Jurassic World Dominion
As Jurassic Park meets Jurassic World, the franchise moves up another gear. Be terrified. Be very terrified.
Chris Pratt and foe
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
The future is looking scary. There’s a man whose power and sense of self-entitlement is allowing him to risk the lives of millions for his own gain. There’s also an impending world famine, a genetic Armageddon, corruption in high places, ruthless mercenaries, a relentless forest fire and unstoppable swarms of giant locusts. Oh, yeh, and there’s a whole lotta dinosaurs. Following his re-booting of the franchise with Jurassic World (2015), writer-director Colin Trevorrow returns to the hot seat to complete the apparent sextet.
And it does not start well. A TV news report sums up the state of the planet as genetically tweaked creatures from the Triassic–Jurassic age run amok, devastating human life from the oceans, the forests and the sky. And then a chain of captions accompanies various mini-prologues set in far-flung corners of the US. There’s even a nocturnal car chase before any identifiable sense of humanity can provide an emotional context. Before working itself into a more intimate lather, Dominion seems anxious to display its cards from the get-go.
Yet besides the unspeakably ferocious monsters on show, the greatest evil of all is provided by Campbell Scott’s Lewis Dodgson and his company Biosyn Genetics. The name says it all. In order to monopolise the global food chain, Dodgson has developed a rapacious locust that only his genetically modified crops are resistant to. And unlike the customary villains of cinematic lore, he cuts an unassuming, inarticulate figure unable to complete his own sentences. His public persona is affable, concerned and conscientious. He is a great villain – and all too recognisable on today’s stage.
Then there are the characters we have come to love: Chris Pratt’s ethologist Owen Grady, Laura Dern's paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, Sam Neill's palaeontologist Alan Grant, Bryce Dallas Howard's dinosaur-loving Claire Dearing and Jeff Goldblum's mathematician Ian Malcolm. And there’s the girl, a staple of many a big-budget franchise (cf. Millie Bobby Brown in Godzilla vs. Kong, Amiah Miller in War for the Planet of the Apes, Hailee Steinfeld in Transformers: Bumblebee, et al), winningly played by the London-born Isabella Sermon.
The over-egged sound effects and corny musical cues are unlikely to bother most thrill seekers as they are plied with more OMG moments than you can shake the shtick at. This is nerve-shredding stuff and the computer generated imagery is miraculous, piling cataclysmic image onto apocalyptic vision. The top notes are provided by Chris Pratt (who seems to get more handsome and charismatic by the film), Jeff Goldblum (whose wry turn of phrase provides much needed comic relief), Sam Neill (whose grizzled Grant gives Indiana Jones a run for his money) and newcomer DeWanda Wise as a feisty, deadpanning pilot.
Jurassic World Dominion really does feel like a monster movie for our times. It’s certainly not a gift to the critics, but audiences will get more than their money’s worth.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman, Caleb Hearon, Freya Parker, Elva Trill, Jasmine Chiu, Joel Elferink.
Dir Colin Trevorrow, Pro Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, Ex Pro Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow, Screenplay Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow, Ph John Schwartzman, Pro Des Kevin Jenkins, Ed Mark Sanger, Music Michael Giacchino, Costumes Joanna Johnston, Sound Al Nelson, Dialect coach Vernice Klier.
Amblin Entertainment/Perfect World Pictures-Universal Pictures.
147 mins. USA/Malta. 2022. UK and US Rel: 10 June 2022. Cert. 12A.
