Jurassic World Dominion
universal picturesIt is hard to say many films have reached the iconic status of Steven Spielberg's 1993 Jurassic Park. From the iconography to the dialogue, every frame of Jurassic Park became foundational and defining for the sci-fi thriller. Since then, dinosaurs have wreaked havoc over 5 sequels which have all attempted to reach the highs of the original Jurassic Park without ever reaching that level. On paper, the newest of these sequels, Jurassic World Dominion, seemed to have the best shot of achieving this daunting task. Bringing together the main casts of both the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World trilogies with the exciting setting of a world overrun by dinosaurs that have spread across the globe, there was clearly potential for the film to become something special. Sadly, the film almost comedically fails in nearly every regard becoming not one of the best Jurassic Park sequels, but possibly the worst.
Focusing on what works within the film, it is undeniably joyous to see this cast brought together with genuine rolls of substance and stakes. Especially when it comes to the original cast, it obviously is going to be moving to see Sam Neill and Laura Dern bring the chemistry of Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler back to the big screen, with Jeff Goldblum righting the wrongs of his disappointing outing as Dr. Ian Malcolm in the previous installment Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are both completely serviceable, with their connection and charisma seeing no evolution from the previous two films they have shared together while also not ever being painfully dull. Newcomer DeWanda Wise also greatly impresses with a commanding yet fun character that gives a needed life to the scenes where a fan favorite might not be around.
The visuals are also solid overall. While the transitions between practical and CGI effects are rather rough at multiple points throughout the film, it is nice to see that the film is so committed to using practical effects where they can. This is something the original Jurassic World greatly disappointed with and, with each new film, it feels like the filmmakers are growing more and more confident with the usage of practical effects. When something is physically there interacting with the actors, the change is dramatic and it is more clear than ever that this is a key ingredient in what makes the Jurassic Park franchise work.
These are two components that work well independently from any context given to them within the film. These are talented actors and talented effects which sadly are trapped in the confines of a deeply flawed film. Despite having possibly the most dinosaurs and dinosaur action of any Jurassic World film to date, the most shocking thing about Jurassic World Dominion is simply how boring the feature is. Clocking in at a whopping 146-minutes, the filmmaking and focus of the project sadly feel lifeless. The plot continues to connect the themes of Jurassic World with the wider world outside of Isla Nublar, including the cinematic introduction of Biosyn Genetics. With Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) working for them, it comes as no shock that Biosyn Genetics’ outwardly innocent research into dinosaurs has more sinister intentions.
By taking the science developed for the creation of dinosaurs and implementing it into locusts, Biosyn has developed a plan to control the global food market. On paper, this is not a terrible path for the series to take. It is socially relevant and gives a more clear real-world meaning to the messages of the franchise. The issue is that the execution is rather awful. Not only is Biosyn as a villain the most boring choice for a Jurassic Park sequel this deep in with so many other nameless evil scientists already seen, but there is something undeniably lackluster about spending so much time with literal bugs in a movie where dinosaurs are attacking the world. It doesn't help that the film heavily interweaves this plot with the already laughably bad human clone plot line introduced in the previous film, yet at least this plot gives some moments where the audience can enjoy a laugh at the stupidity they are watching.
Jurassic World Dominion seems to know this, however, and hopes to hook the audience through two other different avenues. The first is nostalgia. Nostalgia has become a dangerous game for franchises with it being a quick path to either success or disaster. Jurassic World Dominion leans on the disaster side of things. Not only are the vast majority of references meaningless to the plot, but they simply are soulless. There are no emotions behind these decisions or substance to justify their inclusion; instead, it just feels cheap. The other avenue is through action. There are endless action scenes in Jurassic World Dominion, and nearly every one outstays their welcome to painful results. It is only fun to watch CGI dinosaurs chase Chris Pratt for so long, yet the film seems to think that audiences will adore 20-minute sequences of this back to back. These scenes feel endless and only draw out the film's already long runtime even more. Somehow, Jurassic World Dominion has found a way to make dinosaurs themselves feel boring. The non-stop assault of dinosaur attacks not only last forever, but they often make no sense. Dinosaurs have never physically moved slower, with every action scene seeing a dinosaur simply stare at someone to give enough time to escape. There is a serious lack of momentum and tenseness, which is only further hurt by the lack of belief that anyone of note is going to actually die in the film. There are no stakes, no energy, and no point throughout the film's action creating a cocktail of boredom.
While at least every Jurassic Park sequel to date has had a minimum of one scene of major redemption, Jurassic World Dominion simply has none. This is a feature that is painful to watch. It does nothing with the intriguing world it takes place in and hopes that cheap nostalgia will be enough to get audiences to enjoy the product it is delivering, something not even close to true. Any hopes that the Jurassic World trilogy would finally find its masterpiece have been crushed and one can only hope we can finally leave the Jurassic Park franchise in extinction before any more damage is caused.
