Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) is now out in theaters, and critics are having a field day tearing the sixth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise to pieces, not unlike a pack of hungry dinosaurs. But is Jurassic World: Dominion as bad as they say it is? Well, here's our spoiler-free Jurassic World: Dominion review...
Jurassic World: Dominion sees the return of both Jurassic World and Jurassic Park characters, uniting them for the first time in the franchise's history, while serving as the epic culmination and conclusion to the "Jurassic era".
Claire Dearing, Owen Grady, Maisie Lockwood, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Alan Grant, and Dr. Ian Malcolm join forces to take on Biosyn, a corrupt bioengineering company. Meanwhile, dinosaurs are flourishing all around the world.
However, it's best that you don't go into this film expecting a sequel to the original Jurassic Park (1993), as this is very much a sequel to Jurassic World (2015) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018).
As per the official Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment website, here’s the synopsis for Jurassic World: Dominion:
Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live -- and hunt -- alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.
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The only real problem with Jurassic World: Dominion, and the biggest complaint from fans and critics alike, is that synopsis. While dinosaurs are indeed flourishing around the world, it has very little to do with the actual plot.
Since the end of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the concept of dinosaurs on the mainland has been on the table, and this has been Universal Studios' marketing strategy ever since.
Short canon film Battle at Big Rock (2019) offered a snapshot of this epidemic, pitting a family against an allosaur while on a camping trip, while mid-credits scenes showed dinosaurs attacking humans all over the country.
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And the Jurassic World: Dominion prologue developed this idea even further, showing "Rexy" rampaging through an outdoor cinema near the Sierra Nevada Forest. Even the cross-promotional 2022 Winter Olympics trailers did the same.
Unfortunately, if you're expecting to see a two-and-a-half-hour movie in which dinosaurs are causing problems on mainland North America and beyond, you'll be hugely disappointed, and the substituting plot is at times utterly baffling.
That's not to say you won't see mosasaurs attacking fishing boats, atrociraptors causing mayhem in the streets of Malta, and an underground dinosaur black-market. It's just that these scenes bookend the film, rather than make it up.
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Fortunately, that's the worst thing we have to say about Jurassic World: Dominion, even if it is a pretty massive issue. Otherwise, the sixth entry in the Jurassic Park franchise does everything it says on the tin (well, everything else).
If you're expecting back-to-back dinosaur action and horror, then you'll probably have a wild time with Jurassic World: Dominion. And seeing Ellie, Alan, and Malcolm back together will undoubtedly bring a huge smile to your face.
Is it an honest Jurassic Park sequel? Does it have the same tone, atmosphere, suspense, and style of that original movie? Well, of course not, but this has been a problem since The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).
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Jurassic World: Dominion is a Jurassic World sequel, and as such, is more committed to wrapping up its own trilogy than the Jurassic Park film series in its entirety. And sadly, it doesn't feel like an epic culmination by any means.
While we called out the misleading premise as the only issue, there are other problems (which are fortunately overshadowed by the dominant one), which largely include an abundance of contrivances, conveniences, and coincidences.
Nevertheless, Jurassic World: Dominion delivers dinosaur action in spades, and it isn't the worst way to spend two-and-a-half-hours in the theater. It might not be the movie you were expecting, but there's still a lot to sink your teeth into.
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The performances are mostly solid too, with Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Isabella Sermon, and DeWanda Wise among the more memorable. As great as it is to see the original trio back on the screen, they are sadly outdone.
Campbell Scott turns in an unprecedented performance as OG villain Lewis Dodgson, and is evidently inspired by modern-day tech moguls such as Elon Musk and Steve Jobs than his Lost World novel-counterpart.
Jurassic World: Dominion stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), Chris Pratt (Owen Grady), Isabella Sermon (Maisie Lockwood), Omar Sy (Barry Sembène), and BD Wong (Henry Wu), Campbell Scott (Lewis Dodgson), DeWanda Wise (Kayla), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm), Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), and Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler).
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