At the beginning of the millennium, Peter Jackson released an adaptation of the Lord of the Rings book, which was divided into three films. The ambitious cinematic project, which at the time seemed like a big gamble, was a huge success, and see what a miracle, since each collection of sequels wins the title of the pompous trilogy, though in most cases the dictionary definition of “non-profit money created purely for profit” is more appropriate. The current dinosaur “trilogy,” which is a sequel to the previous three films, which were also rebranded as a trilogy, is one of the best – that is, worst – examples of this marketing strategy.
In 1993 Michael Creighton’s book was made into a successful film by Steven Spielberg, who was dragged into making the sequel as well because he did not want what happened to the sequels to “Jaws” to happen. And so “Jurassic Park” turned a number into a franchise film, and although no one liked the third film directed by Joe Johnston in 2001, plans for a fourth film were already in motion back then. It took 15 years, so instead of “Jurassic Park 4” we got “Jurassic World” – the first film in a new trilogy, as it were. I remember quite enjoying watching Chris Pratt talk to dinosaurs. I summed up the following film on Facebook as “a particularly dumb script with some beautiful images.” Despite the low scores it received from viewers, this film also made a lot of money, so here comes the third film, i.e. the sixth, and it is not only dumb but also boring, and generally particularly bad.
On the occasion of the graduation event (and I sincerely hope that it is indeed a final ending, it depends only on you) the film acted as a cycle meeting between the stars of the previous generation and the stars of the current generation. But the screenwriting duo – Emily Carmichael and film director Colin Trevor – have not found a proper way to combine them all into a plot with a minimum of logic of any kind – dramatic, scientific or entertaining. Aside from lots of characters pulling the crumbling plot in different directions, there are also lots of dinosaurs attacking humans and each other, perhaps due to frustration at being pushed to the margins of the plot in favor of engineered locusts.
So there’s a villain with a Ph.D. (Campbell Scott, an actor I once liked) who set up a James Bond movie-style den, where he produces mighty locust grasshoppers as part of an illogical conspiracy to take over the world’s wheat crops. Laura Daren enlists Sam Neil (just for the nostalgia, because he does not have the relevant skills) to penetrate with her into the den to expose the conspiracy. Jeff Goldblum is waiting for them there for entertainment, and he is indeed the only one who manages to provide a hint of this thing. In a completely separate plot line, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard also try to penetrate the lair to redeem from there the cloned girl Maisie (Isabella Sermon, who disappeared from the screen between the previous and current film). Maisie, who gets a different background story than she had in the previous film (an attempt to fix that only spoils more), was kidnapped by the same villain doctor for reasons classified in the “Well, really” folder. They are joined by a squadron (Davanda Wise) who is willing to sacrifice her life and her plane for people she met five minutes ago, because that’s it. “You really love her,” the squadron tells Chris Pratt (who wants to save his partner from the dinosaurs), and as if trying to convince him and us that there is room for love in this film.
And the dinosaurs? Since escaping the island in the previous film, they have been roaming everywhere and attacking humans in the air at sea and on land. There are also some cute dinosaur puppies who love petting, but the rest attack and prey indiscriminately and the movie is full of more and more (and more and more) such scenes and most of them look the same. After a few such attacks it becomes repetitive and uninteresting, even though we are twice told that the Giantosurus, or something like that, is the largest predator on earth (so, apparently, we are supposed to be extra scared). In “Jurassic Park” Spielberg made us marvel at the wonders of creation, and then made our hearts skip a beat in the scenes with the raptors in the kitchen and the Tee Rex in the window. Trevor does not understand dosages, nor does he understand editing. There are far too many dinosaur attacks here, and as they multiply they are filmed and edited less well, as if his own is already fed up with his film.
As is customary in cycle meetings there is also a recollection, and the film is full of bold gestures to “Jurassic Park” (remember how Laura Daren wanted to turn on the electricity in the park? Let’s see her do it again, along with me from the new trilogy), and more Spielberg films (remember The Indiana Jones part with his hat? Let’s recreate it with Sam Neil, who looks great at 74, by the way). This too is grossly made and there is not a single surprising or original moment in the film. “Shooter World: A New World” is not only the worst movie in the series. He’s one of the worst sequels I’ve seen since they started calling these things a trilogy. Ten years ago Colin Trevor’s first film, “At Your Only Responsibility,” left a good impression at the Sundance Film Festival. From there he went straight to “The World of the Shooter,” which cost 34 times as much.
★✯ 1.5 stars
Jurassic World: Dominion Director: Colin Trevor. With Chris Pratt, Laura Daren, Sam Neil, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum. USA 2022, 146 min