When the action begins, these two are in the Sierra Nevada, looking like they are in a winter pasture of a John Ford Western. Instead of grazing buffalo, Grady happily fights Parasaurolophus while Claire does her best for Maisie (Isabella Sermon), the girl cloned from the DNA of Charlotte Lockwood, daughter of Jurassic Park co-founder. Maisie is going through a teenage identity crisis. She is also being hunted down by Biosyn boss Lewis Dodgson (a deceptively soft Campbell Scott) who wants to analyze and exploit her DNA.
As you can see, it takes a lot of exposure to catch up and create a reason to bring human protagonists together in the Dolomites, where the climax is to occur. But director Colin Trevorrow, a Jurassic veteran, and co-writer Emily Carmichael do an action-packed job.
Chris Pratt fights a dinosaur at Jurassic World Dominion. Credit: Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
The DNA of Jurassic Park creator Steven Spielberg can be discerned in a series of stunts that could have been taken from an Indiana Jones movie. The capital of Malta, Valletta, lends its winding streets to a chase that makes Grady and his motorbike try to overcome a pair of stubbornly determined Dilophosaurus and the city’s wineries are a good choice as a setting for the sober inventive dinosaur market scene. Trevorrow also finds time to cut down west Texas wheat fields, which are being convincingly devastated by a genetically modified locust plague.
In the Dolomites, we meet Dr. Ian Malcolm of Goldblum, whose specialty, chaos theory, makes his consulting skills in high demand. He’s still delivering bleak jokes about the impending end of the human race and at that point, I wish he had arrived sooner.
Loading
There’s not enough humor to make up for the basic irregularity of the plot, and while Neill and Dern form an attractive couple as they set out to rekindle the romantic friendship they once enjoyed, the thought soon becomes a luxury that cannot be allowed.
The end is a battle for survival with a diabolical choreography that successfully suspends all your critical faculties, ending the franchise with vertigo, if it is the end. I suspect not. When it comes to movie dinosaurs, never say die.
Jurassic World Dominion is in theaters starting June 9th.
A cultural guide to go out and love your city. Subscribe to our Culture Fix newsletter here.