Director: Colin Trevorrow

Writers: Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, and Omar Sy

Rating: ★★1/2

After what feels like a lifetime, Jurassic World Dominion is finally here. The conclusion of the second trilogy in the Jurassic Park series, which also brings both trilogies together with characters returning from both. It picks up a few years after Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom ended with dinosaurs starting to integrate into our day to day lives.

With all the delays due to Covid, as well as the legacy characters, there’s been a lot of hype for this film, and that was always going to be hard to live up to. Sadly, it really doesn’t. It’s brought down by a runtime that’s just too long, as well as having a few of dumb moments in the story just to move the plot along. There are ideas that don’t really go anywhere and it’s a massive failure to live up to the tease of the last film’s ending.

Even though there are dinosaurs running around cities and villages, the idea isn’t used to its full potential. Apart from one, pretty good scene where dinosaurs are chasing the main characters through crowded streets, most of it is set in a dinosaur enclosure, that substitutes for the parks of previous films. The plot is okay, but really just a simple rescue mission, with nothing really that surprising. The action is pretty good, although not as tense as it should be, and It never feels like the main characters are in real danger.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howards are both back and are great in their roles, but the main attraction is that after a glorified cameo in the previous film, Jeff Goldblum is back as Dr Ian Malcolm along with returning legacy characters, Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). The trio fit right back into their characters and nicely tie the current trilogy with the original. Goldblum is the best of the returning characters, just being his usual self. Laura Dern is also great, propelling the plot forward at the beginning. While Sam Neill is good but is mostly relegated to looking grumpy in the background, which is a waste.

There are simply too many people in the film, with the characters from both trilogies plus a few newcomers. It feels like not all of them have a lot to do and are just there for the sake of nostalgia at points. It makes the film feel really baggy, just to come up with excuses for them to do things and it’s just too long. The CGI is also all over place, some of the dinosaurs look really bad, especially at the start, while others look incredible. It’s a real shame considering how great the effects of the first film still look today.  

Overall, Jurassic World Dominion feels like a wasted opportunity. It doesn’t really fulfil the teasing ending of the previous film, and there are far more characters than the story needs. It’s not the worst film of the series (that honour is still held by Jurassic Park III), but it’s far below the original masterpiece.  

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