Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Jurassic World: Dominion is set four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar and the events of Fallen Kingdom, where 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 can live with history’s most fearsome creatures in a new era or potentially go extinct as a result of their own actions.
This film serves as the conclusion to the Jurassic World trilogy and was easily one of my most anticipated films of the year despite the flaws of the previous installment. I had the opportunity to watch an early screening with a full crowd so I was able to have a special experience with this film and give everyone an idea of what kind of film they are in for. And I can happily say that Jurassic World: Dominion gave me the biggest god damn smile throughout the whole film and I had an amazing audience experience full of applause, laughter, and epic thrills.
Dominion is a solid story conclusion for both the Jurassic World characters and the legacy characters as both their worlds collide, making for an exhilarating summer flick to sink your teeth into. This film delivers fun, adventurous thrills, interesting themes, and continuous satisfaction all the way through as it manages to improve upon the elements of previous installments in certain areas and play around with a much larger toy box.
As established in Fallen Kingdom dinosaurs now run loose globally and the opening establishes the fragile state of the world as humanity attempts to co-exist with them. All it would take for this coexistence to break is the tiniest shift in balance that could wipe out one or both species on the planet and that is what this film ends up focusing on with the use of two storylines that intertwine together.
In the first storyline you have Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) who end up going on a globe-trotting adventure when Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and Blue the raptor’s newly born baby are taken by the shadowy organization, Biosyn, who want them both for genetic purposes. They are both given great performances by their respective actors and share marvelous chemistry as they go on a thrilling tension-filled adventure that has them meeting old friends, new allies, and very dangerous dinos.
One of the newest faces they meet is cargo pilot Kayla Watts who was an absolutely fun addition to the group and was played brilliantly by actress DeWanda Wise.
We get to see through them the many changes the world has endured since dinosaurs and genetic power were unleashed, from black market exchanges of dangerous carnivores to the treatment of certain herbivores by humanity. And as for Maisie’s role in the story, it is significantly improved and expanded upon in this film as Trevorrow and the filmmakers take what was considered one of the worst subplots of the previous film and actually made it better, serving a purpose to the bigger picture. It also manages to tie in a plot element of Jurassic Park 3 that I wasn’t expecting but it really worked out. Maisie was definitely a way better character in this film and was given a more solid performance by Isabella Sermon.
The second plot line involves our returning trio Adam Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) who reunite together on screen for the first time since Jurassic Park to expose a conspiracy related to Biosyn that could potentially lead to the extinction of humanity and allow the dinosaurs to rule the earth.
Due to spoilers I can’t exactly describe what it is they do in this film but I can say that all three of them were absolutely awesome, stealing the spotlight anytime they came on scene, and were given the best performances by the returning cast. All of them were such gems on screen together and on their own, especially Jeff Goldblum as Ian who was obviously having a blast with his proper return to the role. They deliver some of the best humor too, making this film the funniest of the three films, giving the best laughs and not falling flat as much compared to the other installments.
The two storylines do end up connecting and colliding in a cohesive fashion leading to fun interactions between both generations as they confront deadly dinosaurs both new and old as well as the previously mentioned Biosyn in an epic adventure that has stakes for all of them. They endure incredible terrors and fun thrills that kept me and everyone else on the very edge of our seats with endless excitement.
Now some of you are probably wondering what is this Biosyn that suddenly showed up? Unfortunately, I can’t discuss in exact detail on what the organization is or their motives, but let’s just say they are a surprising face we were introduced to in Jurassic Park, one that was responsible for certain events and served as the human antagonists for this film. The filmmakers managed to bring certain plot points and storylines of the previous films full circle with this group and other story elements that I thought were handled brilliantly.
And the best part is that no one felt largely unnecessary to the plot. Everyone serves their purpose and no one felt majorly out of place unlike in the previous installment.
As for the dinosaurs themselves they are absolutely magnificent, brought to life by a beautiful combination of practical puppeteering and detailed CGI. We have our familiar dinosaurs that we know of but the main dinos this film highlights are the new species, each getting their chance to shine in major action sequences that feel so much bigger in scale compared to the previous installments.
There are some surprising species inclusions in this but definitely one of the big ones to discuss is the Giganotosaurus, a monstrous apex predator that really was as epic and terrifying as promised. While I do consider the Indominus Rex to be the best dinosaur villain of the trilogy, Giganotosaurus is a strong contender, especially with having such a fierce design, and felt more realistic thanks to awesome animatronic work.
The filmmakers obviously had a lot of fun playing with the new dinos alongside the old ones, and they really brought them to life with a higher usage of practical effects. It felt like Colin Trevorrow listened to the criticism of the lack of practical work in the first film and really upped the ante, putting in as much practical work for the dinosaurs as he could. As a result, it made the thrills more engaging and made the audience feel more absorbed into all that was happening.
The CGI is also really great, giving us fantastic visuals, creature appearances, and set pieces alongside some truly spectacular cinematography, making this film the best made Jurassic film on a technical level. And just like the previous films, Michael Giacchino delivers an epic score that gets the blood pumping and adds to the tension and excitement.
This film really managed to deliver a satisfying end to the trilogy with a unique premise and successfully concludes arcs and storylines for the characters. Having endured delays and impacts on production you’d think there could be some massive negative impacts on the quality of the final product but there weren’t really any to be seen. If I were to name a few non-spoiler criticisms I will say the film could have benefited from including the publicly released prologue in the final cut as certain things in it play a big role in the film, especially when it comes to some of the dinosaurs. But with the film already being pretty lengthy as is, I do partly understand why they chose to separate it.
And while this film does conclude the story of the characters it doesn’t necessarily close the book on the franchise as the film ends on an ambiguous note with the state of the world. It didn’t entirely feel like a full-on ending of the series, meaning that this might not be the final Jurassic film we see. They could potentially explore this world of human and dinosaur coexistence further in another trilogy with new characters and ideas based on what they established in this. I guess it all depends on the success of this film and whether they choose to go further from here.
Much like the first Jurassic World, I ended up having an awesome blast of a time with this film and I can definitely see myself watching this many times over. This film delivered a damn good time for me and my audience and I think it’s more than likely to give others a good time too. No need to listen to pointless negativity when you have the ability to watch for yourself and make your own thoughts. There’s a lot of fun, thrills, and the conclusion to a long cautionary tale of genetic power to be found in this film if you open yourself to it. I’m going to give Jurassic World Dominion an A+ = 98.
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