Jurassic World: Dominion

 3/4

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Isabella Sermon, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, DeWanda Wise, Campbell Scott, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong

Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Action, Some Violence and Language

Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" is an all-time classic, easily one of his best films.  Unlike many films that have cemented a place in pop culture, it deserves every bit of fame and praise that it has been given since it was unleashed on the public in 1993.  It's not a paper tiger in any way, shape or form.  For pure excitement and awe, few other films come close.  It is a towering achievement in blockbuster cinema.  Certain high-minded critics have found bones to pick with it because it uses stock characters, but I have never found those arguments convincing.  The people in the film have enough charisma and personality to get the audience to relate to them and care about them.  Depth and weight have no place in a monster movie like that

Dinosaurs have captured the imagination of everyone on earth.  There is something so majestic and otherworldly about them.  It could very well be that such feelings can't be put into words, but Spielberg managed to tap into that in a very real way.  The fact that, nearly 30 years later, the film is just as awesome and frightening as it was when it was released is a testament to Spielberg's skill.  Other filmmakers have attempted to replicate what he achieved all those years ago, but they feel like imitators.

Such is the case with this new trilogy, "Jurassic World."  In many ways, it is a logical continuation of the story.  But Colin Trevorrow lacks not only Spielberg's talent, but his heart.  Spielberg respected dinosaurs and understood how people feel about them.  We saw them through the eyes of scientists who were just as obsessed with them as we are.  Trevorrow sees dinosaurs as standard movie monsters; there's no sense of awe here.  They're just there to chase people, bare their fangs and, of course, eat people.

To be fair to Trevorrow, he's no hack director.  "Jurassic Park: Dominion" contains some top flight thrills and scares.  There's a chase through the streets of Malta that is worth the price of admission by itself.  But it lacks the true sense of awe that made the original so special.  There are flashes of this, but that's it.  It's not an all-consuming majesty.

Part of the problem is the story.  Granted, "Jurassic Park" isn't the pinnacle of narrative, but it was so well constructed that it felt like it was.  Here, the film has the scares and the dinosaurs, but it lacks joy.  That's understandable considering the story being told, but even the darkest moments of the original had a sense of fun.

At the end of "Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom," the dinosaurs have escaped isolation.  They have now become endemic across the world.  It is to the film's credit that this isn't treated as a red herring.  Much of what happens can only be possible because of this.  The building of this new world isn't as deep or well-constructed as "Daybreak's," but it gets the job done.  Former raptor wrangler Owen Grady (Pratt) and former Jurassic World executive Claire Dearing (Howard) are living off the grid.  They have a child named named Maisie (Sermon), and while she isn't their biological child, they love her like she is.  Maisie is special, but she is also hunted by a company called Biosys, led by Lewis Dodgson (Scott) for unknown reasons.  Unfortunately, she's found and so Owen and Claire go on the hunt.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Dean) has learned that Biosys may not be as clean as they claim to be, and could be responsible for a locust plague that threatens the entire human race.  To get the evidence, she turns to and old friend: Dr. Alan Grant (Neill).  Their man on the inside is, of course, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum).

The story is uneven.  There are times when it is compelling.  The threat of the locusts, for example, is very real.  There are times when it feels like the world might actually end.  There are also times when it is flat.  Owen and Claire's search for Maisie feels at times like a low-rent James Bond.  The whole thing feels hokey and a bit goofy.  And while it's true that endemic dinosaurs isn't just a gimmick, it feels like the story doesn't exploit it enough.  Compare how the concept is used here to how pre-crime was used in "Minority Report."

I've never bought Chris Pratt as an action hero.  His dramatic range is limited, and he does best in films that use his chief asset: likability.  Being serious isn't something that he does particularly well.  Bryce Dallas Howard is better than the material that she has been given, but in this case, it's like watching Meryl Streep in "The River Wild."  Even classy actors deserve a chance to run around and scream (and she has a great set of lungs).  Isabella Sermon manages to be convincing; she's not too cute nor seen as an object of pity.  As for the returning trio, none of them seem to be on their game.  I fault the writing; these people don't seem like older versions of the people we met in the original or even the sequels that followed.  The big disappointment is Campbell Scott, which comes as a great surprise to me.  Scott is a great actor, and can play cruel and callous with ease (see "Roger Dodger" for an example of this), but he seems to be at a total loss as to how to play the villain here.  As written, Dodgson is part dweeb and part Machiavellian mastermind, but somehow the actor isn't able to bridge the gap.  Rather than someone whose comeuppance is mandatory, he is more like a satanic Mark Zuckerberg.

Whether or not "Jurassic Park: Dominion" works depends, I suppose, on how you look at it.  As a straightforward summer monster movie, it delivers.  There's plenty of action that is more than capable of delivering the thrills and chills.  It's a "bruised forearm" movie, as Roger Ebert liked to call them.  But as a continuation of what Spielberg started all those years ago, there's no denying that there's a sense of disappointment.  And, perhaps more tragically, what could have been.