Jurassic Park is iconic for a reason. It was innovative and way ahead of its time when it was released. Steven Spielberg’s first film paved the way for the growth of the Jurassic Park franchise back in 1993, which in turn grew even further into a new franchise that is fitting for the 20th century — Jurassic World. The third and final installment for the newest franchise entitled Jurassic World Dominion has now dropped in cinemas here in the Philippines and I took the time to watch and review it here at This Is Hype Ph.
For the last installment of the Jurassic World franchise, director Colin Trevorrow decided to go big. The stories and characters from both franchises — Park and World — come colliding in this film. Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are reunited for the finale. The exciting part however is that Jurassic World: Dominion also features the return of the original Jurassic Park cast namely Laura Dern, Sam Neil, and Jeff Goldblum.
The film takes off from where The Fallen Kingdom left us with dinosaurs set free to roam the world amongst humans. Humanity is now on the brink of extinction as a bigger threat ensues in the form of a new mega-corporation whose tampering in science has threatened to dismantle ecological balance. It’s up to Owen (Pratt), Claire (Howard), and the rest of the gang to put a stop to it all, in the hopes of saving humanity and dinosaurs from the chaos that is about to engulf the planet.
Jurassic World Dominion Review: Spoiler Warnings
Given that Jurassic World Dominion just dropped in cinemas yesterday, we have dished out a review that is completely spoiler-free in order for you to enjoy your viewing experience. This review will discuss the overall emotional and nostalgic aspects of the film and its characters, its visual appeal, and its continuity in relation to the entire Jurassic franchise.
A Fitting Conclusion
As mentioned producers of the Jurassic World franchise have said that Dominion is the bookend to this particular trilogy. What Jurassic World Dominion further achieves however is the ability to incorporate decades of work that has been poured out into making the Jurassic franchise. This brings about a huge nostalgic element to the film as it really does feel like an entire movie franchise that fans have been following for a long time, is about to reach its end. Of course, this may not entirely be the case as other side projects and stand-alone films could also be done but for Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, the stories have reached their maximum peak.
Dominion’s manner in story-telling is also very much appropriate to how the direction of the film moved along. Contrary to The Fallen Kingdom which featured an almost two-part storyline line — one on the island and the other during the auction — Dominion adapts more of an anthology type of story-telling format. The film has two primary stories that go on simultaneously which actually revolve around the two distinct franchises and their specific characters. All of these come to a clash towards the middle of the film as their various motives and goals come colliding in. This format fits the very mode and direction that was aimed for which is to fuse two specific stories and characters together to fit in one film.
All throughout the movie, it’s clear that the intention was to create a grand manner of ending the storylines of the two big Jurassic franchises. This was why Sam Neil, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum were brought back for this last installment. It was to create a sense of unity across all films while being able to entice two specific generations who grew up loving the dinosaur-rich worlds that Jurassic offered. It was a great move at the onset but throughout the movie, it felt like these decisions were done just to bring in more people to watch this conclusion — but then again, there’s nothing really wrong with that.
Better But Still Underwhelming
Let me make it clear, this final installment is admittedly a better offering than the previous films in the Jurassic World franchise. It offers way more in terms of character development and story. It is still however a far cry from what the original series gave us — despite efforts in trying to bring us back to that time and era. What I do find a bit disappointing was the illusion of grandeur that Dominion provided. It lacked the epic qualities that made the film exciting through and through. It has its moments but there were also times that it failed to bring about the sense of awe, wonder, and spectacle needed for a concluding film.
This primarily comes in through a couple of underwhelming moments and aspects. The first is the central storyline that revolves around mutated locusts that threaten the ecological balance together with the presence of dinosaurs rampaging freely across the world. This main story didn’t really make much sense. It lacked the substance and motivation to really drive the story further. At the center of it all was an underwhelming villain as well who seemed to portray a very quirky and blinded scientist that kind of reminded me of the peculiarities of men such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, and Steve Jobs. This character felt a bit out of place as he was more of a satirical element in the film’s plot that didn’t match the overall direction and tone of the movie. His motives were as unclear as to his characterization and in all honesty, this aspect added a sense of familiarity and unity with almost all of the Jurassic Park and World stories — but not in a good way to be frank.
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The pacing of the film also drastically suffered. With a running time of two hours and a half — Jurassic World Dominion had the tendency to drag along at some parts. I found myself checking the time at some points in the film to figure out how much longer the film would take. It was that kind of movie. I wasn’t necessarily bored but there were moments that just felt too extended. I guess it goes back to the lack of excitement at times. There were also scenes that tried to add familiar elements from past films to include a sense of excitement but these honestly failed to deliver. One such example was the battle scene between two Apex predators, including a T-Rex but I just found this particular moment to be unnecessary as it just added more to the film’s running time.
The biggest highlight however was the action and fight sequences. Especially the how dinosaur, car, and motorcycle chase sequence. The exhilarating factor that these moments provided was honestly worth the price of admission. I just wished that there were more of this all throughout the film.
Visual Treat Nonetheless
One of the elements that make the Jurassic franchise so beloved up until this day is the visual spectacle that it brings. For a film produced back in the early ‘90s, Jurassic Park was able to utilize amazing special effects and visuals to paint a very immersive picture of a world filled with dinosaurs. This was once again achieved as expected with Jurassic World Dominion. There was a combination of special CGI effects as well as what seemed to be the use of puppetry that made the first few films so iconic and endearing. The way the cinematography addresses these innovations in editing and special effects was done so in a way that truly captured every scene in all its glory. This is an element of Jurassic films that delivered as usual and we were glad that it did.
Jurassic World Dominion Review: Final Verdict
Jurassic World Dominion is proof that the franchise has truly reached its end for now as the film boasts its fair share of ups and downs. As you can see in our review, Jurassic World Dominion suffered in providing a grand and exciting ending and in turn had some issues with its main story and pacing. It still is however a pretty decent offering — one that is nostalgic in nature and ties everything that Jurassic has offered to date.
Hype Meter Rating: 6/10
Jurassic World may have closed its story but the future of Jurassic as a whole is still up in the air. Only time will tell what that may actually look like. In the meantime, you can catch Jurassic World in theaters now here in the Philippines and worldwide.
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