Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Isabella Sermon and DeWanda Wise in a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion." (Photo by John Wilson/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
They come in threes. I'm not talking about a string of personal setbacks, backup singers or the flavors in Neapolitan ice cream. It's movie trilogies, that summer and holiday season entertainment staple that used to send moviegoers into multiplexes in droves. Even in the age of COVID, when an ostensibly surefire project still means a roll of the dice for a studio, just hearing the sound of a familiar three-part saga rarely fails to make impressionable fans salivate in anticipation.
The predominantly uninspired and lackluster "Jurassic World" movies are no exception. The new millennium continuation of the "Jurassic Park" films of the 1990s and early 2000s capitalized on name recognition and lingering admiration for the first entry in the franchise, Steven Spielberg's impeccably crafted 1993 adaptation of Michael Crichton's best-seller. But the first two entries, Colin Trevorrow's "Jurassic World" (2015) and J.A. Bayona's "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" three years later, failed to live up to the standard set by the original, with its roller coaster hairpin turns preceded by a methodical buildup, not to mention its game-changing computer generated effects.
Laura Dern and Sam Neill in a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion." (Photo by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
Redemption is not in the cards, I'm sorry to report. "Jurassic World Dominion" is bad news, a generic trilogy capper that rams an environmental cautionary tale down viewers' throats with all the finesse of a sledgehammer. Even more disingenuous, it's a generic corporate product that wears its anti-corporate jabs on its sleeve.
Trevorrow, back in the director's chair, gives audiences more of what he thinks they want, but the frenetic pace, eclectic international locations, ripped-from-the-headlines visual cues and the return of familiar faces from the older trilogy amount to less than the sum of their parts. In the words of an author who knew how to churn out quality work with wide appeal, it's full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
It really didn't have to be this way. While "Fallen Kingdom" is a miss and its bad rap is justified to some degree, it featured well-executed setpieces and suitably creepy imagery. More importantly, the way it ended appeared to send the franchise in an intriguing direction reminiscent of the "Planet of the Apes" movies.
Clearly, the logical next step was to tell the next chapter from the point of view of Blue, the smart velociraptor who was able to form a tenuous bond with her human caretakers, the better to explore the concept of dinosaur evolution just as humanity contemplates a future that entails sharing Earth with the prehistoric creatures.
Jeff Goldblum, Mamoudou Athie and Campbell Scott in a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion." (Photo by John Wilson/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
Naturally, Trevorrow sidelines Blue, sticks her with a lame kidnapping subplot and gives the T-Rex's share of screen time to the thoroughly unappealing central characters from the more recent movies.
It's four years after ethologist/dino whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) escaped a volcanic eruption at Isla Nublar, the setting for the ill-fated theme parks that kicked off each trilogy, along with Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) Jurassic World's former operations manager, and Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), a clone with an indirect (and kind of convoluted) connection to the kindly grandpa who founded Jurassic Park (not so kindly in the novel). The trio is living off the grid and attempting to evade the poachers who would take Maisie away for nefarious purposes.
But as we learned 29 years ago, life finds a way, and so do creaky inciting incidents. Cue the sneering nondescript baddies who not only snatch the rebellious Maisie but Blue's baby, prompting Owen to make a promise to the snarling mother to bring her offspring back. The appearance of mini-Blue raises all kinds of questions, like how a genetically engineered creature designed to be unable to procreate could conceive, but you'd be surprised (or not) by how little Trevorrow and co-screenwriter Emily Carmichael are interested in the very theme that should be the driving force behind "Dominion."
Chris Pratt in a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion."
Instead, the movie serves up clusters of exposition and a steady succession of sequences of peril, strung together by a running screed about the dangers of manipulating the environment for corporate gain. Enter Biosyn, a genetics company whose CEO, Lewis Dodgson, has hatched a plan for global monopoly involving large locusts munching on crops that are not Biosyn's (shades of Monsanto and its GMOs). Dodgson, played by Campbell Scott with a tip of the hat to Apple CEO Tim Cook, is actually a returning character, seen briefly at the beginning of the first "Jurassic Park," but he's a flavorless megalomaniac. If Trevorrow's intention was to come up with the dullest possible villain, mission accomplished.
A Pyroraptor, DeWanda Wise and Chris Pratt in a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion." (Photo by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
The filmmaker probably thinks it doesn't matter, since he appears convinced he's secured his ace in the hole: bringing the three most prominent stars of the 1993 film together for the first time since the original.
But even with the considerable charisma and combined wattage of Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum, he still manages to bungle his big get. Like in the more recent "Scream" legacy sequel/reboot, the trio capably fill in the nostalgia factor while being given precious little to do. The difference here is that most of the new "Scream" characters are reasonably engaging.
But Owen, Claire, Maisie and the rest of the "Jurassic World" players coming back for their curtain call are simply not very memorable, at least not in gratifying ways. Pratt's screen presence remains MIA, and although Howard's character is no longer the insufferable executive shill she was in the 2015 film, she still manages to find ways to annoy. It's never a good sign when you find yourself rooting for the lethal dinos to eat the heroes.
Especially when they're stuck in a wild goose chase across the globe. Mimicking the structure of a spy thriller is not the most terrible idea, but "Dominion" hurtles forward in a way that makes trudging through exotic locales and treacherous encounters feel like a chore. Even a sequence that apes the roof-jumping foot chase in "The Bourne Ultimatum" fails to generate genuine thrills. (It's a Bond flick, with dinos! It can't lose!)
Bryce Dallas Howard in a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion." (Photo by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
That's because there's no terror in "Dominion," no encroaching dread to give you goosebumps. The dialogue states these people are in danger, but making viewers feel the risks involved is something that remains just out of Trevorrow's grasp. Instead, he makes one unimaginative attempt after another to recapture what made the original "Jurassic Park" special. Thing is, camera placement matters when making this kind of monster mash.
It's something Spielberg instinctively understood and proceeded to execute with seasoned-pro precision. (Admittedly, "The Lost World," his 1997 follow-up to "Jurassic Park," showed us Uncle Steven in mechanical, auto-pilot mode.)
By contrast, Trevorrow, who made a splash with his time travel-themed indie comedy "Safety Not Guaranteed" a decade ago but has yet to show a sliver of that film's charm in his later work, is conspicuously bad at finding ways to quicken a viewer's pulse. He's made a popcorn movie that doesn't want to get its hands dirty, a hollow shell of the kind of blockbuster people want to revisit again and again.
DeWanda Wise, Laura Dern and a Giganotosaurusin a scene from "Jurassic World Dominion." (Photo by John Wilson/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. Copyright 2022 Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment.)
"Jurassic World Dominion" settles for a crowded and overlong victory lap, but at least there's one way in which it supports its pro-environment rhetoric: it doesn't leave much of a carbon footprint. Maybe it will make a decent ride at Universal Studios ten years from now? Hope springs eternal.
"Jurassic World Dominion" is now showing in wide release across South Florida, including IMAX and IMAX 3-D engagements at AMC Aventura, AMC Sunset Place, CMX Dolphin 19 and Regal South Beach. It's also showing at the AutoNation IMAX at the Museum of Discovery and Science in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
