Rating: 7.6
“Jurassic World Dominion” is a movie I genuinely don’t know how to feel about. Parts of me really liked it, and other parts were very critical and disappointed in it. It’s one I might have to see again to really firm up my opinion. Regardless… I had fun with this movie. I just want to make it clear it is nowhere near as bad as some people say it is; it's not perfect, but it is still lots of fun! However this is definitely the weakest in the “Jurassic World” trilogy, but I am someone who loved “Jurassic World” and for the most part really liked “Fallen Kingdom”. I have to say, I did like this more than the original sequels to “Jurassic Park”, and I thought this did serve as a nice finale to the series, even if it has changed substantially.
I think my biggest issue here was how different it was from what I wanted and expected to see coming off the ending of “Fallen Kingdom”, but I can’t blame the movie for that. I feel like there were many more interesting stories that could’ve been told here, but what we got was okay. It just makes me want to see more from this world at this time, with the dinosaurs being out in the world it leaves a lot of potential stories open to be told! This story, however, was very poorly told. It was exceptionally weakly written, and was not compelling or interesting for much of the film. I normally get into films pretty easily, but it took me a good 45 minutes to get into this one. The script even felt like fan-fiction at times, and never really sold me on what was going on. The script has no emotion to it, the audience has no emotional connection to the characters (even the old ones) and I felt like I didn’t really care what happened in multiple instances. The cloning problem… the locusts… Biosyn… it’s just all sort of there… and the film is very much an overstuffed jumble of characters and plotlines.
The most heinous crime however: the fact that this film normalizes dinosaurs being in the world. Because of this, we lose the awe and wonder of seeing dinosaurs alongside the characters, a feeling that has been present in every “Jurassic” film until now. Not only that, but we also lose the scare factor that makes these films so great. There’s no suspense, no tension, just straight action. Every dinosaur scene doesn’t feel as threatening as it should… and there’s a moment in the finale that is a prime example of this. I also did not love the locusts plot… took way too much away from the dinosaurs. Like… this is a dinosaur movie right? In the (paraphrased) words of Ian Malcolm: Do you plan to have dinosaurs in your dinosaur movie? The script does not balance itself well either, the characters have no compelling drama or story and the dinosaurs don’t either… it just feels hollow. Where are all the big ideas about genetic experimentation and natural consequences? I also found the film to be both too long and not long enough. There are way too many characters, and half are unnecessary, they just take up screen time. And one other thing… WHY WASN’T THE PROLOGUE IN THE FILM?! They released this great 5 minute sequence as advertising last year, saying it was the prologue to the film, and yet the movie instead starts with an abysmally executed “last time on Jurassic World…” kind of recap. Having the prologue in solves a whole ton of the issues I have with the film; it mirrors the end in interesting ways and sets up some conflicts, as well as shows an interesting scene that is mentioned multiple times throughout the film. Plus it's a much more entertaining way to begin the film.
Okay… one more bad to go. Colin Trevorrow’s direction. He genuinely did a terrible job here. It was so bland and had no style, it lost all Spielbergian charm he may have had when doing the first “Jurassic World”. JA Bayona at least brought excellent gothic horror stylings to “Fallen Kingdom” which really made it feel horrific… and then we go to this bland, generic stuff. Nothing sticks out, it's just generic blockbuster filmmaking. Sure there are a few interesting visuals and a final montage that I love, but I’m sure under a different direction they would be even better.
Now, you might be wondering: after all those criticisms, how did you still enjoy it? Well, despite it not being what I wanted and being a very flawed film, it was at least fun! I was entertained, there was some cool Dino stuff, some fun action set-pieces, and I loved that the production team committed to using more animatronics for the dinosaurs. It just helped make them feel more authentic! I also LOVED the return of the original cast, and was so happy to see they actually played major roles in the plot. Plus, the new cast from the current films wasn’t half-bad either. I also loved how the human villain is technically from the first film, and there were some many great nods to the original “Jurassic Park”! Speaking of the villain… Biosyn is literally an evil Apple, and Dodgson is literally an evil Tim Cook… right down to the look! I loved this sly critique of modern capitalist culture, and how many companies (especially in the tech sector) behave. There were also some really cool visual sequences, and the sound in this movie was great! I also loved Michael Giacchino’s score! He did a lot of the heavy lifting for the emotion of the film, trying his best to make it resonate with music where the screenplay couldn’t. And by god it worked! This score really did elevate so many moments for me, and used themes from all over!
So while I do think this film is deeply flawed, I enjoyed it! I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about it, but I do know I liked it better than “Jurassic Park 3”! I would definitely recommend seeing it, especially if you have enjoyed the rest of this franchise. I wouldn’t even mind seeing more! There’s still a ton of potential for future stories, and I think I would enjoy this even more knowing this is just the beginning of something new. While it is no “Jurassic Park”, and definitely doesn’t have suspense… it is a really fun action blockbuster! If you can get through the 1st act… the last 2/3 are a great time! I loved parts, but some didn’t work for me, and yet I would still recommend checking it out! How could you say no to dinosaurs?
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IMDb Rating: 6.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 31%
RT Audience Score: 81%
Metacritic Score: 37
CinemaScore: A-
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Universal
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
Screenplay by Colin Trevorrow & Emily Carmichael
Story by Colin Trevorrow & Derek Connolly
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott
Runtime: 2hr 26min
Rating: PG
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
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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.
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Fun Fact: Colin Trevorrow has revealed that this film is actually going to have the more animatronics than its predecessors. As he put it: "We've actually gone more practical with every Jurassic movie we've made since the first one, and we've made more animatronics in this one than we have in the previous two."
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