Early reactions forJurassic World Dominionspoke of a divisive film, ranging from those who see it as the perfect way to close off an already unimpressive trilogy to others easily considering it the worse film in the franchise’s history, however, while the movie more accurately falls somewhere in between,Dominionis definitely the kind of experience moviegoers might want to tackle keeping their expectations in check.
Doing that shouldn’t be too difficult as 2018’sFallen Kingdomwas generally disliked, despite earning over 1.3 billion dollars worldwide, but the good news is that for every missed opportunity or repeated mistake from the other twoJurassic Worldmovies,Dominionmakes it up with a wholesome blast from the past. That’s becauseLaura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum all returnin their beloved roles, and though their screen time is far from limited to mere nostalgia plays, their presence is a symbol ofDominion’sbiggest problem: these dinosaurs are biting on way more than they can chew.
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That is not to sayJurassic World Dominionis not entertaining, far from it, yet despite all the CGI wonders and admittedly good action sequences Colin Trevorrow crams into his return to dinosaur land,the film simply overstays its welcome. Take the movie’s premise for example, which is that four years afterFallen Kingdom, dinosaurs now live among humans — then again it really doesn’t take long for the plot to deviate from that to evil corporation conspiracy, as theJurassic Parkold-timers aren’t directly invested in the dinosaur sector anymore.
As for Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), their story now sees them become foster parents to Masie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) who behaves exactly like a forcefully recluded teenager would. Claire’s backstory as a rogue activist is particularly short-lived, as Zia (Daniella Pineda) and Franklin (Justice Smith) only seem to be there so that there’s some feeling of continuity betweenDominionandFallen Kingdom, as is the case for semi-domesticated Velociraptor Blue.
Does any of this matter? Not really.Jurassic World’sbiggest draw is and always will be its dinosaurs, which is perhaps why the film’s desire to venture into a slightly more complex sci-fi setting that goes past these wonderful creatures feels like an odd choice, so no, adding giant insects into the mix is not the best topping. Fret not, dinosaurs are here and their feathered incarnations now meanDominionis the most scientifically accurateJurassic Parkmovie out there, plus the movie’s 2 hours and 26 minutes runtime means there are plenty of them to go around.
Pratt and Howard are solid (not that they spend much time together for that matter), and so are the returningJurassic Parkveterans, with Goldblum being exactly what most fans would want out of him. Nevertheless, there’s only so much these actors can do with a script that tries to go to so many places at once. That last part is not figurative speech as even getting the movie’s protagonists out to the new dinosaur reservoir takes quite a while, and once they arrivethe new Giganotosaurus suffers the same fateas the human cast: a largely reduced role and sharing the spotlight with other would-be apex predators.
Two shining beacons that deserve plenty of praise are the film’s villain Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) and newcomer hero Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), who both rise to the occasion despite the circumstances of the former’s origin. They’re not all-stars but still overachieve in spite of the script. Ironically, Wise’s character perfectly fits the tone ofDominion:she’s there just because and decides to embark on a life-threatening mission out of the goodness of her heart, yet her chemistry with Pratt is great; whereas the Biosyn CEO is the perfect easy-to-hate antagonist whose antics make him more insufferable, thus turning some ofJurassic World Dominion’spayoffs more satisfactory while providing a nice smug face to the corporate greed narrative that drives the plot.
Beyond that, Trevorrow’s shot selection remainsas good as it was inJurassic World, ensuring action scenes are easy to follow without compromising on the thrills they bring; instead any disappointment comes from the low stakes game the film plays as a whole. There’ssome of thatJurassic Parktension going onduring some scenes, a bit of horror-like camera trick here and there, plus a few blatant attempts to exploit nostalgia here and there,including one famous shaving creamor the way Dr. Sattler adjusts her glasses — but again, these callbacks hardly bring any substance.
If there’s one character that represents all of Dominion’s faults it’s without a doubt Ramsay (Mamoudou Athie). He’s sort of the Tim Cook to this Steve Job-like villain, yet his omnipresence and all-seeing role to ensure the movie goes as expected is a rather lazy attempt to explain why everything goes down the way it does in thisJurassic World, he’s the crutch that makes the film stumble to its conclusion.
Ultimately,Dominionis just toopredictably similar to itsJurassic Worldpredecessors, so possibly its biggest fault is coming out so close toTop Gun: Maverick, a film that beststhe original and more than justifies itself as a sequel.Jurassic World Dominionwill probably perform as it should, it will make a ton of money, andprovide no reason to hate on Chris Prattnor any arguments as to why Universal shouldn’t just let these dinosaurs rest in peace once and for all. Unsurprisingly, it’s also moderately fun while doing all of that.
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Jurassic World Dominion
Four years after Isla Nublar was destroyed in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Jurassic World: Dominion concludes the Jurassic World trilogy. Dinosaurs once again walk the earth, now alongside humans, and Claire Dearing and Owen Grady live in isolation protecting the granddaughter of Sir Benjamin Lockwood, the former partner of John Hammond, the two who started the events that kicked off Jurassic Park. However, when Blue, the trained Velociraptor from Jurassic World, shows up at their cabin with its newborn, Owen and Claire soon discover that the Biosyn Corporation is pursuing the dinosaurs. The two will have to join other series regulars to uncover the truth of Biosyn’s ulterior motives.
