RAIDERS OF THE LOST PARK
THE LAST JURASSIC FILM CONSTANTLY STEALS FROM SPIELBERG’S ORIGINAL... BUT CAN’T DISGUISE 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.
“I got five kids. Expenses add up,” he deadpans. You sense that commercially-driven explanation may fit the original cast members’ return to the franchise for this unoriginal globe-trotting 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 coexist 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, Owen and Claire spearhead a rescue aided by pilot 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 overarching storyline to a close with a 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 one-liners courtesy of Goldblum, which sweeten 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 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.”