Nearly thirty years ago, Steven Spielberg beat, with Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park), a box office record he set himself with AND. Beyond the numbers, the film offered a spectacular adaptation, with innovative special effects, of Michael Crichton’s novel telling how a billionaire had succeeded in cloning dinosaurs in order to make them the attraction of a park, to the great displeasure of a trio of scientists. Two disappointing sequels followed, then, after a hiatus, the saga was restarted with younger, sexier heroes. After bringing back one of the veterans in the previous installment, Jurassic World Dominion (Jurassic World: Domination) opts for a fusion of the two eras.
As the series still forcefully reminds us recently Stranger Things, nostalgia pays off. However, in the case of Jurassic World Dominion, it is a double-edged sword. Because if it is good to find the doctors Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), seen again in The Lost World (The Lost World) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom), Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), reappeared in the third part, it must be recognized that their presence only exacerbates the insignificance of their successors, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, on autopilot like never before) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard).
Anyway, four years have passed since the destruction of Isla Nubar, the dinosaur sanctuary. Since then, they live in freedom throughout the vast world. In their house deep in the woods, Owen and Claire spend relatively peaceful days with their adopted daughter Maisie, a clone (Isabella Sermon) who, like Eleven in the second season of Stranger Thingshey, is tired of living in hiding.
But now the teenage daughter and offspring of Owen’s favorite velociraptor, Blue, are kidnapped by a vile genetics mogul. Smelling on their side that the latter is at the origin of the appearance of voracious giant grasshoppers which threaten the world production of grain, Malcolm, Grant and Sattler return to service. Behind the scenes, we find again Doctor Henry Wu (BD Wong), whose research had allowed the (re) creation of the dinosaurs…
Voltage absent
And all these beautiful people to meet in what is, by far, the worst film in the series. Overcrowded and underwritten and scattered, Jurassic World Dominion alternates with soporific regularity long scenes of explanatory dialogue and effective action sequences every other time. Colin Trevorrow, director of Jurassic World (Jurassic World) notoriously ejected from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) before being replaced at short notice by JJ Abrams, does strictly generic work here.
As usual, the whole thing is punctuated with touches of humor, but towards the end, we force the comic note to the detriment of the suspense. When the villain of the story becomes pathetic and ridiculous, what little tension was left dissipates for good. It is a production which is also looking for an identity, and which plays it sometimes james bondsometimes IndianaJonessometimes Godzillasometimes an evocation of the original film…
Here again, the nostalgia factor is detrimental to the film, since we are miles away from the meaning of Spielberg’s image and story. After three decades, perhaps it’s time to bring the series to a close. Extinguishing fires, and beasts.