Jurassic World: Dominion (review, sort of)
So, I went and saw it Thursday afternoon, and have been trying to process it ever since. Iâm not sure where Iâll put it in the final rankings of the 6 movies (thereâs a lot competing for the bottom spots), but Jurassic Park remains #1 followed by Jurassic World (imo).Â
If I had to give Dominion a rating out of 10, after just one viewing, I think Iâd go with a 6. Maybe, maybe, I could be convinced into a 7. But I could possibly also convince myself to go below 5. đ€·ââïž Yeah, my thoughts / feelings are that disjointed.Â
In order to explain that a bit, I have to do spoilers, so putting them below. Skip if you donât want anything ruined.Â
So, the main thing that is behind my rating, is that there is a reason I loved JP as a kid and it was the blend of real science with the whole world. Everything felt actually possible. Michale Crichton was great at that. And itâs why even though I donât like TLW, it still had a stronger science backing (because MC was still involved). MCâs stories were also amazing at being a commentary on society. The movie was a great popcorn film, but it also had such a deeper level to it.Â
So when JW came out, it was the perfect timing in my life to get back to those movies. I didnât expect much. In fact, I expected to not like it. But it was fun. The characters were fun. And while yes, it pretty much mimicked JP, thatâs why it worked. The idea of the park actually getting opened felt real. The idea that people would want to go felt real. It all felt like something that could mostly happen. There wasnât a ton of science, but of what there was, it still felt mostly grounded, as they, like I said, mainly copied JP. And it had that level of social commentary.Â
Okay, so Dominion. I really wasnât sure what to think going in. I (unlike most) was really disheartened by all the casting news. I knew there was no way they could tell a strong story with that many characters, unless most of them werenât really part of the story. Also, the end of FK left so many questions, that it felt hard to answer in a single film. I kept myself mostly sheltered from the news, not wanting to know much and to keep my expectations low.
My main complaint for Dominion, is that it lacked any grounding in real science and that the social commentary it attempted, was so blatant that it lost any meaning (especially since no one was concerned). Up until Dominion, the Jurassic movies (to me) were commentaries on people vs people, and people vs nature (dinosaurs). In Dominion, it was just people vs people (and they turned Dodgson into a cartoon villain), and dinos vs dinos.Â
Some of my other issues:
1) While JP is my favourite of the movies, and while I like Grant and Sattler, I really didnât want them to get together. Sattler having moved on and had kids, to me, meant it was done. I know others disagree. (As a kid when I first saw JP, I never thought that Grant and Sattler were together, and so it never bothered me in future movies that they werenât. They werenât in the books. It made sense to me that they werenât.) My complaint over them getting together isnât even that they got together, is that they turned Grant, who was this great character, a little socially awkward, knowing what he wants out of life, happy to terrify children with a raptor claw, into this pathetic person who had been pining for 30 years. It didnât fit.Â
2) Claire and Owenâs storyline was to simply be parents trying to get to their rescued âdaughterâ. The beginning shots of them didnât add anything to the rest of the film. You have no idea what theyâve been doing. And once the action starts, they werenât trying to uncover anything or fix anything or... Claire had lost all of her ambition from the first two movies. And their only goal with Owen seemed to be to have him do a bunch of action stuff just cause they could.
3) Not just the huge personality change for them, but they essentially KIDNAPPED MAISIE AND HELD HER HOSTAGE for 4 years. How does no one else seem to think this is something horrible? Letting her leave the cabin is not freedom. This is something youâd call CPS for. What the hell?
4) The attempt to do redemption for Henry was so weak and stupid. Heâs had 30 years, and only now that heâs destroying wheat with his giant locusts that he cares? Not all the people heâs killed? And give me a break that he wouldâve been able to fix the locusts that fast. It was too late for all the crops theyâd destroyed. There would still be a massive world-wide famine problem.Â
5) Maisieâs past being explained -- Iâm glad they attempted it, but again, the idea that all happened that fast, yeah, no. Charlotte was apparently a super genius the likes the world has never seen that she managed to clone herself and create something that changed *all* the dna in her clone to fix it from a disease and yet only be like 34 years old 25 years old. Edited -- apparently born in probably 72 or so.) đ€Šââïž Did Charlotte never tell anyone about Sorna? That seems unlikely... Â
6) And finally (for now, I have so much more I could say), all the callbacks to the previous films. The first couple were nice nods. But then it was just constant. Dialogue. Clothing. Exact shots/movement. My sisterâs (who I saw it with), and who probably hasnât seen JP in over 5 years, first comment when we left was about that. But this just goes with all the other pieces -- itâs all shoved in your face, and not the nice little nods for big fans. Itâs âLOOK HOW I COPIED THIS.âÂ
So, yeah... I still feel like giving it a 6 was generous. But, it was nice to see a bit more clawen content, although it would be nice if their interactions werenât essentially âdonât dieâ âoh good you didnât dieâ over and over again.Â
(Did you notice I mentioned about nothing about the dinos above? Yeah, they were that unimportant to the film. You couldâve taken them all out and told the same stories for all the main characters. đ€Šââïž)
