'Jurassic World Dominion' film review: Nostalgia, thrills highlight one last walk through the park
New and familiar characters come together in the dinosaur-packed adventure 'Jurassic World Dominion' (in theaters June 10).
In short: Dinosaurs now live among humans across the globe. Owen and Claire (Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard) race across the world to save their adopted daughter Maisie while Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) enlists help from Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm (Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum) as she investigates a new global threat.
The movie’s one-sheet poster promises an 'epic conclusion' to the series, yet 'Dominion' falls short of anything close to the grandeur or magic of the original 'Jurassic Park.' The 'Jurassic World' trilogy is basically Ian Malcolm's "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should" speech drawn out to its logical extreme. And at least 'Dominion' makes good on reaching back to the original film's ruminations about scientific ethics - even if these ideas are a bit thin in this sixth movie. And, for what it’s worth, 'Dominion' isn't much of a 'conclusion' simply because it simply doesn’t resolve anything the franchise was grappling with - either philosophically or tangibly (ie dinosaurs). This is merely the sixth and latest ‘Jurassic’ film, so expectations for some decisive franchise closure should be recalibrated.
'Dominion' features characters spanning the entire franchise, but the only character with any discernable story arc is young teen Maisie (who in the previous film discovered she was the product of human cloning). While the film initially focuses on Maisie's existential angst of identity (as she ponders her legacy as a human clone), 'Dominion' makes a weird pivot - one that argues in favor of meddling in genetics. This is odd because the entire series points out all the unforeseen consequences of meddling with genetics - but 'Dominion' makes the argument that such work is OK ... if the researcher herself has good intentions. Keep in mind, every single film in this series features a prominent character whose good or misguided intentions were always derailed by catastrophe.
Despite all the shallow ethical conversations about an amoral corporation's diabolical plan, arguably the entire story can be summed up as Dr. Sattler goes on a fetch quest while Owen and Claire ... also go on a separate fetch quest ... until they realize their two fetch quests are connected. For a story that's pretty uncomplicated, 'Dominion' is long, but to the movie's credit the plot clicks along nicely. In spite of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, 'Dominion' maintains its energy by relentlessly throwing the characters from one harrowing chase sequence into the next. At the risk of sounding like a backhanded compliment, 'Dominion' seems to know that this is a completely plot-driven ride (with some minimal "plot" that justifies yet another dinosaur-themed story), so the movie at its best as it just switches between the various characters in various dire situations.
Theoretically 'Jurassic World Dominion' is about dinosaurs, but the actual stakes of 'Dominion' are rooted in ... genetically engineered food and genetically modified insects. While criticisms of 'Jurassic Park III' are fair (lol - talking raptors), at least the raptors chasing Alan Grant and company across the island had some motivation: retrieving a stolen egg, tapping into an elemental parental instinct, thus nodding toward complex dinosaur social dynamics. And for as flat and stupid 'Fallen Kingdom' is, at least that film hinted at the stupid combination of greed and weapons dealing as even the least ethical scientists were not OK with idea of selling dangerous raptor-hybrids on the black market. This time around - the dinosaurs are simply interchangeable monsters that pop-up throughout the film to endanger or annoy the main characters.
Final verdict: 'Dominion' flirts with some thoughtful notions regarding bioethics, but for the most part this final 'Jurassic' film is happy to be an exciting string of dinosaur chase sequences. Thin on majesty or magic, 'Dominion' is still an entertaining ride with plenty of thrills.
Score: 3/5
'Jurassic World Dominion' opens in theaters nationwide on June 10. This sci-fi adventure is PG-13 for intense sequences of action, some violence and language and has a runtime of 146 minutes.
