I really, REALLY wanted to come back after watching this movie to say that it was an absolute hit and that it blew my mind in ways I wasn’t expecting. But that would be a pretty big lie. The action sequences in this movie were alright, not the best by far, and the dialogue felt clunky and chunky and definitely forced at times, but it wasn’t that bad of a movie. It is a movie that one could wait for when it comes to streaming or on iTunes or something since the wow factor is something that feels like it should be there in a big way. But somehow the impressive ability to get the legacy characters and the new characters on the screen at the same time felt like a mashup that’s the equivalent of smashing two lumps of playdough together, it might make something interesting, but the overall effect is that now you have more, and that’s about it. In other words, bringing Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm into this movie didn’t enhance it as much as it filled the movie up.
The new villain, Dodgson, is a bit milquetoast for this kind of a role, since his company, Biosyn, is supposed to be a beneficial company that’s looking into making life better for people, but instead of all that, his grand plan is…locusts. If you don’t want to deal with spoilers then you might want to quit reading, but otherwise, the general plot is that Biosyn is creating prehistoric locusts, which are the size of a large cat, that will swarm and consume crops at an accelerated rate, leaving only Biosyn crops, which they are genetically engineered to avoid. Never mind the fact that this would kill millions upon millions of people when it came to a food shortage, but on top of that, Dodgson is after a young raptor and a young woman as well, the raptor, who is the offspring of Blue, the raptor raised by Owen Grady, forms a bond with Maisie Lockwood, who was brought into the franchise in Fallen Kingdom, and has been raised by Owen and Claire for the past four years since the events of the last movie.
When Maisie and Beta, the young raptor, are captured to be delivered to Biosyn, Owen and Claire follow to get them back. At the same time, Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant have arrived at Biosyn at the behest of Ian Malcolm, who acts nonchalant initially. He does make it known that he’s aware of the corruption with Biosyn as he sends Alan and Ellie to gather a sample from the locusts to bring Biosyn down. Of course, that becomes a giant hassle as the man that welcomed Ellie and Alan to the site, Ramsey, reveals that he is working against Biosyn with Malcolm, and helps the two, as well as Maisie, to escape. The interactions with the dinosaurs in this movie felt off somehow, as though they weren’t quite as immersive as in the previous movies. This isn’t entirely accurate, but the number of near misses and the fact that the heroes are always just a second or so from imminent doom, only to be shown escaping in the next instant, feels a little too contrived.
The story isn’t a bad one up until one learns that modified locusts could threaten the world, which is valid enough, but at the same time might not be quite as satisfying as many of the other enemies that could have been thrown at the heroes. Plus, the truly tough dinosaur that was seen as the big bad turned out to be less than adequate when a T. Rex and another dinosaur with claws that extend for at least a couple of meters face off against it. This allows the heroes to escape, while deep in the escape tunnels, Dodgson meets his end at the frilled dinosaurs that were first seen in Jurassic Park. There were a few throwbacks in this movie that were fun to see, such as the can of Barbasol that was featured in the very first movie. But apart from that, this movie didn’t really feel like something that was meant to be an epic end to a trilogy that started out in a fun way but started to slip and fall along the way.
In terms of overall likability, Dominion was kind of a giant ‘meh’ since even the most dangerous moments left a person thinking that there wasn’t much to worry about. The only deaths that were of any note were those that happened to people that the audience probably believed deserved it, while everyone else was given a pass because they were main characters. In other words, there wasn’t a lot of risk taken for this movie, which is surprising, since the ethical and moral issues that were brought up at the beginning of the movie should have easily created a movie that would have been worth debating when it comes to animal rights.
Dominion
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