Jurassic World: Dominion Review

Synopsis
Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live–and hunt–alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures in a new Era. (via IMDb)

Review
The Jurassic Park trilogy does not end on the best note with Jurassic Park III. I was hoping that Jurassic World: Dominion, the third and final entry into the Jurassic World trilogy, would cap the Jurassic World trilogy better than Jurassic Park III capped the Jurassic Park trilogy. Unfortunately, that was a bit too much to hope for.

To start with a positive, it was great to see the cast from both the Jurassic Park films and Jurassic World films together. Their pairings and interactions were a treat for any fan of the franchise. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) returning was an unexpected surprise. He had a very minor role in Jurassic Park and it was intriguing to see what he has been up to since his lunch with Dennis Nedry. I’ve talked about “theme” a lot in my Jurassic World reviews and this review will be no different! I really liked that this idea of genetic manipulation and power that Ian Malcolm has mentioned many times has been applied to something other than dinosaurs yet continues to show the hubris of the characters who think they can control it.

Besides that, Jurassic World: Dominion falls into B-movie territory, the same as Jurassic Park III. The villain is campy and the billionaire-megalomaniac-who-doesn’t-care-about-the destruction-he-causes has been done a lot recently, and been done better elsewhere. Characters are introduced then are discarded without much explanation or exploration. At times there seems to be a lack of focus, which even Jurassic Park III had. At almost two and a half hours long, it’s not like there wasn’t time to get that focus. All-in-all, it told a story that had the right idea but wasn’t executed to its fullest.

On a plot side-note, how did the dinosaurs become so wide-spread so quickly? This film takes place only a few years after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and, spoiler alert, only a handful of dinosaurs were released into the wild at the end of that film. It’s implied that several companies were cloning their own dinosaurs but that still wouldn’t account for the amount and their coverage across the Earth in that short amount of time. As I said in my last review, I try not to get caught up in plot holes but this one kept bugging me and took me out of the film at times.

I thought Jurassic World: Dominion was OK 😐 I liked seeing all my favorite characters from the franchise together and felt the theme was the culmination of the themes of the previous films. There were some exciting sequences but they felt included because they look cool and this also lead to some of the antagonistic characters not getting much development. It’s a shame the franchise didn’t end on a note more deserving of a the Jurassic franchise’s popularity.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Colin Trevorrow – Director / Story / Screenplay
Derek Connolly – Story
Emily Carmichael – Screenplay
Michael Giacchino – Composer

Chris Pratt – Owen Grady
Bryce Dallas Howard – Claire Dearing
Isabella Sermon – Maisie Lockwood / Young Charlotte Lockwood
Laura Dern – Ellie Sattler
Sam Neill – Alan Grant
Jeff Goldblum – Ian Malcolm
DeWanda Wise – Kayla Watts
Mamoudou Athie – Ramsay Cole
Justice Smith – Franklin Webb
Daniella Pineda – Dr. Zia Rodriguez
Campbell Scott – Lewis Dodgson
BD Wong – Dr. Wu
Omar Sy – Barry Sembene
Scott Haze Rainn Delacourt
Dichen Lachman – Soyona Santos

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Review

Synopsis
When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. (via IMDb)

Review
When Jurassic World destroyed the box office with its success, it was inevitable that a sequel would happen. When I saw the first trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, I thought that the whole movie was going to be about rescuing the dinosaurs from the erupting volcano and that the trailer had just given away what happens in the movie (as trailers can often do these days). However, that is only the first act of the film. There is so much more.

While the first part of the movie is spent on the island, the rest of the film is spent on the mainland. In the last two acts of the film, the themes of the previous film are continued. Characters spend time discussing the ethics on engineering a living being and having control of the power of genetics (which includes a great monologue from the franchise’s most vocal voice of reason, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum)). However, while the themes are continued, they are not built upon. As a result, this movie feels like an extension of its predecessor rather than a new film.

Since the movie starts with the volcano erupting, the pacing of the film is different than the other films in the franchise. Most films, particularly Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, slowly crescendo to the high-octane action towards the end. But here, the movie starts with adrenaline, then slows down before ramping up once more for exciting action sequences. This methodology hooked me into the film from the get go. It also gave me a sigh of relief that the initial trailer didn’t show too much of the ending like I thought it had.

Something that bothered me as I was watching Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was the plan to move the last of the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar (who were stated to be the last of their kind) to a sanctuary island. Did the characters forget about Isla Sorna, aka Site B? I mean, this island was the setting for two of the films before this one. Is that no longer around? What happened to the dinosaurs there, if anything? I usually don’t let plot holes get to me while watching a film, but that one seemed too big to miss, considering the fact that there were two islands with dinosaurs was previously a major point in series.

John Hammond is an iconic character in Jurassic Park and the theme park’s creation. I enjoyed learning more about Hammond’s history and the origins of the park itself. We learn of his partnership with Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) and how the two of them got started with bringing dinosaurs to life. It’s a small part of the film but it’s one that I really liked included.

All this time I’ve been talking about the story but my favorite thing about this film is the chemistry between Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. They are both naturally funny and their types of humor work well together. I consistently found myself smiling and having a good time during their scenes. Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow hit gold when they cast them as the franchise’s new leads.

I thought Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was GOOD 🙂 It feels more like an extension of Jurassic World than its own thing but there is enjoyment to be had. The scenes of the exploding island were exciting and the claustrophobic feel of the action scenes in the third act lead to some edge-of-your-seat moments. It’s clear this is meant to be a middle movie so I’m intrigued to see where they take the series from here.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
JA Bayona – Director
Colin Trevorrow – Writer
Derek Connolly – Writer
Michael Giacchino – Composer

Chris Pratt – Owen Grady
Bryce Dallas Howard – Claire Dearing
Rafe Spall – Eli Mills
Justice Smith – Franklin Webb
Daniella Pineda – Zia Rodriguez
James Cromwell – Benjamin Lockwood
Isabella Sermon – Maisie Lockwood
Toby Jones – Mr. Eversoll
Ted Levine – Ken Wheatley
BD Wong – Dr. Wu
Geraldine Chaplin – Iris
Jeff Goldblum – Ian Malcolm