Jurassic World: Domination Movie Review. Jurassic World: Domination (2022) is not a movie, but a collection of all the problems (and a couple of virtues) of modern franchises. A large-scale, incredibly spectacular, but at the same time too chaotic and crumpled finale of the modern Jurassic trilogy, leaving the door to possible sequels open. You will find a ton of fan service, great special effects, unnecessary dinosaurs and a complete lack of logic.
The fatigue of the Jurassic World franchise was already talked about after the release of the second part. If in 2015, when the first film appeared, everyone was just happy to see dinosaurs on the big screens, then it quickly became clear that there was simply nothing to tell the authors. The sequel from the middle turned into an almost chamber thriller about the showdown of businessmen.
But the franchise was still making money, so the third part was also removed. And it is “Dominance” that looks like not just a reflection of all the problems of the Jurassic World series. The film embodies the shortcomings of just about every large-scale franchise of recent years, from Star Wars to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But at the same time, the film has all the necessary components that will attract fans: from the coolest visual effects to the return of beloved characters.
As a result, the attitude towards the film while watching literally jumps from love to hate and back. But in the end, only bewilderment remains: what was it all about?
The main theme of the franchise was completely forgotten
The main thing you need to know about the third part: “Jurassic World” is no longer about dinosaurs. And this is the biggest problem.
The film has two storylines. Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) live with a growing Maisie (Isabella Sermon) in seclusion. But they are hunted down by some mercenaries. They kidnap the girl, and at the same time the cub Blue, the raptor that Owen taught. The heroes bring up old connections to find Maisie.
At the same time, Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant (Laura Dern and Sam Neill from Jurassic Park) are trying to figure out the origin of a giant locust that could lead the world to famine.
It’s easy to figure it out: insects devour everything except BioSyn’s fields. The heroes go to the corporation’s laboratory to get evidence. Luckily, their old friend Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) lectures there.
Re-read the description again and make sure: I mentioned dinosaurs once. They, of course, are in the plot: as an entourage, a weapon of villains and one of the root causes of all problems.
But if you imagine that “Domination” does not apply to the franchise and replace the ancient lizards with robots or aliens, nothing will change. Some heroes are looking for a child, others run around the laboratory in search of a sample of locust DNA.
Remember how in “The Book of Boba Fett” almost two episodes did not show Boba at all. Or how in Doctor Who the heroes almost stopped flying to other planets, sorting out social problems on Earth.
Such a disregard for the main theme of the franchise is simply angry. Why in “Jurassic World” the planet suffers not from the invasion of tyrannosaurs, but from locusts the size of a cat. Is this exactly the movie fans of the franchise want?
Fanservice is thrown every minute
Here everyone will decide for himself whether this is a plus or a minus. The situation with Jurassic World is exactly the same as with Spider-Man: No Way Home and most of the new Star Wars projects. The main bet is made on nostalgia: the heroes of the new parts are pushed into the background, but they are allowed to admire old acquaintances.
I grew up in Jurassic Park, so the return of Neill, Dern and Goldblum made me happy. Although, of course, one can feel the desire of the authors to add more fan service.
The characters take beautiful poses and look up in surprise – just like in the 1993 movie. Everyone says the very phrases that are expected of him, and Grant rushes about with his hat, like Indiana Jones.
Here, even the villain is a character from old films (although a new actor was taken for this role). And, of course, geneticist Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) returns. About him, even Goldblum’s character will ask: “Why is he all the time?”
What can I say, in the finale, one of the dinosaurs, passing by a huge ring, freezes for a second and turns into the logo of the franchise – just like James Bond in No Time to Die.
So there is a complete feeling that the creators of Jurassic World are no longer even trying to attract new viewers to the screens.
Like the authors of No Way Home, they instead drag nostalgic older generations into theaters who are still waiting for their favorite characters to finally kiss.
The film breaks any logic
Reasoning about the plausibility of the plot in science fiction films and horror is the most difficult thing. Even in drama there are always some plot assumptions. And here we also have to talk about a world where scientists breed intelligent ancient lizards.
So, perhaps, there is no point in arguing about the logic of the scene when dinosaurs chase the heroes through the narrow streets and jump over the roofs after them.
And you shouldn’t even find fault with the everyday life of the world, where dinosaurs settled around the planet, but the way of life of people seemed to have not changed. It fits within the realm of fantasy. But everything else – no.
For example, the moment when Claire, looking for Maisie, just walks up to the first woman she comes across and shows a photo of the girl. And this woman is just the pilot of the plane on which the child is being transported. Then they accidentally collide a second time. And then she decides to help the heroes because they reminded her of something there.
Or when an old friend tells Owen that he should never have contact with an undercover agent, and after 10 minutes the heroes are already talking and hugging him right on the street.
No better with the second storyline. Ellie and Alan arrive at BioSyn, a top secret company. Very secretly, hiding from the cameras, Yang gives them the key. After that, the heroes calmly change into protective clothes and go to the secret levels without hiding. For all the time of their search, they will not meet a single guard.
Maisie’s story is completely rewritten to please the new part. The villain’s assistants turn out to be kind at the snap of a finger, and half of the Chekhov guns that are introduced at the beginning do not even shoot blanks.
The apotheosis of idiocy reaches in the finale, when the park with dinosaurs is destroyed by some strange accident. But then everything somehow resolves itself for the sake of a happy ending.
Once again, Jurassic World is not alone. No Way Home and the ninth episode of Star Wars similarly changed logic to fan service. Therefore, it is better not to think about the plot twists of the new parts of large franchises.
Still visually impressive
We all understand why viewers watch Jurassic World. Not for Chris Pratt, and not even for Jeff Goldblum (although he’s super good in this movie). Everyone, of course, wants to admire the huge dinosaurs.
In the same way that Marvel is expected to have superhero action, and Star Wars is expected to have lightsaber fights. The main funds are invested in these components, leaving the plot only in the background.
And in this regard, Domination is the best thing in the entire franchise. Moreover, the finale of the second part allowed the authors to also fit them into completely different locations. Dinosaurs here now not only run through the forests, but fly over skyscrapers, rush through cities and dive into frozen lakes.
By the way, from the middle of the film, creatures that are more consistent with the latest research are already appearing. But what strikes me the most is how well they are made.
Take a closer look, here not only the movements of the lizard during the jump are shown very believably. When a dinosaur lands on ice, it slips a little. If only the plot had the same elaboration as the effects.
According to the precepts of Spielberg, in the third part of the “Jurassic World” they used not only graphics, but also animatronics. This allows the actors to better contact with the lizards, and the viewer – to believe in the realism of what is happening. In the unhurried scene, when the heroes are pursued by the Giganotosaurus, its mass and danger are felt.
Even here, however, it was not without problems. In action scenes, editing sometimes literally goes crazy. And this applies not only to conditional chases and fights, but also to more “calm” moments in which such quick transitions are simply not needed.
This randomness, of course, spoils the impression of the picture. But still, another dinosaur chasing the main characters will remind you again why everyone once fell in love with the first parts of the Jurassic Period.
Perhaps a few years ago, a project of this quality would have been forgiven a lot for its nostalgic atmosphere and excellent graphics. But now, literally every second franchise floods the viewer with fan service, and cool dinosaurs can also be seen in the documentary on Apple TV+.
And in all other respects, Jurassic World, alas, fails. Although the film’s box office exceeded $ 800 million, so it is hardly worth waiting for any changes – they will squeeze the franchise to the last.
Exactly twenty-nine years ago, on June 9th, Steven Spielberg rocked cinemas around the world with Jurassic Park , which to this day is best remembered for its giant leap forward in computer-generated imagery, as well as its enormous contribution to the entertainment genre of the film industry. After the completion of the original trilogy about the returned dinosaurs, a semi-reboot of 2015 was launched, developing in the same universe, but with new characters. Now this chapter of the multi-year franchise has come to its natural, but at the same time open ending.
Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, the surviving dinosaurs began to live and hunt side by side with humans. Various governments refuse to use military force, calling the option of destroying the resurrected species unacceptable, and the ordinary people are divided into many ideological camps. Soon, strange incidents start to occur in the world related to the destruction of the crops of rural fields, and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) turns to her old friends, Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) for help. Meanwhile, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) diligently protect their adopted daughter, as her genes hold the key to a technological breakthrough that attracts powerful individuals willing to go to any lengths to achieve it.
Structurally, the triquel is the opposite of its predecessor, The Fallen Kingdom, which received a very lukewarm reception from both the general public and most critics. In that film, the very implementation of many worthy ideas was nobly lame, since the second part of the script looked like complete nonsense, impudently copying the plot of Jurassic Park: The Lost World .
But along with the next sequel, we finally get a pretty peppy adventure that, during the first hour, quickly prepares us for a decisive battle, where the heroes of both trilogies come together, fighting for their lives in an uncontrolled environment. Your attitude towards these characters, both new and classic, will play a huge role here. If you like them and their charisma alone is enough to pay for the viewing, then Domination will act as a nostalgic trip for you straight back to the days of Spielberg’s first works. Alan Grant, Ian Malcom, and Ellie Sattler returned to the franchise, with not fleeting cameos, but their own arc, which plays a crucial role in the scenario.
At the same time, Reign inevitably stumbles upon the key conventions of modern semi-remakes: a lot of new characters whose presence on the screen is not supported by any plot meaning, awkward humor, which even within the framework of the stormy characters of the characters is perceived too clumsily, as well as an obligatory attempt to cram into the story a huge amount of all kinds of material, which would be fully enough for two separate films at once. In addition, branded self-repeats have not gone away: improved genes, a millionaire villain with megalomania, predators flirting with their prey, the most obvious screamers and the catchphrase: “Don’t move …”. Depending on the need of the writers, people go from being stupid, getting into crazy troubles, or surviving again and again with the help of unceasing luck.
*An eerie animal roar is heard*
One of the characters who knows he just flew into an area with countless dinosaurs: “It’s a different plane, right?”
Everything you need to know about the dialogue part of the picture.
The timing of the final tape is really voluminous, allowing you to thoroughly explore any possibilities, but the authors, for some mysterious reason, rush forward almost non-stop, as if afraid of losing their audience. It is likely that this was the original idea – to give the film the most vigorous narration in order to better indicate the plot stakes and at the same time demonstrate exciting action. It’s almost impossible to take a break here.
The sequel trilogy never had any particular visual problems, with each installment having a catchy, varied visual that did its job – to immerse us back into the wonderful world of the Jurassic period. Domination is no exception to this rule. Colin Trevorrow, who previously directed the 2015 film, is back in the director’s chair and has been blown away in terms of scale. Locations here change from beautiful winter landscapes to endless fields where brontosaurs now roam, from the sunny, crowded streets of Matera to foggy forests, where danger awaits you from almost every corner. In other words, the $165 million budget was used to the maximum.
Speaking of scenario nonsense, it should be noted that if the past parts did not hesitate to throw the concept of logic far aside, then the third film completely forgot about its existence. Most of the actions of both new and old characters defy any explanation. Against the backdrop of the local heroes, the family of Dominic Torreto are superminds with the most sober minds and incredible ingenuity. However, even Torreto himself would envy the local dinosaurs, because they are literally parkour on the roofs, repeating the chase scene in Tangier from The Bourne Ultimatum almost exactly, which clearly looks like the director’s desire to make several fat references to spy topics.
By the way, the creators have no problems with self-irony, since they quite often resort to ridiculing their own canon or controversial sequels to the classics:
Alan: “Wait, Owen… Owen, who trained the raptors, right?”
Owen: “Yes, that Owen.”
Malcolm: “Hey, I know you too. You’re from the new park, Jurassic World. I didn’t like it at all.”
If you thought Jurassic World: Dominance would be the last film in the franchise as a whole, then in fact the situation is different – one of the producers of the film made it clear that the final part of the new trilogy will mark the “beginning of a new era” in which people must adapt to life among dinosaurs. However, such a scenario was to be expected, because it’s hard to imagine that Universal would have been able to close their most profitable series like that.
Jurassic World has always been imbued with the spirit of dashing adventure without the slightest hint of common sense. Perhaps it would be at least a mistake to scold a new picture for this, because the authors are well aware of what exactly they sell from year to year – a one-time, but well-made attraction with a pinch of nostalgia, a kind of shameful pleasure. Dinosaurs still look “expensive-rich”, their battles, filmed mainly in one shot, are still fascinating, and your favorite heroes have not lost their charm. Perhaps it is thanks to such qualities that one wants to forgive the last part of the uncomplicated plot, sometimes reminiscent of “Santa Barbara”. Like it or not, but in “Domination” competent fan service, which, in addition to pleasant references, really has a plot role, and fabulous naivety, evoking warm memories of the very first park that opened back in 1993, are deftly combined.
Liked:
- Cool graphics.
- Variety of locations.
- The return of old heroes.
Did not like:
- Complete lack of logic.
- The franchise no longer needs dinosaurs.
