Boy, are some people going to hate this one.
Quite likely for the same reasons they hated Godzilla vs Kong (2021).
And binge-TV is likely to bear some of the blame too.
Given how Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) ended, there were a lot of things to be addressed should a sequel surface. At the same time, all that anticipation of where the story could go would likely disappoint some people. We may have gotten used to long form serialised stories thanks to the now numerous streaming service dropping 6-8-10 episode limited series that can handle a single story with several plot threads. That’s not likely to happen with a movie with a limited run-time that isn’t going to be butt-numbing.
Jurassic World: Dominion goes where only it could go, with the focus narrowed to the characters we’ve followed thus far, particularly Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard). We follow them as they deal with the consequences of Maisie (Isabella Sermon) letting the dinosaurs out into the world at large, and her own problematic existence. It really is that narrow.
We do get a quick primer to set up the world as it is following the dinosaur proliferation in the world, and there is a secondary story to fill up the run-time and bring back some ‘legacy characters’. It is also meant to show how bad the bad guy is, although that may have been little lost. Still, the ‘runaway technology’ aspect of it is right in the wheelhouse of original creator and author, the late Michael Crichton.
In the original novel, and applied to the first two movies, there were fail-safes baked into the new dinos DNA to control the population. It would seem those fail-safes were ignored when InGen created the Jurassic World park. Also in the first movie (and book) a rival company called BioSyn was intent on securing the dino DNA, and they are back in this final chapter with Campbell Scott now taking on the role of Lewis Dodgson. We even have a call-back to that can of shaving cream Dodgson gave to Nedry in the first movie.
Now the head of BioSyn, Dodgson is the main bad guy here. His actions and plans alone would fill out a mini-series. Unfortunately, this is a movie and we get a cliff-notes version of it all as a conspiracy thriller story featuring the returning Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) playing crusading spies trying to expose BioSyn while being aided by Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) who is already on the inside.
That is intercut with Owen and Claire trying to track down poachers who have taken raptor Blue’s offspring along with Maisie to hand over to BioSyn. We have two narratives running alongside heading for the inevitable collision for the finale at BioSyn’s base of operations.
The dinos being out in the world is less an issue here, and more forces-of-nature to be survived, as were the aforementioned Kaiju. A longer-formed narrative (should Colin Trevorrow be so inclined to stretch out a mini-series from this) might have the time to deal with all the issues and consequences as well as a proper resolution. As a movie, it has other things to deal with while trying to hash out a satisfying story if not a satisfying resolution.
Keeping fairly in line with all that has come before, but taking it to a much larger scale, we’re romping across the world from around various points in the US to Malta to the mountains of Italy. There is an impressive dual chase stunt set-piece set in Malta courtesy of stunt coordinator (and second unit director) Dan Bradley.
Ultimately, as the movie’s tagline may put it, we may be done with these characters and their involvement with the Jurassic Era, although if we are to have a satisfactory conclusion and resolution, we may have to look elsewhere. Streaming services provide avenues for such endeavours although the likelihood of such an occurrence may be slim now.
Otherwise, it’s been a grand romp and an adventure that might be enjoyed provided you take it as it is, but that’s a bit of a stretch for the investment of the previous movies. The call-backs were nice, the nostalgia was sitting pretty (Ellie re-enters the movie in the same outfit she wore in the first movie!), some pay-offs were worth the time… and a lot of people are going to hate that ending.
I’m fine with it and the journey has been fun for the most part. There were some great moments and the Malta set-piece earns the extra rating which people may feel I’m being too generous.
But then, what about you?
Rating: 🦖🦖🦖 /5
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Written by Emily Carmichael & Colin Trevorrow
From a story by Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow
Stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, DeWanda Wise, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, Mamoudou Athie, and Omar Sy, with Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Dichen Lachman, and BD Wong
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