When viewing the current cinematic landscape, it feels as if nostalgia baiting has become a reliable trend that studios have turned to in hopes of revitalizing old popular franchises like Disney's Star Wars sequel trilogy, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Top Gun: Maverick. With Jurassic World: Dominion, the trend continues with the third entry in the Jurassic World trilogy and the sixth film in the Jurassic Park franchise. Bringing back original stars Sam Neil, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, while combining them with the current trilogy stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, Dominion aims to deliver an epic conclusion to the Jurassic era, yet ends up being a complete misfire that tremendously disappoints.
Continuing from where Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ended, Dominion picks up four years later with Biosyn, a sinister bioengineering company creating mutated locusts to control the global food chain, triggering the reunion of Dr. Ellie Sadler (Laura Dern), Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum), and Dr. Grant (Sam Neil) in an effort to take down the big corporation with the help of Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard). Dominion's premise is one that would make for an ideal trilogy capper if not for the fact that it's handled so poorly by it's filmmakers. While Dominion possesses the right ideas, it feels uninspired with the end result feeling like a tremendously missed opportunity that lacks the thrills as well as the heart of the original.
The combining of both Jurassic trilogies casts make for a star-studded event. The inclusion of Sam Neil, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum into the mix gives the film a much needed lift despite their characters feeling somewhat off compared to their previous appearances. Goldblum's character in particular feels more like a spin-off of the actors persona rather than the Ian Malcom whom audiences know from the previous films, although he delivers many of the films funny one-liners. Dern's Ellie carries a stronger presence this time around with Neil still owning it as Grant. With Owen and Claire, both Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard once again shine with Pratt delivering his action hero persona with him somehow being able to control the movement of dinosaurs by holding up his hand. They both still carry decent chemistry even if their romance feels uneven. Isabella Sermon is effective as clone daughter Maisie Lockwood despite her character being frustrating narratively speaking. The rest of Dominion's cast make the most of their roles with DeWanda Wise as Kayla who aids Owen and Claire on their mission, Campbell Scott as franchise Easter egg villain Dr. Lewis Dodgson whose Biosyn Genetics CEO and, returning actor from the previous Jurassic films BD Wong as lead geneticist and a more regretful Dr. Henry Wu. Overall, Dominion's cast is solid but never overcomes the scripts shortcomings.
Returning to the directors chair is Jurassic World helmer Colin Treverrow, who provides more jump scares and dinosaurs despite the latter feeling less impressive this time around which can also be said about the battles between the apex predators that feel predictable. One example in particular includes the T-Rex battling a new menacing dinosaur which carries the exact same set-up from Jurassic World in which the Rex is shown to be losing the fight at first, but ultimately prevails due to the help of other dinosaurs. The cinematography provides some visually striking moments including predators stalking around a snowy mountain landscape and dinosaurs co-existing with humans around the world. Despite the dinosaurs being less immersive this time, SFX work remains impressive combined with excellent sound design and an effective score by Jurassic World trilogy composer Michael Giacchino, which incorporates elements of John Williams' original theme. Though Treverrow shows a clear love for the series, there's nothing groundbreaking present nor the sense of wonder that made the original Jurassic Park so endearing to audiences. At 146 minutes, the film feels much longer than required for a typical Jurassic film with its length feeling painfully excessive.
The writing for Dominion suffers from messy scriptwriting and a lack of fresh ideas to take the series. Given Fallen Kingdom's shocking climax, Dominion doesn't feel as if it shows the dinosaurs truly taking over the world other than brief moments showing them interacting with humans. The films greatest fault is it's weak premise involving Biosyn trying to control the global food chain, which ultimately feels like a desperate attempt to reunite the OG Jurassic Park cast. The script struggles with not just balancing out their story but also that of Owen and Claire raising Maisie with them later going on a mission to rescue her when she's kidnapped. Maisie's subplot feels unnecessary and does much in sidelining both the dinosaurs and the original trio. The newer Apex creatures introduced feel like displays at a department store with them lacking a dominating presence. The newer characters feel like cardboard cutouts of ones shown in previous films with nothing present to distinguish them. From certain character development feeling forced to uneven characterization, Dominion's script feels messy with its merging of both parties storylines not blending well together. The tone of the film also feels like it wants to genre hop from being a dinosaur themed film to something like Mission Impossible and F9 with its outrageous suspension of disbelief including a stunning plane crash, which leaves it's main key characters completely unharmed.
Watching Dominion, one can't help but revert back to a line spoken by Goldblum's character in the original that best sums up the Jurassic World trilogy: "You stood on the shoulder of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and, before you even knew what you had, you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox and now you're selling it." Dominion lacks the creativity and innovativeness which made Spielberg's film so unforgettable. For Jurassic Park fans and those who enjoyed Jurassic World, Dominion provides a hugely disappointing experience that hopefully leaves the entire franchise extinct once and for all.
Final Verdict: The Worst film of the series. Skip It and rewatch the original film. It's a much more satisfying experience.
Images Courtesy Of Universal
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