Jurassic World: Dominion

I like the different meanings the title of Jurassic World can mean. The progression here is that the first Jurassic World was the name of an amusement park. Now it is literally a Jurassic World where humans and dinosaurs co-exist. To sum it up there were a lot of things I liked about this movie and a lot of things I didn't like. I liked seeing the characters from the first two films and seeing their progression and arcs. I really enjoyed seeing the characters from the original Jurassic Park movies. What I didn't like was what this movie did at times with those characters and the world it creates. I wanted a post-apocalyptic dinosaur movie and not a pandemic coronavirus world dinosaur movie. Through world building though, the movie makes us ask questions about how the dinosaurs really aren't villain, it's us as humans. That is presented from both the corporate perspective and the black market perspective as dinosaurs have impacted all people's lives. While this movie never bored me and kept me interested I thought it was trying too much to be a Mission: Impossible movie with dinosaurs and anti-corporate message. It should've just been something like 2012 with dinosaurs. 

The movie starts with a giant fishing ship getting destroyed and eaten by a Mosasaurus.  The film then transitions to a news report talking about how the world has changed since the dinosaurs were released into the world since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. This transitions to Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) breaking into a black market dinosaur facility with two others and saving some dinosaurs to take to an ecological preserve. This version of Claire is much more caring toward nature and much more capable and determined than the vein, corporate-minded version of her we saw in the first movie and is an interesting character progression. There is a scene of a swarm of giant locusts eating crops at a farm. Dr. Ellie Sadler (Laura Dern) deducts that the the locusts are only eating crops that aren't made with Biosyn's seed. She visits Dr. Alan Grant in Utah (Sam Neill) to help her break into Biosyte to find evidence of the locusts' genetic mutation. 

On the side of things it is revealed that Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire have adopted Benjamin Lockwood's cloned daughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon). They keep her hidden in a cabin in the mountains. Blue the raptor has reproduced asexaully and now has a daughter. Lewis Dodgson the CEO of Biosyte finds Maisie and they abduct her and Blue's daughter. Meanwhile Grant and Sadler are invited to Biosyn by Ian Malcolm. This is where the Mission: Impossible plots start as Grant and Sadler manage to fly to and infiltrate Biosyn without much opposition. Claire and Owen go to dinosaur black market in Malta where they find out from a Biosyn employee where Maisie is being taken. There are lots of interesting things shown in this sequence such as dinosaur dogfighting and dinosaurs being eaten. Again this just shows how dinosaurs aren't really the real bad guys. Dinosaurs are also being used as weapons as the villain in this sequence Soyona Santos (Dichen Lachman) has this laser pointer that can be used for raptors to target specific people. This just shows that Biosyn could use their power to stop any of these illegal and reprehensible activities anytime they want, but don't. Similar to how governments and corporations could do the same thing but don't. They put profit and power over the lives and well being of others. 

There are some really cool action sequences here as there are dinosaur chase sequences all over Malta. This includes an awesome motorcycle chase sequence where Owen is pursued by raptors. A pilot who had transported Maisie decides to help Owen Claire and transports them to Biosyn. Meanwhile Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) is revealed to have to have genetically enhanced the locusts to make Biosyn the world leader in the agricultural market. This has unforeseen consequences as always where the locusts as now consuming so much that all agriculture could be consumed and our food and our food's food could die off. Wu needs the blood in Maisie and Blue's offspring to find out the genetic code to reverse the locusts bioengineering. Maisie finds a way to escape and Grant and Sadler infiltrate one of the locust preserves on sight and get the evidence they need. After Dodgson finds out what is going on he strands Sadler, Maisie, and Grant in an old preserve cave on their sight. He fires Malcolm. He turns off the airspace protection on the pilot Kayla's (DeWanda Wise) plane so they are attacked by Quetzacoatlus. Claire ejects and lands in the woods. Owen and Kayla crash land. At the same time Malcolm rescues Sadler, Grant, and Maisie.  

This sets up the final act. Dogson's associate, Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie) refuses to go along with him and he has been helping the main characters the whole entire time. Dogson tries to escape with some of the scientific evidence, put in a Barbasol can in a easter egg to the first movie. He is killed by Dilophosaurus' in the same manner Denis Nedry (Wayne Knight) was killed in the first movie. The jeep that Grant, Sadler, Maisie, and Malcolm are traveling in, crashes. Claire is saved at the last second by Owen who chokes out a dilophosaurus in front on her, which is awesome. This leads to a decent suspense sequence that doesn't compare to the T-Rex sequence in the first two Jurassic Park movies where all the characters have to out maneuver a Giganotosaurus to get into a building. They split up to get the flying equipment they need and Owen rescues Blue's offspring. This leads to some funny banter between him and Malcolm with Malcolm saying things like "Is that a dinosaur on your shoulder?" "You made a promise to a dinosaur?" They also take Wu with them as he wants to use his scientific knowledge to help reverse the locusts' habits. A final fight happens where the characters are trapped between the helicopter and the dinosaurs like a Universal ride. While the fight between the T-Rex and Giganotosaurus is fun, it doesn't hold a candle to the fight at the end of the first Jurassic World movie. They all escape and Wu finds his genetic research in order to reverse the locusts crop eating habits. Claire, Owen, and Maisie bring Blue's offspring back to her. Sadler and Grant finally get together. 

While some of the themes were interesting here and the CGI dinosaur moments were good I just wished I was watching the other movies the whole time. On the other hand it kept me entertained and interested enough where I was never bored. This is a good one time watch or an occasional series rewatch especially if you want to see some good, but not reverent moments with the older characters. I hope this is the last Jurassic movie because the CGI dinosaurs aren't as interesting to me. Maybe it's because I'm not a kid anymore but I also think the spectacle has worn off. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Trivia: Jeff Goldblum is the same age in this film as Richard Attenborough, who played John Hammond, was in the original Jurassic Park (1993)

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