Jurassic World Dominion: Scientific Claptrap Trumps Action in Convoluted Latest Installment

By John Kirk

Rating: B-

Who knew Jurassic Park would spawn so many sequels? In the first film we were treated to a story that tapped into some believable science fiction with elements of action and suspense thrown in for good measure.

Not so much in Jurassic World Dominion.

The characters: paleontologists, paleo-botanists, computer experts, mathematicians, a variety of scientists and, yes, even an evil visionary billionaire. You’ve got security experts, behaviourists, and those people with a passionate drive to make the world a better place. That’s a big combination of smarts in all sorts of forms.

So, one has to ask: where’s the clever?

The two-and-a-half hour Jurassic World Dominion picks up from its 2018 predecessor, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom when the story ended with the ominous declaration of mathematician, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) that the Earth had now become Jurassic World.

In this film, the planet is in a state of co-existence that has sinister implications for the 21st century world we know to be already plagued by other challenges like climate change, wars, the cost of gas and why Starbucks can’t just use small, medium, and large when ordering coffee.

Regardless, dinosaurs sharing the planet with humanity just got upped on the global threat scale as they move beyond the boundaries of North America. Though that really never got explained how the non-flying ones could do that, but who wants to go camping in Algonquin Park and wake up next to a velociraptor or a giganotosaurus breathing into their tent?

But the threat of co-existence isn’t made manifest in the giant, massively fanged lizards that apparently roam rampantly through the suburbs. It’s locusts.

Giant locusts, to be fair, but it’s these pesky buggers who are threatening the world by devouring crops and threatening to throw the world’s food cycle into chaos.

It doesn’t affect the dinosaurs; they’re fine. We learn though that the locusts only eat crops that don’t come from seeds made by a giant pharmaceutical called Biosyn. They were modified, and it does affect humanity’s donut supply.

That’s important enough to bring Jurassic Park alumnus Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) into the story to investigate. Eventually, that brings her to her former partner, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) who doesn’t say very much in this film, for some unknown reason. In any event, Grant has connections that can get him into Biosyn where they can investigate the locusts.

That’s where they meet up with former oddball mathematician colleague Ian Malcolm, who happens to be conveniently working at the remote Biosyn facility, spreading doom and gloom to the thinktank employees employed by the clownishly eccentric billionaire, Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott).

That’s one side of the story. While all this is happening, animal behaviorist, Navy vet and all-around cowboy Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) has been holed up in a remote cabin with former Jurassic World Park administrator-turned-dinosaur liberator Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and fugitive clone, Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon).

Hiding Maisie has been Claire and Owen’s main occupation, given that she is the only known human clone in existence and major corporations, like Biosyn for one, would pay dearly to unravel her code. When Maisie goes missing, Owen and Claire must find her.

Eventually both character teams, old and new, meet up and share purposes… which gets a little convoluted as they must switch from recovering locust DNA, finding a lost raptor cub (remember Blue from the last film?) and searching for Maisie.

Oh, of course, there’s also this extra level of difficulty of avoiding getting eaten by the variety of apex-level predators that seem to have sprung up from the legacy of John Hammond’s research efforts. Though predictable, there is fun in seeing the two teams united.

The familiar theme of science corrupted by profit is still present in this film, but the franchise has had more than its fair share of continuing the overly repetitive saga of “science-done-because-we-can-osaruses” run amok in the modern age. History has got to be tired of repeating itself by now.

However, the action is fast paced. There are thrills, chills, and suspense-filled moments when our intrepid heroes are less than a sock or a sleeve away from losing an ankle or a wrist. For the most part, the characters are engaging and endearing.

Sermon’s performance as Maisie irresistibly stands out and Goldblum’s delivery of witty one-shot repartee adds enjoyment to the film. While it’s hard for me to forget Pratt as Andy Dwyer in Parks & Recreation when delivering a joke, he meets expectations.

There’s also a return by B.D. Wong in the role of sorrowful Dr. Henry Wu, whose brilliance is hampered by his own guilt and the ambitions of Lewis Dodgson. Although, it seemed that while Wu’s guilt is clearly genuine, there was also an easier way to go about what he wanted to achieve. When you watch the film judge for yourselves.

If you want a film where the dinosaurs go roar, then this is your film. There are massive battles between all sorts of prehistoric behemoths. The 60-year-olds and the rest of the team can outrun monsters that could outrun motorcycles. Howard’s character can strangely run over rooftops in a parkour-like fashion. But that one audience member shouted out “Yay, dinosaurs!” at the end of the film sums up the enjoyment this film can provide.

But the science fiction? It’s there, but it’s either repeated from the previous films, subordinated to fangs, flames, flights and chase scenes, which, to be fair, maintain a level of excitement that’s hard to ignore. At the same time, discerning audience members will realize that in order for the story to work, a healthy dose of willing suspension of disbelief must be employed.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy Jurassic World Dominion, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel that the implied problem in the title really didn’t get resolved. The cleverness of the film might be in short supply, but at least the donuts are safe.

Jurassic World Dominion. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Starring Chris Pratt, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Bryce Dallas Howard and Isabella Sermon. Opens wide June 10.