The last instalment of this franchise was a huge disappointment so my expectations for this final part of the second Jurassic trilogy were not high. Set four years later, in Jurassic World: Dominion, dinosaurs are now uneasily co-existing with humans. Genetics company Biosyn run the facilities housing a large dinosaur population and also seem to be responsible for unleashing a destructive strain of locusts that could destroy the world’s food crop. They are also searching for Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the child rescued by Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Marcia Gay Harden) in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
That is a hell of a lot of plot strands to tie together and newcomers to the series might be lost despite a handy catch up at the start. To bring the story to life are not only the regulars from the Jurassic World franchise but also Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) from the original trilogy.
Credit has to be given to director Colin Trevorrow and his co writer Emily Carmichael for making a coherent and, most of all, fun conclusion. It is easy to pick holes in the plot, but that was also true of Jurassic Park, a film that some hold as an unimpeachable classic. Don’t get me wrong, it is clearly the best of the six movies but it is silly popcorn entertainment. For depth, you need to go back to Michael Crichton’s original novel.
The performances are all enjoyable. It is great to see the two groups working together and it is a surprise that Sermon has not acted since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as she is an impressive young actress. At the risk of sounding like someone who likes to moan about James Bond films, Campbell Scott’s villain is a bit weak, and, this time around, Daniella Pineda is underused as Zia Rodriguez.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10