The “Jurassic Park” franchise (click here to read my review of the second sequel) has had its ups-and-downs. However, there’s absolutely no excuse for putting out a pile of excrement under the franchise’s banner as the filmmakers did in releasing “Jurassic World: Dominion” – which is the second sequel in the second trilogy of the “Jurassic” franchise. Yet, it somehow managed, despite it being an awful flick, to earn more than a billion dollars worldwide. “Dominion” is the sixth and absolutely the worst in the franchise and the overall counting is pretty much even – three watchable, entertaining films and three stinkers that are an insult to anyone brave enough to watch one of them.
‘Jurassic World: Dominion’
(2022; 147 minutes; rated R; directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill and Laura Dern)
PLEASE, PUT THIS FRANCHISE OUT OF OUR MISERY
After “Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom,” I didn’t believe anyone would have the courage for another sequel in the “Jurassic Park” franchise. Of course, I formulated that opinion from the emotion of how bad everyone judged “Fallen Kingdom,” but the bottom line is just that … dollars. So, “Jurassic Park: Dominion” came out in 2022 and is so putrid it should be called “Jurassic World: Septic Tank.”
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I once reviewed a movie that I didn’t watch and you can click here to read how and why I did the review, but I’d never turned off a film that I began to watch until I tried to view “Jurassic Park: Dominion.” Here is simply a terrible film and you should avoid it at all costs, but it did earn more than $1 billion worldwide and now there’s sure to be a floater in the cinematic punch bowl from the “Jurassic Park” franchise.
I apologize to any reader who might expect a longer review, but I just cannot give my usual number of words about “Dominion” (approximately 2,000; this review will be near 1,300). It fails at every level: from the storyline to the resurrection of past characters to the recitation of past movie plots to, well … everything.
“Dominion” uses the first 20 minutes or so in setting the stage for the storyline. It goes back to the beginning and up to the moment. Then, you get co-star Chris Pratt as “Owen Grady” and he’s on a dino round-up, rising a horse in a scene reminiscent of him on a motorcycle with dinos in the jungle of a previous film. Then you get to see Bryce Dallas Howard as “Claire Dearing” and she and Pratt are taking care of the cloned girl that they’re hiding from everyone else.
Coming up is Sam Neill as “Alan Grant” and Laura Dern as “Ellie Sattler” and they’re back from earlier films and reprising their characters as you saw them earlier – at a dino dig in the desert. Later, you get Jeff Goldblum as “Ian Malcolm” and he’s now been in two of the three “Jurassic” stinkers.
By this point, I’d lost any interest in “Dominion” as it was headed off in the direction of save-the-dinos and this plot twist and that plot enlightenment and … ah, who cares. I certainly don’t. It even reunites a raptor with Pratt and has a flying dino take down a plane (gee, where did I see a dino down a plane before?). There’s also the requisite evildoings by corporate-sponsored geneticists and … well, blah, blah and blah.
Sigh. Why do this film?
Sadly and most tellingly about the lack of creativity being released in cinema today, nine of the top 10 films for 2022 are sequels, while the the 10th is “The Batman” and is, of course, a “reboot.”
Sigh and sigh again. It’s obvious that Hollywood has run out of all creative ideas for a movie.
Given the awfulness of “Dominion,” I’m only offering a quick look at the two headliners …
- Pratt as “Owen Grady” doesn’t make the same mark as he did in “Jurassic World.” Heck, I’d have rather seen a completely different cast in this crapfest rather than Pratt or Howard or any other actor who was in a previous “Jurassic” film. Other than “Jurassic World” and “Fallen Kingdom,” I haven’t seen much of Pratt’s work and he’s been in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise as well as TV including the critically acclaimed “Parks and Recreation.” I enjoyed him in a smallish role in the baseball flick “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt (click here for my review). If there’s another “Jurassic” movie, I hope he has an excuse and avoids it at all costs.
- Howard brings back “Claire Dearing” and should have opted out of this one. I noted in my review of “Fallen Kingdom” that it was difficult to see if she had improved as an actor since “Jurassic World” and now I can say it’s impossible to tell if you measure her work in “Dominion.” Howard has all the talent in the world, but she’s gotta get away from the “Jurassic” franchise. She has been in “The Help,” “Terminator Salvation” and “Spider-Man 3.” She was nominated for the TV mini-series “As You Like It” from 2008.
I’m not going to waste anyone’s time looking at any more of the cast. “Dominion” has some very talented actors, but you’re not going to see any one of them manage to elevate his or her character.
“Jurassic Park: Dominion” was the No. 5 film at the U.S. box office in 2022 with $376.8 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. The No. 1 film was “Top Gun: Maverick” with $718.3 million and at No. 2 was “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” with $436.2 million. “Dominion” is the first film released in 2022 that I’ve reviewed for my blog.
Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):
- Goldblum had said he wanted a bigger part in “Dominion” after his cameo in “Fallen Kingdom.” Too bad that he got it in this one.
- At 2 hours and 27 minutes, “Dominion” is the longest of the six “Jurassic” movies.
- Directly from IMDb.com: “After discovering that filming around British Columbia had wrapped, a young fan of the dinosaur franchise decided to celebrate the movie by donning a Tyrannosaurus Rex costume. His efforts didn’t go unnoticed: the boy found himself invited to the movie’s wrap party in Merritt, B.C.”
- Neill and Goldblum were both in “Thor: Ragnarok.”
- More than 100 sets were made for the film. With earnings over $1 billion, I don’t believe the bottom line was affected by too much production costs.
- Approximately 18 animatronics were created for “Dominion.”
- Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “The New York Times has reported that the production crew had spent approximately $9 million putting safeguards in place. That money has gone toward renting out an entire hotel for the cast and crew to quarantine in for the remainder of the shoot. They have also established 150 hand sanitizing stations around the set and ordered roughly 18,000 COVID tests.”
- Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page about the film …
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