary, advise their team to stay the course. They do not want to turn the ship around and attempt a rescue, arguing that someone else will pick up on the signal. 

Shifting responsibility is a common defense tactic in tort cases. Often defendants argue that sole responsibility lies with the victim. A skilled plaintiff’s attorney will point out that a distress signal is pointless if no one responds to it. It does not matter what caused the sailboat to capsize, the distress signal is meant to prevent catastrophic harm.

Our society is one in which we owe a duty of care to others. We do not exist in isolation. In the movie, Martin and Bobby did not actively try to harm the stranded family. They don’t want to turn around because they wanted to complete their mission.  

‍

‍

However, the law says ship has a duty to provide assistance to another ship in distress. It does not matter that Martin and Bobby did not cause the sailboat to capsize (that was the fault of the Spinosaurus). What matters is that once they heard the distress signal, the dinosaur-hunting boat had a duty to turn around and try to aid the distressed sailboat.

In the film, the rest of the team overrules Martin and Bobby and the ship turns around to aid the capsized sailboat. However, the audience knows that the morally wrong guy is in danger of being eaten. Because Jurassic World Rebirth is an adventure movie and not a legal drama, Bobby is met with a hungry Spinosaurus instead of a lawsuit.

‍

Proving Who is Telling the Truth 

During a second Spinosaurus attack, Rueben, the father who was rescued from the capsized sailboat, instructs his daughter, Teresa, to contact the authorities. Martin tries to stop her because the dinosaur-hunting boat’s mission is illegal. When he pushes Teresa in an attempt to stop her from making the call, she starts to fall overboard. There is a moment where Martin could offer assistance but instead he watches Teresa fall into the Spinosaurus-infested water. Her previously-lazy boyfriend, Xavier, redeems himself by jumping in after her (showing the audience why he was spared in the earlier attack).  When Martin’s crew mate asks him what happened, Martin denies having any responsibility for Teresa falling overboard. 

Defendants may try to hide the opportunities they had to have prevented an injury. It can be tempting to rewrite the past to obscure responsibility. Often there are no eyewitnesses. Teresa tells the truth about what happened but Martin calls her a liar. Throughout the movie, there are scenes that help establish which character is more believable. When Martin meets his end, the audience is fully on board. 

In the law, credibility is extremely important. Anyone can say anything, but that does not mean a jury will believe them. Not only did Martin’s actions show that he was selfish, his teammates knew that he had a motive to lie because the mission was illegal. Often when there are no eyewitnesses, exploring a defendant’s motivations can be a way to get to the truth. 

Movies like Jurassic World Rebirth love to reward the heroes and punish the bad guys. Near the end of the movie, a character essentially sacrifices himself to save the others. Miraculously, he survives despite a hungry dinosaur hunting him. It may have been some serious plot armor, but it was fun. 

‍

‍

‍Leslie Hulburt is a co-founder of Hulburt Law Firm. She is an experienced trial attorney who has litigated cases against major corporations, manufacturers and government entities. In addition to the law, she has worked at the washingtonpost.com and as a garden teacher for elementary school students. These experiences give her a unique perspective on the most compelling way to present a case. Leslie finds inspiration in countless places, including movies, tv shows, books and podcasts. Pop Culture & the Law explores the ways our favorite entertainment can offer wisdom in the practice of law.