Title – Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

Director – Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) 

Cast – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum

Plot – After the destruction of Isla Nublar, humans and dinosaurs live together but the precarious relationship threatens to come to a head at any time with those familiar with the dinosaur world humanities best hope at finding the right balance. 

“The doomsday clock might be out of time”

Review by Eddie on 10/06/2022

As a child of the 90’s, there’s an undeniable joy in returning to the world of roaming dinosaurs that happens to include human inhabitants in the form of Jurassic Park stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum but sadly despite a strong sense of nostalgia and joy seeing the veterans return to the property that made such a splash back in 90’s, the finale to the Jurassic brand Dominion is a paint by numbers blockbuster that ends up being an experience more akin to the divisive Lost World and the often ridiculed third entry that many fans would choose to forget exists. 

Overseen by returning director Colin Trevorrow, who takes over directing duties once more after setting up this new era with 2015’s Jurassic World and skipping out of 2018’s Fallen Kingdom which was helmed by J.A. Bayona, Dominion is a big film in more ways than one and has the tricky task of balancing numerous plot lines with an abundance of characters that have to intermingle the old with the new and its a balancing act Trevorrow never comes to grips with as the film he produces weaves in and out of various states, ranging from the boring, the ridiculous and the entertaining. 

Moving away from the island setting that has been a staple of the series across previous entries, allowing the whole globe to play a part in this dino-lead chaos opens up a lot of potential doors in a narrative sense but for the most part Dominion unfortunately gives out short straws for its prehistoric critters with the tiresome humans and even bizarrely gigantic locusts hogging far too much of the screen-time, even if the mostly brief and well staged dinosaur moments showcase where the film could’ve become far more memorable overall if it had chosen to shy away from trying to create too many emotional/witty interactions with its humans. 

In amongst this loud, brash and totally bonkers film, that see’s our team of do-gooders head to Italy to stop some nefarious genetic experiments while battling an as to be expected dinosaur outbreak in a remote facility is a loaded cast of series staples but while the appearance of Neill, Goldblum and Dern is enjoyable there’s a feeling that Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard walk away with the best moments in the film, even if Pratt feels more as though his going through the motions here, far removed from his energetic first turn as Owen Grady way back in 2015. 

At days end its hard to exactly know how long-term fans of the Jurassic series are going to feel about this expensive and instantly forgettable outing, on one hand it gives them another chance to see those they know and loved in action once more but you can’t help escape the feeling that there was a far better way to utilise their presence than what is done here and after this next generation of Jurassic action was started out solidly in 2015, in 2022 we culminate this period with a whimper not a bang, making this a rather sorry finale to a property with more downs than ups. 

Final Say – 

Not a complete dumpster fire but not the fitting return of past characters or finale one might’ve hoped for, Jurassic World Dominion does a few things right but with too much time dedicated to its humans not its creatures and an overall sense of mundanity, this blockbuster is unlikely to create much of a stir now or into the future. 

2 1/2 coathangered dinosaurs out of 5