While it may not contain any life-changing twists or surprises, Dominion works not only as a fun concluding chapter the Jurassic World trilogy, but also as a nostalgic coda to the original 1993 Jurassic Park film.

Premise: Four years after dinosaurs were released into the wild, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) are working to protect dinosaurs from poaching and exploitation, while also hiding Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) from those searching for the world’s only human clone. Meanwhile, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) stumbles onto a conspiracy that appears to lead back to InGen’s original corporate rival BioSyn, and soon her path crosses again with her fellow original Jurassic Park consultants, Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).

Review:

As is often (but not always) the case with legacy sequels, it’s probably not a bad idea to manage your expectations going into Jurassic World: Dominion, as the simple truth is, none of the various sequels have managed to match to quality or impact of 1993’s first Jurassic Park movie (not even the Steven Spielberg directed first sequel, 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park). That said, with the exception of 2001’s Jurassic Park III (which I have never been a fan of), I’ve found that all of the sequels have been fun blockbuster films in their own right offering plenty of entertainment value, and Dominion continues this pattern.

I really enjoyed the first Jurassic World film back in 2015, and even if (like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which came out just six months later) it’s arguably just a nostalgic re-tread of the ‘greatest hits’ moments from the original movie, it’s still a lot of fun with some great crowd-pleasing moments. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom then had the harder job in 2018 of finding a way to tell a new story that was satisfying in its own right without being a repeat of what’s come before, and I felt that on that basis, it was a qualified success. Fallen Kingdom is arguably the weakest film in the Jurassic World trilogy, but that’s mainly because it’s the ‘set up’ chapter, where it was primarily concerned with moving the pieces from where they were at the end of Jurassic World to where they needed to be at the start of Dominion.

“…tells a much more expansive, globe-trotting story…”

Although it had its shortcomings, without Fallen Kingdom, Dominion wouldn’t have been able to tell the much more expansive, globe-trotting story that it tells, because this final chapter follows up on several of the key plot threads that were set up by the ending of Fallen Kingdom. Chief among these, of course, is the fact that dinosaurs are now out in the wild, and Dominion explores this concept in some interesting ways (but without dwelling on the initial destruction and chaos too much – if you want to see that, check out the Battle at Big Rock and the Dominion Prologue short films). Dominion also continues the story of the human clone Maisie Lockwood (played by Isabella Sermon) in a meaningful way, even if there does appear to have been a fair bit of ‘retconning’ in relation to her character’s backstory.

One of the things I’ve admired about the Jurassic World trilogy is that they have continued to avoid depicting the dinosaurs as ‘monsters’. In the first Jurassic World film, it was the artificially man-made (and psychologically abused) Indominus Rex that was the ‘villain’ of the film, and it was the forces of nature that effectively defeated it in the end. In Fallen Kingdom, it was the artificially man-made (and psychologically abused) Indoraptor that was the ‘villain’, and the ‘natural’ dinosaurs were depicted as the victims, of Man’s intervention, of the island’s volcano, and ultimately, of a potential genocide. Dominion could have so easily approached the concept of wild dinosaurs roaming freely across the world from a horror perspective, but instead, Dominion continues the trilogy’s ecological themes, with one character arguing that, objectively speaking, humans have no more of an inherent right to survive than the dinosaurs do.

“…the film’s main selling point is seeing the return of the cast from the original ‘Jurassic Park’ film…”

But as engaging as the themes in Dominion are, the film’s main selling point is seeing the return not only of the characters from the Jurassic World trilogy, but also of the cast from the original Jurassic Park film – and on that level, Dominion delivers in spades. Whereas Jeff Goldblum only had a very small cameo in Fallen Kingdom, here the original cast are true co-stars, leading their own branch of the movie.

The film effectively follows two separate plot threads for the most part, until they cross over in the final act, and one of these is a conspiracy-thriller story that reunites the original trio of Ellie Sattler, Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm, played by the legendary Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum. All three of these actors get a chance to make a real contribution to the film’s narrative rather than simply turn up for a brief cameo, and in particular, seeing the relationship between Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant explored on screen again makes up for those characters’ unsatisfying appearances in Jurassic Park III. The film even brings back Lewis Dodgson of BioSyn (this time played by Campbell Scott), the man whose bribery of Wayne Knight’s Dennis Nedry set in motion the events of the original disaster at Jurassic Park.

“…I’ve enjoyed seeing Owen’s & Claire’s evolution across the course of the trilogy…”

Leading the other plot strand are Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt as Claire Dearing and Owen Grady, and their storyline is a much more action-packed quest, as they battle poachers, investigate the dino-black market, and encounter new weaponised dinosaurs. There seem to be some people who really don’t like Owen and Claire as characters, but I’ve enjoyed seeing their evolution across the course of the trilogy. With Dominion being all about reuniting characters from earlier films, we also get to catch up with Omar Sy (as Owen’s animal trainer colleague from Jurassic World) and with Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda (as Franklin Webb and Zia Rodriguez from Fallen Kingdom), and the film also shows us what became of the original Jurassic Park scientist Dr Henry Wu (BD Wong) after his shady activities in the last two films.

It’s not all old faces, of course, as Dominion also introduces to the series DeWanda Wise as pilot Kayla Watts and Mamoudou Athie as BioSyn PR man Ramsay Cole, as well as several new dinosaurs, and all of the new additions make an instant impression.

“…a satisfying & enjoyable conclusion to a cinematic rollercoaster that started almost 30 years ago…”

Of course, there will be those who want to pick holes in this film, but as I said at the start, this was never going to rival the original Jurassic Park, and you could (if you were feeling particularly ungenerous) argue that this film doesn’t really include any narrative surprises or unexpected developments. It’s also probably fair to say that this arguably has less tension or suspense than any of the previous films, and certainly nothing to stand alongside some of the series’ most memorable set-pieces.

But all of that feels like a very uncharitable and disingenuous interpretation of a film that is primarily aiming to deliver an entertaining cocktail of blockbuster excitement and nostalgic comfort. There really was an undeniable thrill in seeing Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum back onscreen together as Sattler, Grant and Malcolm, just as there was a thrill in seeing the Dilophosaurus return to the series, or in spotting the various Easter eggs dotted throughout the movie. And as someone who enjoyed the previous Jurassic World films, I found the conclusion of Owen’s and Claire’s storylines, and the storylines of the other characters from the sequel trilogy, very satisfying. This film even found a way to fill in the plot holes from ‘Site B’ on Isla Sorna that was seen in The Lost World and Jurassic Park III. So for me personally, Dominion was a satisfying and enjoyable conclusion to a cinematic rollercoaster that started almost 30 years ago.