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Jurassic World Dominion Review: Fun But Messy Conclusion To JP Sequel Trilogy
Jurassic World Dominion is a messy but fun end to the Jurassic Park sequel trilogy, bringing franchise themes, characters, and nostalgia full circle. Much like Jurassic World, Dominion is at its best when it's riffing on the original series and once again leans heavily on shots, set pieces, and interactions that fans will remember from Steven Spielberg's first installment — even if those homages are sometimes at odds with the current storyline and drama. Nevertheless, director and co-writer Colin Trevorrow does his best to bring the Jurassic Park franchise to a logical conclusion, one that honors a core principle of the series as a whole: Life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories, and crashes through barriers.
Jurassic World Dominion picks up four years after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which saw a subset of John Hammond's prehistoric creations rescued from a cataclysmic event on Isla Nublar, only to be auctioned off to war criminals and profiteers, or released into the wild by Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and human clone Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon). For the conclusion to the Jurassic World trilogy, Owen and Claire rush into a globe-trotting adventure when Maisie and velociraptor baby Beta are kidnapped by mysterious assailants. Along the way, the Jurassic World leads cross paths with Jurassic Park survivors Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) who are on a world-saving mission of their own.
After handing directing duties to J. A. Bayona (A Monster Calls) for Fallen Kingdom, Trevorrow returns for Dominion to close out the sequel series he set in motion. Fortunately, Dominion is mostly a return to form for the Jurassic World storyline, albeit one that still has to wrestle with the sharp left turn — dinosaurs invading the human world — that divided audiences after Fallen Kingdom obliterated Isla Nublar. The new film does not walk that choice back. Instead, it leans into it, which might be a disappointing choice to fans who were hoping for a Fallen Kingdom retcon or a more traditional Park adventure. Still, thematically, Dominion finally shows audiences what Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and Ellie Sattler warned Hammond about (over untouched chilean sea bass) 30 years ago: Inevitably, the dinosaurs would get out and humanity would be forced to adapt (or go extinct). In that sense, it's a fitting and bold conclusion to the series, even if — as many of the characters outright state in the movie itself — viewers may never "get used to" seeing the dinosaurs interacting with humans and modern animal species alike outside of their former theme parks/"biological preserves."
While the two catalysts that bring the Jurassic World and Jurassic Park casts together are forced (especially the impending ecological disaster that activates the original trilogy leads), they don't detract from the fun of seeing a number of entertaining pairings (Velociraptor experts Owen and Alan joining forces to search for Beta, as an example) and set pieces that nod to what came before (such as a scene that sees Claire and Ellie tasked with resetting a power grid), all while fueling drama or action set pieces in the current film. The movie glosses over some key details, such as how 30-odd dinosaurs that escaped the Lockwood estate managed to drastically increase in number and spread across the globe (beyond artificial breeding and smuggling) in only four years. And, similar to Fallen Kingdom, there are times where only a handful of dinosaurs are visible in a comparatively small space where viewers are told to expect sizable herds of the creatures; this is especially confounding in the movie's final set piece. It's not a dealbreaker, but the conceit creates a jarring juxtaposition that often prevents Trevorrow from capturing the scale achieved in Jurassic World (or the original Jurassic Park). To that end, most dino set pieces in Dominion are more in the vein of Jurassic Park III than Jurassic World.
The filmmaker does provide satisfying answers to lingering, and thinly scripted, Fallen Kingdom plot points, especially as they pertain to Maisie's backstory and importance. For some fans, this should make the prior Bayona entry feel like a more natural fit into the series that, in the end, provided necessary setup to help Dominion's most outrageous ideas land, however awkward. Pratt and Howard are on par with the prior outings as Owen and Claire, respectively; though, Howard gets more to work with in navigating her adoptive mother role to Maisie, as does Isabella Sermon, who successfully transitions one of Fallen Kingdom's weirder twists into an emotional performance and rewarding arc that recontextualizes aspects of what the franchise has been saying about genetic experimentation.
Maisie's story is all the more interesting when contrasted against the world-threatening plot of genetic modification gone wrong that brings Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm back into the mix. The Jurassic Park veterans deliver in every way that fans might hope, effortlessly stepping back into their iconic roles, with nuances and evolutions that ensure the Isla Nublar survivors are both familiar as well as updated (and are further altered by the events in Dominion). Some callbacks are forced, in the same way that Jurassic World was regularly winking at its audience, but most nods are forgivable and rarely overstay their welcome.
Dominion also brings back Dennis Nedry accomplice Lewis Dodgson (with Campbell Scott replacing Cameron Thor in a major supporting role this time), as well as Jurassic Park geneticist and Jurassic World villain Henry Wu (BD Wong), portraying a more introspective and remorseful version of the character. Trevorrow also introduces a new scene-stealer in pilot-turned-do-gooder Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), who proves a snarky and highly capable addition to Owen's rescue team. It's a shame that, with the trilogy concluding here, viewers are only going to get one outing with Watts and mostly surface-level motivations.
As for the film's non-human stars, Dominion sports the largest roster of dinosaurs in any Jurassic Park film, bringing back some beloved originals such as the Dilophosaurus. It also introduces new ones — most notably Dimetrodons, Quetzalcoatlus, Therizinosaurus, and Giganotosaurus. Most of the new species are only featured in brief set pieces that won't cement them as memorable installment villains on par with the Spinosaurus or Indominus rex. Even so, they're intriguing additions and, more than any JP film before, showcase the variety of carnivorous beasts franchise scientists resurrected. That said, fans should temper expectations for Dominion's final dino battle as — despite a more satisfying climax than the Blue vs. Indoraptor rooftop brawl in Fallen Kingdom — Trevorrow's Giganotosaurus showdown pales in sophistication, surprises, and even length when set against the spectacle he created when Blue and Rexy (not to mention the Mosasaurus) teamed up to take down Jurassic World's Indominus rex.
Franchise fans might take issue with the direction Trevorrow and Bayona took the series; yet, destroying the park setting and bringing the prehistoric creatures into the modern world was a bold move. It's one that, by the end of Dominion, nearly works (though questions and logistics linger). Regardless, the Jurassic Park films have always been the moviegoing equivalent to a theme park ride — moving viewers from one dangerous encounter to the next — and Dominion is no exception. Trevorrow's final chapter is packed with thrills and laughs, rewarding nostalgia, solid character drama, and effective thematic through-lines (even if select aspects don't hold up to heavy scrutiny), making it very easy to recommend to filmgoers who are excited for another trip into the world of Jurassic Park.
Jurassic World Dominion releases in theaters on June 10. The film is 146 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action, some violence, and language.
