A One Mann’s Movies review of “Jurassic World: Dominion” (2022).
Unlike a lot of people, I quite enjoyed “Jurassic Worlld: Fallen Kingdom“. Yes, it was contrived and lacked the high-octane thrills of the original JP movies. But at least it had a coherent story and J.A. Bayona used some neat visual devices to add some finesse to the piece. Now comes the next film in the series – Jurassic World: Dominion – and – oh dear – what a disappointment.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Thanks to the impetuous actions of young clone Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) at the end of the last movie, dinosaurs are now free to roam the earth. And roaming they are, causing chaos and calamity in their wake. Maisie is living with her foster parents Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) anonymously in the wilds of the High Sierras. But the future of the world is threatened when the genetic research of Ingen competitor, Biosyn, creates a mutant locust set to destroy the world’s crops.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Isabella Sermon, DaWanda Wise, Campbell Scott, BD Wong.
Directed by: Colin Trevorrow.
Written by: Emily Carmichael & Colin Trevorrow. From a story by Derek Connolly.
Twitter Handles: #jurassicworlddominion; #JurassicWorld.
Jurassic World: Dominion Review:
Positives:
- It’s great to see Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum back on the screen together again. And Goldblum has the best comedy lines in the film: one about a humping dog feels like an improvisation designed to inject a bit of life into the limp script!
Negatives:
- Where to start? This movie seems to have no idea what it is trying to be. (The one thing it really doesn’t manage to be is being a Jurassic Park/World movie!) It’s more a half-baked industrial thriller (with added dinosaurs). At one point, in Malta, it goes all Bond/Bourne on you (with added dinosaurs). And there are elements of “Taken”, “Indiana Jones” and “Something’s Gotta Give” scattered in there (all with added dinosaurs). Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) is the same sort of cardboard-cutout amalgum Musk/Zuckerberg character (obviously NOT either Musk OR Zuckerberg!) that we saw Mark Rylance do so much better in “Don’t Look Up“. It’s very unclear what his motivations are.
- The random elements of the story all feel like they’ve been stuffed together from completely different films. Coincidental elements that are solely there to link together various “action” sequences and manage to unite the JW and JP cast for that ‘wallpaper shot’.
- The thrills are so wonderfully unthrilling! HOW EXACTLY DO YOU MAKE A “JURASSIC” FILM AND ACHIEVE THAT?? There is just zero tension in any of the build up. There’s only one decent jump scare in the whole film (and yes, the illustrious Mrs Movie Man did jump!) As this was the opening night in the UK, the cinema was almost full. And yet, there was just zero atmosphere in the room.
- What wussy dinosaurs! There are numerous points at which the “terrifying carnivores” circle the heroes and give them a damn good sniffing (and nothing more)! One scene around a jeep is particularly ridiculous! And – perhaps it was the mood I was in – but the dinosaurs this time lacked the AWE present in the previous films. Only one sequence at the end of the film – albeit unlikely, showing dinosaurs coexisting with other species – even vaguely got there for me.
- It’s 166 minutes long!
Summary Thoughts on “Jurassic World: Dominion”:
I was looking forward to this summer blockbuster. But it failed on every level to satisfy me. What a disappoinment! Please God let this be the last of these films. For as a franchise, in my book, it’s run completely out of steam. As Jeff Goldblum says knowingly at one point “Jurassic World? I’m not a fan”.
Trailer for “Jurassic World: Dominion”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb5ELWi-ekk .
