32 years after the original Jurassic Park, Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum have returned to team up with Bryce Dallas-Howard and Chris Pratt for the franchise’s final outing in Jurassic World Dominion.
★★✰✰✰
The sixth instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Dominion was inevitability going to pay tribute to 1993’s original with the return of the original trio; Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. Director Colin Trevorrow uses the occasion to try and merge Steven Spielberg’s trilogy with the two previous Jurassic World movies and as a result, Jurassic World Dominion is a lacklustre close to the trilogy without offering much new material to the tried and tested formula.
Jurassic World Dominion aims to lead the franchise into a new era where dinosaurs roam free and humans must to learn to co-exist with the pre-historic predators. Picking up from the events of Fallen Kingdom, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) have retreated to a secluded cabin to avoid the prying eyes of intelligence agencies who are searching for their adopted daughter, Maisie. As a human clone, Maisie is as valuable to genetics giant Biosyn as the man-made raptor Blue and her offspring, Beta. Poachers capture the raptor baby and Maisie and they are whisked across the world to Biosyn’s remote headquarters in the mountains in Italy. The ensuring rescue mission leads Owen and Claire into the path of Ellie Sadler (Dern), Alan Grant (Neill) and Ian Malcom (Goldblum) who are themselves trying to prove that Biosyn have created a hybrid species of Locus that are terrorising the ecosystem. DeWanda Wise is a welcome new addition to the franchise as pilot Kayla who shines for her straight-talking nature, wit and fearlessness that make her a standalone hero in the film. She also acts as a bridge between the dinosaur underground trade ring and Biosyn for Owen and Claire, as she knows the location of the secret lab that Maisie has been taken to and she has a plane to get them there.
Trevorrow and co-writer Emily Carmichael have not deviated from the beloved franchise’s distinctive narrative of: dinosaurs are held in a remote location; new hybrids species are being created who threaten humanity and our heroes are flung into their jaws. Certain scenes are so similar to previous films that it feels as though they’ve been cut straight out and dropped back into the new setting, such as Owen riding his motorbike as he’s chased by raptors. It seems as though the project was meant to be a nostalgic reflection of all five movies, but it almost goes a step too far and becomes over-saturated with easter eggs to the point where it acts as a compilation of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World.
Alongside Ellie, Alan and Ian appearing in almost identical outfits to their first outings as these characters, there are countless references to the original movie. Ellie says ‘you never get used to it’ as she lovingly holds the head of a triceratops, Ian unbuttons his black shirt only to be told ‘too much’ and most of the trio take off their sunglasses to see more clearly—an iconic move from the original.
All points of conflict between the trio of scientists and the hands-on-dinosaur family have been ignored in favour of a harmonious ensemble story. As Owen and Claire stab, taser and punch their way out of every threat, Ian, Ellie and Alan run, hide or attempt to outsmart the dinosaurs with their knowledge of the creatures. Instead, the film thrives on areas of mutual interest between the characters as they bring closure to each character’s journey. Alan gets to interact and train a baby raptor with raptor breeder, Owen and his protegee Maisie. While, Ellie repeats her solo mission from the original (but this time with Clare) to fight to get the power back on in the control room.
Equally, Ellie and Alan’s chemistry is as endearing as it was throughout the Jurassic Park trilogy, but Claire and Owen’s relationship doesn’t feel as authentic. From awkward hugs to one-sided ‘I love you’, Claire and Owen’s connection mainly seems feasible when there’s someone else involved, such as their reunion with Maisie.
Despite the similarities with the 1990 original, Jurassic World Dominion lacks the pace of Spielberg’s classic. It takes almost an hour for the main dinosaur action to begin before it hurtles into a non-stop sequence of near-misses. It’s an adrenaline rush that will keep you at the edge of your seat, but the sustained suspense leaves the audience incapable of taking the entire film in. The mismatched pace also leads to a rushed ending, where the main threat is solved in the final minutes of the film.
The film begins and ends with news footage that reflects on the relationship between humans and the natural world and how they can co-exist in harmony. At the centre of the narrative, humans are still their own worst enemy for creating life-threatening issues within their environment. This reflects our real-world climate emergency, along with Ian’s warning that nature has dominion over the planet, while humanity has no control over the natural world.
The Verdict
Jurassic fans will enjoy the thrill of seeing their favourite characters from the two trilogies work together to escape the old-age threat of dinosaurs. It’s not a new cinematic classic, but it’s an adrenaline rush that captures the best aspects of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World trilogies.
Words by Jess Bacon
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