Raiders of the lost park
Last chapter of the Jurassic franchise constantly steals from Spielberg’s classic original film... but can’t disguise the fact that it’s just a cash-grab
SHORTLY after Ian Malcolm, played with delicious drollness by Jeff Goldblum, is reintroduced to the Jurassic Park saga for director Colin Trevorrow’s bloated series swansong, the mathematician summarises his rationale for selling his soul to a new bioengineering behemoth that tampers with dinosaur DNA.
“I got five kids. Expenses add up,” he deadpans.
You sense that commerciallydriven explanation may fit the original cast members’ motivation for returning to the franchise for this weak caper.
Set a few years after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the belaboured final chapter features one terrific action sequence on Malta and some less impressive CGI.
Following the volcanic eruption on Isla Nublar, dinosaurs co-exist uneasily with humans.
Former Jurassic World park manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and boyfriend Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) are dedicated to preserving that balance with their adopted child – genetic clone Maisie (Isabella Sermon).
When poachers steal raptor Blue’s newborn and something more precious, Owen and Claire spearhead a rescue mission aided by plucky pilot-forhire Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise).
Meanwhile, paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr Malcolm trace ecological disaster to the laboratories of BioSyn Genetics run by Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) and protege Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie).
In the same way that Jurassic Park III meekly concluded the original trilogy, Jurassic World: Dominion is an extinction level event for the franchise, bringing the second salvo and the over-arching storyline to a close with a narrative splutter rather than a roar.
The film nods to the past (Neill growls familiar lines, Dern repeats her awestruck sunglasses removal) but has little to say for itself.
Characters from the original film are largely surplus to requirements. Dialogue is leaden except for choice oneliners courtesy of Goldblum, whose comic relief sweetens the bitter pill of a running time just shy of two-and-a-half hours.
How I wish director Trevorrow and co-writer Emily Carmichael had personally heeded Malcolm’s stern rebuke to John Hammond in the original film: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”