The third instalment in the Jurassic World trilogy sees Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return alongside original 1993 Jurassic Park cast members Sam Neil, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum for what is billed as the sixth and final instalment in the Jurassic saga.
Co-written and Directed by Colin Trevorrow who helmed the 1st Jurassic World in 2015, the film finds Pratt’s Owen Grady and Howard’s Claire Dearing hiding out from the world with their new adoptive daughter Maisie, who’s being hunted by a nefarious organisation for her cloned DNA. When she is kidnapped along with a baby raptor, Owen and Claire set out to find them both.
At the same time, the world is coming to terms with Dinosaurs living among the wider population. When crops are targeted by unusually large locusts, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern reprising her role from the original film) is called in to help.
Recruiting her old friends Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm (Sam Neil and Jeff Goldblum also returning) the trio’s quest uncovers a conspiracy which leads them to cross paths with Owen, Claire and Maisie.
After kick starting the Jurassic revival with his enjoyable but derivative 2015 reboot, Trevorrow handed the reigns over to director JA Bayona for 2018’s Jurassic World:Fallen Kingdom, but the director’s attempt to go out on a high fall depressingly flat here.
The film completely squanders the Dinosaurs at large premise teed up by Bayona, to once again set things in an underground laboratory, failing to build on the most interesting threads left dangling in the previous instalment.
Introducing the three legacy characters for this finale could’ve been a master stroke if handled well, but any nostalgia is completely lost amid the desperately lacklustre script. Goldblum, who is his usual charismatic self, is one of the films few highlights.
Newcomers DeWanda Wise and Mamoudou Athie are also a welcome addition to the cast and do their best with the clunky material.
Campbell Scott has the thankless task of being cast as Lewis Dodgson, the head of shadowy genetics company BioSyn and the blandest most uninspired villain in recent memory.
Pratt & Howard meanwhile, have none of their usual verve and display zero chemistry together. Pratt in particular, delivers a stiff lifeless performance, lightyears away from his usual vibrant on screen persona.
Much of the blame must go down to the unwieldy script, which replaces any form of suspense or jeopardy with dull generic action and repetitive Dino chase sequences.
The contrived plot makes very little sense and it seems abundantly clear Trevorrow and co never had a coherent plan for this trilogy. With a runtime of well over two hours Jurassic World Dominion feels like it drags on for an eternity. A lethargic, largely joyless affair which is devoid of any of the wonder captured so memorably by Spielberg in the original.
Billed as the final film in the series, this is an extinction level event for the franchise.
⭐️
Paul Steward
@Grittster
11/06/22