By Gilberto Campa
For the last thirty years, the Jurassic Park franchise has struggled to grow from being a science fiction/action-adventure series into something else entirely as audiences’ tastes and interests have evolved. Beginning in 1993, the themes of the movie have continued to be rehashed, retold, and re-introduced in more ways than one. Even though the subject matter is something that we aren’t used to seeing as dinosaurs are always an exciting topic, it gets to a point where you have to bring something new to the table to be relevant. Unfortunately, with Jurassic World Dominion they don’t step fully into that idea as the final film in the series (at least for now) doesn’t really bring anything new to the series.
Based on the previous installment (Fallen Kingdom) much of the excitement was lost for the sixth film in the series. Because of that a lot of work needed to be done to bring that excitement back, on paper there were many things to look forward to as the film would see the return of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neil), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and everyone’s favorite Chaos Theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). In addition, the movie would also see the return of director Colin Trevorrow who has been muddled in Star Wars drama since 2017. There are parts of Dominion that are very exciting though, such as the middle of the movie that is highlighted by an incredible chase sequence with Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and about three Raptors (with other Dinosaurs roaming around) causing havoc. But other than that sequence and the multiple callbacks to the overall series which got a little repetitive, this movie doesn’t really do much for the future of the franchise, even though hearing the Jurassic Park theme by John Williams always brings the chills.
Prior to this being released there was a ten-minute preview put online (pretty much a short film) that set up the mood of the movie as the famous (and undefeated) Tyrannosaurus Rex wreaked havoc on a small family in a camper which got audiences (and myself) a little more excited for what was to come. But after seeing the film you really don’t get to see much of the dinosaurs in the major metropolitan areas, instead, it’s really only played for laughs and gags in the first twenty minutes. Instead of InGen creating the deadliest dinosaurs they can, it’s their rival company Biosin Genetics who have secretly done experiment’s modifying locusts with the help of Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) all while pretending to care about bettering the world through Dinosaur DNA. Campbell Scott who is really solid in a lot of the work he does was in a whole other movie compared to the rest of the characters as the head of Biosyn Dr. Lewis Dodgson, and it didn’t work. If it wasn’t for the action, some of the best scares in the series overall, and the always perfect line delivery by Jeff Goldblum, this movie would be a very hard pass when it came down to it. DeWanda Wise who shines in the Netflix series, She’s Gotta Have it, isn’t given a lot to do but does what she can, but ultimately serves as a plot device when you think about it. If you are a die-hard Jurassic Park fan then this will be a fun time for you but it doesn’t bring anything new or groundbreaking to the table, and with the way things are now in film, Nostalgia without a good story isn’t going to cut it. I really wanted to like this, but I think it’s time for the Jurassic Park franchise to quietly go into extinction.