The Last Jurassic Should Really Be The Last: Jurassic World Dominion Review

The end of the Jurassic era is upon us and, regrettably, the last instance of the franchise, Jurassic World Dominion is by no means a good farewell to the 30 year franchise that brought dinosaurs back from the dead and had us jumping off our seats while staring into the jagged jaws of a T-Rex.

Jurassic World Dominion is a hodgepodge of ticking boxes and tired “run, run, it’s coming” sequences where, predictably, no good guy with more than two lines gets eaten.

It’s a sad finale to a once glorious franchise that fueled a transgenerational obsession with dinosaurs that is still very much alive, regrettably much more so in toddler pajamas than in Dominion.

Dominion picks up after Maisie Lockwood’s (Isabella Sermon) release of dozens of captive dinosaurs from the Lockwood mansion in Fallen Kingdom (how those few animals have proliferated the world in just four short years is beyond me) and starts off with a NowThis feature where we learn that we must now co-exist with the once extinct giants, without the tiniest mention of any pushback from the very well armed American population and surprisingly, only 37 dinosaur related deaths that year.

Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) are now living in the Sierra Nevada mountains as they keep their de facto adopted daughter, Maisie, out of sight from the prying eyes of evil corporations who want her prized clone DNA. Yes, really, as if dinosaurs weren’t fantastical enough, now there’s a clone that isn’t really a clone in the mix. Le sigh. 

There’s also a tech giant called Biosyn with park-like headquarters where 11 species of dinosaurs live in the wild while scientists study their prehistoric DNA with the intent of ridding the world of disease.

All very seemingly noble causes, if it weren’t for Biosyn’s stubborn and socially awkward CEO, Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), whose reluctance to correct a little side project “going south” would eminently result in a worldwide famine when genetically modified locusts devour the world’s supply of grain, except, of course, for Biosyn grain.

Here’s where screenwriters Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow force nostalgia into the script by bringing back longtime will-they-won’t-they pair Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and the charming chaotician Dr. Ian Malcolm.

The pair reunite after Ellie’s very convenient divorce to collect a blood sample from a locust specimen inside Biosyn headquarters, where Ian just so happens to be the in-house philosopher and hooks them up with an exclusive tour of the facilities with Biosyn’s second in command and eventual whistleblower, Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie).

What results is the demise of yet another foolproof compound that closely resembles Jurassic Park, perhaps too much, except this time there are seven people running away from a gigantic carnivore that just seems forced at best and clunky at worst.

The one redeeming character of the mix is aviator Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), whose badassery and on-screen charisma would have been worthy of more character development and screen time.

But alas, the film is full of all too familiar scenes that denote either boredom or a lack of creativity. Overturned jeeps, parachutes stuck on treetops, convenient dinosaur fights that end up saving the day while everyone can safely run for cover, and the unrelenting dinosaur sniffing inches away from snatching but somehow entirely missing its prey are just some of the tired bits that made their way into Dominion.

A better movie would have proposed a new narrative perhaps about what was going on in the outside world, where Compys chase children in their homes, drivers crash into Stegosauruses, T-Rexs storm campsites and Mosasaurus is now every surfer’s worst nightmare.

We see a brief glimpse of this in Malta, when Owen and Claire visit a black market in search of Maisie, but the experience is short lived.

Dominion does have some salvageable moments, like the pièce de résistance where Owen outruns laser triggered Indoraptors on a beat up dirt bike and winds up making an escape at the last minute by jumping onto an airplane mid take-off. 

But overall, Dominion missed the mark, it missed the chance of ending the saga with the dignity that such a gem deserves. Instead, like a quilt, it was put together out of scraps that audiences have seen before, concepts already proven effective, and closes with disappointment and utter bewilderment. 

If you are familiar with the franchise and have seen every movie, go see it, but simply for old times sake. It’s 100% missable if, for the contrary, you are not yet a fan and haven’t seen any of the previous movies. Surely there are more entertaining and original movies on which to spend two hours and $25.