Jurassic World Dominion is the conclusion to a trilogy that never quite found its footing, and it ends that trilogy in the manner most consistent with what preceded it: with spectacle, confusion, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what made the original franchise worth revisiting. Colin Trevorrow's 2022 film is not the worst entry in the series, but it is the most exhausting, a picture that mistakes busyness for momentum and mistakes the reunion of the original cast for dramatic substance. It is a film of considerable resources deployed without sufficient purpose, and its 146-minute runtime is the most damning evidence of a production that did not know when to stop.
At a Glance
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Runtime: 146 minutes
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
Release: 2022
Critics Rating: ★★ (2/5 stars, bloated and unfocused)
Audience Rating: ★★½ (2.5/5 stars, the original cast reunion is pleasurable but cannot carry the film)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Four years after the events of Fallen Kingdom, dinosaurs now coexist with humans across the globe. The picture follows two parallel storylines: Owen and Claire protecting Maisie Lockwood from those who want to exploit her unique genetic heritage, while the original trio of Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm investigate Biosyn, a genetics corporation whose engineered locusts are threatening the world's food supply. The locust subplot is the most significant structural problem, a science fiction premise that has almost nothing to do with dinosaurs and that occupies a disproportionate share of the narrative. The screenplay is the franchise's most overcrowded, introducing new characters, locations, and threats at a pace that prevents any of them from being developed with adequate care. The two storylines converge at Biosyn's research facility in the Dolomites, but the convergence feels mechanical rather than dramatically inevitable, and the climax resolves its various threads with a haste that suggests a production aware of its own overextension.
Characters
The reunion of Neill, Dern, and Goldblum is the primary selling point, and the three performers bring a warmth and a chemistry to their scenes together that the Jurassic World trilogy's own characters have never achieved. Dern's Sattler is given the most active role, her determination to expose Biosyn providing the clearest through-line in an otherwise diffuse narrative. Goldblum's Malcolm is deployed primarily for comic relief and philosophical observation, which is entertaining but represents a waste of the character's capacity for dramatic function. Neill's Grant is the most underserved of the three, present but peripheral in ways that suggest the screenplay was uncertain what to do with him beyond the pleasure of his return. Pratt and Howard remain likeable but constrained, their storyline consistently less engaging than the one running parallel to it. DeWanda Wise's Kayla Watts is the most successful new addition, a pilot of considerable charisma whose pragmatic competence gives the more crowded sequences a useful anchor. Campbell Scott's Lewis Dodgson is the most misjudged casting decision, a villain of such limited menace that his presence as the primary antagonist undermines the dramatic stakes at every turn.
Tone
The picture attempts to operate simultaneously as a globe-trotting action thriller, a legacy sequel, a science fiction film about ecological collapse, and a family adventure. None of these registers is sustained long enough to establish a coherent tonal identity, and the transitions between them are handled with a bluntness that prevents any single mode from generating sufficient momentum. The Malta sequence, in which Owen pursues a dinosaur trafficker through a crowded market, briefly suggests what a more focused picture might have achieved, a kinetic and spatially inventive action passage that demonstrates Trevorrow's capacity for large-scale choreography when the material gives him a clear objective.
Meaning / Themes
The central argument, that humanity must learn to coexist with the consequences of its own technological overreach, is a reasonable extension of the franchise's foundational concerns and a logical development of the premise established by Fallen Kingdom's ending. But the locust subplot is so disconnected from the dinosaur material that the thematic connection feels asserted rather than demonstrated, and the resolution, in which the locusts are destroyed and the dinosaurs are left to coexist with humanity, sidesteps the harder questions that a more rigorous treatment of the premise would have required.
Direction
Trevorrow handles large-scale sequences with competence but without the visual imagination that Bayona brought to Fallen Kingdom. The Biosyn valley is the most visually distinctive setting, a contained environment that briefly recalls the original's island geography. The Malta sequence is the most kinetically accomplished passage. Michael Giacchino's score is the trilogy's most accomplished, with the sequences involving the original cast benefiting from a more confident and emotionally resonant integration of Williams' original themes than either of the preceding entries managed.
Cultural Reception
Jurassic World Dominion received poor reviews on its release but was a solid commercial success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide. Critics condemned the locust subplot, the overcrowded screenplay, and the waste of the original cast reunion, and it is now regarded as the Jurassic World trilogy's most significant creative failure. The box office performance, while commercially acceptable, represented a considerable decline from Jurassic World's heights and confirmed that franchise goodwill has limits when creative quality falls sufficiently far. The decision to end the trilogy here rather than pursue the more interesting premise that Fallen Kingdom had established is now widely regarded as a missed opportunity.
Who Should Watch
Franchise completists who want to see how the Jurassic World trilogy concludes, and viewers primarily interested in seeing Neill, Dern, and Goldblum share the screen again. The original cast reunion is the most reliable pleasure, and those who approach Dominion primarily for that reason will find it adequately rewarding. Most others will find a picture that is too long, too crowded, and too uncertain of its own priorities to justify the investment.
Final Verdict: A bloated and unfocused conclusion to a trilogy that never found a compelling reason to exist. The reunion of the original cast is the most reliable pleasure, the Malta sequence demonstrates what a more disciplined production might have achieved throughout, and DeWanda Wise is a welcome addition to a franchise that needed new energy. Everything else is a reminder that spectacle without dramatic intelligence is just noise, and that 146 minutes of noise is a considerable ask.
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