The recently released Jurassic World Dominion is the third film in the Jurassic World trilogy, and the sixth film in the Jurassic DinoVerse, which began with Jurassic Park in 1993. Being the lowest-rated film of the franchise, will it be the final one? Maybe…or maybe not.
Why do I say that? Well, with all the bitching by critics, the film still grossed over $900 million—definitely a consideration—and audiences—i.e., those of us who buy the tickets—loved it. In any case, the jury remains out regarding sequels, spinoffs, or anything else. And if something is meant to happen, it likely won’t be anytime soon.
So what did yours truly think of Jurassic World Dominion? To be honest, I’d like to view it at least a few more times before I put it into my rankings. But as I’ve said in the past, I do love dinosaur movies, so this new addition does pass the first test. (I’ve seen the first five films a total of 3,562 times, give or take, so I have a long way to go. And the Blu-Ray won’t even be out for a while.)
Old guard, new guard…same problems.
OLD GUARD, NEW GUARD
A brief overview: the film takes place four years after the events in Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom. Dinosaurs freely roam the Earth and, as one could imagine, are causing lots of problems. Should they be rendered extinct again, or confined to a preserve? A company called Biosyn Genetics has created such a preserve, supposedly to conduct genomics research on the beasties for positive applications to help humankind.
But, of course, their real plans are of a nefarious nature. They have secretly engineered giant prehistoric locusts, which will destroy all crops around the world—except ones grown from their own corporate seeds. The motive is greed, as usual, though on a monstrous global scale.
The T-Rex makes a cameo appearance.
Enter the old guard from Jurassic Park, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), along with Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Their roles are not cameos. They are fully involved in trying to investigate Biosyn and bring it down, along with its scumbag CEO, Lewis Dodgson. While the trio is definitely a lot longer in tooth, I loved seeing them again.
Meanwhile, our main protagonists from the second trilogy, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), have been raising Maisie, the biogenetic granddaughter of the late Benjamin Lockwood, at a remote mountain cabin. They know that Biosyn, among others, would love to get their mitts on the girl to study her DNA for more money-making schemes.
By way of immaculate conception, Blue gives birth to Beta.
Now a bored teenager, Maisie wanders away from the cabin one day and is kidnapped by Biosyn operatives. Owen and Claire take up the pursuit, which will lead them first to Malta, then to Biosyn’s headquarters in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains, also the site of the aforementioned dinosaur preserve—where the new guard will join with the old guard in a desperate attempt to set things right.
Okay, that’s a pretty basic overview, but you get the idea. Jurassic World Dominion does put closure on the second trilogy, granted. But this old guy, a big fan of dinosaur movies, has to hope that the future will bring us more of the wonderful beasties in all their CGI splendor.