Jurassic World: Dominion is the third, and possibly final, installment of the Jurassic World franchise. It is a film that finally brings the entire Jurassic universe together. The Jurassic World characters team up with those from Jurassic Park to save the dinosaurs from poachers, save the world from pestilence, and save kidnapped clones.
Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) have been living off the grid since the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. They are trying to protect Maisie (Isabella Sermon), the first genetically cloned human and granddaughter of Jurassic Park cofounder Benjamin Lockwood. They live in a cabin in the woods, with the velociraptor Blue and her pup Beta, close by. Poachers kidnap Maisie and Beta, so Owen and Claire go on a mission to save them.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) is investigating prehistoric locusts from the cretaceous that are killing crops across the country. This plague of locusts is so destructive that it could cause world famine. She suspects that the Biosyn corporation is behind these genetically mutated locusts and recruits her old friend Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to help investigate. She has a connection inside of Biosyn who can get them access to the company’s island/dinosaur sanctuary. That connection ends up being Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).
All roads lead to Biosyn, and each party tries to achieve their mission while avoiding being eaten by every dinosaur on the island.
I found the first 30 to 45 minutes of Jurassic World: Dominion interesting. I was invested in learning what happened in the aftermath of the previous film. It helped to give weight to worldwide ecological problems caused by dinosaurs across the world. I also wanted to catch up on what Alan and Ellie had been up to since Jurassic Park.
It is almost impressive how the movie can be simultaneously formulaic and uniquely disjointed.
Unfortunately, the movie goes off the rails pretty quickly after that. Jurassic World: Dominion is a two-and-a-half-hour, bloated mess. It fails at cohesively integrating its multiple storylines and asks the viewer to forgive a lot of clear plot holes throughout the story. At the same time, it is wholly unoriginal. The idea of mustache-twirling poachers and evil corporations has been beaten to death by this franchise. It is almost impressive how the movie can be simultaneously formulaic and uniquely disjointed.
Not only that, but the movie constantly breaks the rules that the franchise’s previous worldbuilding created. For example, it was understood that after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a limited number of species survived or were saved from Isla Nublar. However, the movie introduces a litany of new dinosaur species without any explanation. Has Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) restarted his cloning program? Who knows? The film never tries to explain it.
In Jurassic World, Owen trained raptors. A technique he used to guide the raptors was sticking his palm out towards them and locking eye contact. Now, why in the world does that technique work on every dinosaur that he crosses paths with? Is it now a superpower? It seems that every attacking dinosaur wouldn’t even notice Owen doing this and eat him immediately.
Why do all these dinosaurs keep fighting each other? There isn’t any rhyme or reason these dinosaurs cross paths and start rumbling. Kaiju monsters in Godzilla are given more motivation than these mindless hulks. These throwaway fights and chases make all the dinosaurs forgettable. This is a shame as the dinosaurs really should be the main attraction.
Not everything was terrible. This is a highly talented and accomplished cast. You tend to find all the characters charming to some degree, even if many of their actions never really make sense. Although DeWanda Wise as Kayla Watts came off a bit stereotypical, she still provided a much-needed lightness to the team. I still have no idea why she risked her life and livelihood to help these people. But hey, plot holes.
I even found some unintentional comedy with Campbell Scott’s portrayal of Biosyn CEO Lewis Dodgson. The decision to base the character on Apple CEO Tim Cook, from his look to his mannerisms, made me chuckle. I have no idea why they made that decision as, by all accounts, Tim Cook is not some evil genius.
It is a shame that Jurassic World: Dominion was too ambitious for its own good. It squandered a great cast and took the wonder away from the dinosaurs. If we return to the world of Jurassic, the writers and directors have their work cut out for them. Repairing the franchise may be more challenging than cloning a T-Rex.
