Jurassic World Dominion - My initial thoughts
So it happened. After twenty-nine years, the Jurassic Park film franchise has come to an end. Jurassic World: Dominion's trailers were quite promising, showcasing perhaps the largest-scale Jurassic Park film. And of course, the first true feathered dinosaur in film canon.
So what do I think of it (without revealing spoilers too much)?
It...
Was....
Not very good. Like I forgot most of it a day later levels of bad. It takes the flaws of the last two, retains them. What was I expecting? The reviews are under 40% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The whole film feels episodic and disjointed. Plot points are forgotten as soon as the scenes end and have no further elaboration. The plot of dinosaurs on mainland US and illegal dinosaur trade in particular is all but forgotten in the second half, which takes place entirely in one place in Italy. The same goes for the dinosaurs, both new and returning: many only appear for a single scene outside of montages, many not even named. Considering how dumb non-palaeo audiences are, that's not good to do. Hell, even some of the returning dinosaurs don't appear that much, even Rexy! The anti-capatalist an anti-exploitation themes requisite for the series are also not done well
Meanwhile, the new dinosaurs range from looking pretty good to pretty butt-ugly. They take the blobby, no regards for anatomical accuracy approach to the last films. meanwhile, the new feathered dinosaurs are no exception and look ugly as shit, some even looking like the tarred and feathered kind.
Sure, Malcolm, Ellie, and Alan return and have big chunks of the film to, but they don't meet the new guys until 2/3rds in. Same goes for Lewis Dodgeson. While I'm glad Biosyn (remember them from the) is back and in a major role, Lewis Dodgeson feels very unthreatening and unmemorable. The new characters? I can't even remember half their names.
Nothing even lives up to the marketing and trailers. The Giganotosaurus for instance, hyped up as an aggressive rival to Rexy.... isn't as in there as you'd think, and so the inevitable fight feels very unearned.
Let's just get the good out of the way: there are a few decent scenes and concepts, like a dinosaur black market in the Mediterranean. I like there's a focus on genetics outside of dinosaurs and trying to build upon Fallen Kingdom's underutilised twist of Maisie being a clone (sorry, spoilers?), and some of the dinosaurs have enjoyable scenes, like just about everything with Therizinosaurus, which is executed fairly well. The cinematography is also excellent.
But unfortunately, that's not enough to redeem the film for me. Overall, Dominion is a poor, rushed finale, both to the Jurassic World trilogy and the Jurassic franchise as a whole. Really, Jurassic World as whole has been a terrible, poorly-planned trilogy and an unworthy sequel trilogy to the OP one.
Not sure about a full review at this point. Sorry, but |I don't really have the motivation to.
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