Jurassic World Dominion
/“The doomsday clock might be out of time.”
Filmology Rating: 1.25 out of 4
It’s been four long years since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Not only has our society changed in many drastic ways but our theater going experiences have also changed. Gone are the days of packed theaters with people munching on buttery popcorn and gasping with awe at the latest spectacle to grace the silver screen. To try and convince anyone to return to the theater you need to prey on their nostalgia, just like a velociraptor needs to prey on a goat being lowered for a slaughter.
After the events of Fallen Kingdom, dinosaurs are on the loose. Creating panic for humanity and disrupting the local ecosystems could have devastating consequences for the entire planet. But you don’t need to worry about any of that since this film covers all of that in a quick montage at the start of the film. Remember dinosaurs. Just keep thinking about how amazing they are and how they remind you of your childhood. Oh right, we need to actually have a plot. Something about mutated insects that are going to destroy all crops that aren’t controlled by the corporation that created the insects. Wait. Bugs are the villains in a Jurassic Park film? Corporations don’t actually have the best interest of people in mind? What film did I just watch, it feels more like a bad 80s film that would have been a drive in hit. Que the nostalgia and ramp it up, you are going to need to to stomach any of this film.
The story is so, how to say this in the politest way, ridiculously stupid. If the creative team behind this film, mainly screenwriters Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow, wanted to actually have the legacy characters in the film then they should have figured out an actual way to put the characters into the plot of the film. This entire film would have still happened without the characters that everyone wanted to see! I was completely surprised that I wasn’t handed a sticker that said “sucker” when leaving the theater by staff. Since the legacy cast members don’t have any screen presence and aren’t bringing anything to the plot of the film that must mean that the World cast members have this amazing plot that makes my pulse quicken.
Sadly, that isn’t the case, the World cast members seem to be dead on arrival. While Chris Pratt hid a goldmine with Guardians of the Galaxy, he continues to prove that he is the least impressive Chris. Pratt just seems completely disinterested and uninterested in being the action hero of this series, yet Trevorrow keeps wanting me to believe that he is just the most dashing man on the planet. Bryce Dallas Howard isn’t a bad actress, yet she keeps getting shoehorned into these films. While Claire was an interesting character in the first film, she has never fit into any of the other storylines. They keep changing her character motivations off screen and I’m expected to just believe that she is at this new point in life when I haven’t seen any of the actual character development or motivation that led to these new life revelations. Give your actress something to work with instead of being a boring piece of eye candy on screen. While I admire some of the other acting work that Howard has done in films like Pete’s Dragon and 50/50, I feel that her true future should be behind the camera since she has shown to have amazing control over the episodes of The Manderlorian she has directed. I think we should all be honest with ourselves and admit that his film would have been visually more interesting if Howard directed the film.
The biggest sticking point that most people are going to, or should have, with this film is that GCI dinosaurs aren’t appealing anymore. We have seen so many different spectacles on the silver screen over the past years that these creatures captured our imagination nearly thirty years ago. Yes, the film does have practical effects but not nearly enough to have the film feel like any stakes are involved with the film. You never feel that anyone is actually in danger; the stakes of the film are nonexistent. This world is never exciting, full of wonder, nor does it ever offer a single moment that will have you on the edge of your seat wondering how this was created. While looking back at the original Jurassic Park film, I still feel a sense of awe and wonder while watching the film. Or looking at some other bombastic films over the past few years: Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Suicide Squad, and A Quiet Place Part II to name a few, are films over the past couple of years that offer GCI monsters and moments that make you emotional invested and feeling moments of awe and sadness a few moments later. It doesn’t matter if you are a multimillion dollar film or a shoestring budget indie film, I should never leave your film feeling hollow. I should always feel something towards your characters whether that is a sense of loathing or excitement. Any film that makes you feel apathetic towards the characters and/or monsters on the screen is a failure and should be condemned as such.
Speaking of monsters being an appealing part of films; do you remember in Fallen Kingdom when the dinosaurs are overtaking the Earth and you are like finally, this was the movie that I wanted the entire time. Well keep hoping and dreaming for that movie because you will only get that film in clumsy montage at the opening of the film. While I didn’t overly care for Fallen Kingdom I felt energized leaving the theater. I was excited for this next chapter and I feel like I had the rug plugged out from under me. This isn’t the case of my expectations setting up a different movie, this is the case of the previous film flat out telling me what the next installment was going to be and then the filmmaker deciding that they wanted to go in a more convoluted way with the story. Colin Trevorrow was involved with the previous installment, this isn’t like he walked into the franchise and wanted to suddenly take it in a new direction. I completely regret recommending The Book of Henry now, even if it was a halfhearted recommendation. Trevorrow has decided to try and make each of his films more stupid than the last. Trust me, this is the sign of a filmmaker who is losing his creative impulses and grasping at straws to see what will stick. At one point Colin Trevorrow seemed like box office gold but he has helped lead to his own extinction.
How far have we fallen, any sense of nostalgia has been completely stripped and feels rotten to the core? It feels like film studios no longer care about creating a good product and only want to recycle monotonous plot points and characters who have gone on to having more powerful and meaningful adventures in our imaginations. With each new entry into Jurassic I find myself questioning whether it was even worth having that perfect summer flick ages ago.
Rating: Let It Burn
-Jonny G