Jurassic World: Dominion

It’s been four years since Maisie, the cloned grand daughter of Jonathan Dawson, released the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar. The dinosaurs now live among the humans. Let’s be honest, replicating dinosaur DNA, bringing them back from extinction and placing them in a park was probably a bad idea in the first place, okay? However, releasing them into the mass population alongside human-beings, as you can probably imagine, has upset the very balance of nature itself. Dinosaur attacks on humans are constant, buildings are being destroyed in cities across the globe. Yet, there are some on the dinosaur’s side.

Take for example, Claire Dearing and Owen Grady. Former Jurrasic World Park Owner Claire has gone from breeding and exploiting them to saving endangered ones locked away in secure facilities. Owen also assists when and where he can. However, Claire and Owen are doing their best to take care of Maisie in a remote cabin near the Sierra Mountains, Nevada in an attempt to NOT draw attention to themselves.

One day, however, a familiar creature makes an appearance at the cabin, the velociraptor, Blue. Blue has a guest though… her child! “How can this be?” exclaims Owen, “Blue is the only one of her kind.” But before he can even say velociraptor, Blue’s child is snatched by poachers, a group associated with a corporation known only as Biosyn, as is Maisie (after running off on her own. Wait, did I happen to mention people are looking for her?). Claire and Owen go after the poachers, with a promise to Blue that they will get Blue’s baby back.

The hunt is on.

Sometimes a film franchise can become so big that it doesn’t know what to do with itself. Take for example, the Terminator films. The original Terminator film was such an iconic film that it was very hard for the sequels to live up to the original’s potential. Terminator 2, in my opinion, did relatively fine on it’s own. Even Terminator 3 did fine. However, as subsequent films continued to be produced (Terminator: Salvation, etc.), the enthusiasm, the drive and spark that drove the first film didn’t seem as present in the sequels and the sequels just seemed to be there because they just “had to be.”

This brings me to the Jurassic World films. “Jurassic World” in its release redefined archaeology and paleontology fantasy for an entirely new generation. It brought back the intrigue (and perhaps, yes, fear) of dinosaurs that my generation remembers growing up with back when the original “Jurassic Park” movies came out back in the 90s. “Jurassic World” honored the legacy of the Jurassic Park movies and brought the concept of studying dinosaurs into the 21st century. “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” while not as successful as the first film, still had plenty of, again, drive and enthusiasm.

“Jurassic World: Dominion,” though, as I stated to my friend who attended the film with me, felt like a film that only existed as a means to end the franchise, nothing more. When this is a film’s sole purpose, the end result is failure. The heart and soul of the film is gone. You feel it in every scene that passes. You hear it in the music, in the dialogue. Let me put it more simply, the film feels lifeless…

What I was expecting from “…Dominion” was not what I got. What I expected was plenty of dinosaur-human hunt sequences. What I received was only a handful of them. What I expected was a sense of suspense that I still feel EVERY TIME I watch the original Jurassic Park (and that film is 30 years old!). What I got was very little suspense. If you believe I’m being far too cynical, perhaps other reviewers might convince you otherwise. Here are just a few quotes from some VERY respected critics ….

“In an almost impressive display of ineptitude, Dominion combines the very worst vices of its predecessors in addition to a few new ones for good measure. As well as non-existent characterisation or thematic coherence, quaint concepts like comprehensible scene geography and narrative tension have all but disappeared”. … Christopher Machell, Cinevue

“More is depressingly less in Jurassic World Dominion, a legacy sequel that tosses in frequent winking nods to the 1993 Steven Spielberg thriller that started the dinosaur franchise and yet completely loses sight of the heart and humanity, the rapturous awe that made it so unforgettable. Whatever goodwill superfan director Colin Trevorrow earned with 2015’s enjoyable reboot, Jurassic World, he pulverizes it here with overplotted chaos, somehow managing to marginalize characters from both the new and original trilogies as well as the prehistoric creatures they go up against in one routine challenge after another. Evolution has passed this bloated monster by.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“The worst movie of the series… The awful movie drags on longer than the Cretaceous Period. …Nobody is good in this thing. You’d think it would be nostalgic to see Dern, Neill and Jeff Goldblum together again, but they all act like old fogies, and they’re written to sound like morons. Claire and Owen, of course, have always been glorified video-game characters, but they’ve never been as lacking in texture and depth as they are here. … [1/4] —Johnny Oleksinski New York Post

To the film’s credit, the CGI of the dinosaurs are still, to this day, still fantastic. I am amazed by how much detail and attention were given to each and every kind of dinosaur on screen. Additionally, the camerawork was relatively solid in the film. Some close-up shots really made for some relatively good action on screen.

Content for Concern

VIOLENCE: Heavy. However, I won’t list every moment of violence. Dinosaurs are seen attacking people at various events at the beginning of the film (including a young child). There is a giant sea dino pulling a fishing ship over on its side. A car crashes after avoiding a dino T-Rex is seen attacking a camper. A wolf grabs a rabbit and a baby T-Rex attacks that wolf. A truck hits an adult velociraptor, with the driver (or another) twice shooting at Owen. There is a gun battle and a Knife fight. There are various close calls with various dinosaurs. A man is on fire/ Dinos bite man’s arms and eventually kills him (off screen). 2 women fight, taser used. A big dino chomps person (the chomp occurs off screen). A Flying dino attacks Kayla’s plane. A Dino kills a deer. Dinos surround Claire and appear ready to kill her. Dinos kill a man just off-camera. Dinos battle with one with long claws eventually impaling another.

VULGARITY: Oh sh*t,” “A real sh*t-heel,” “That’s bullsh*t, ''You rapacious r*t bastard,” obscene gesture, “Don’t C*ck this up,” “What the-” (cut off), “You’re such a b*tch (or b*tching) loser,” “This is so trippy,” “Dead-a**,” “What an a**hole”

PROFANITY: G*d (2x), “G*ddamn it,” “Your d*mn right,” “What the h*ll is the matter with you?” and “D*mn that felt good.”

Sex: Owen and Claire kiss. Ian states that he had a dog that humped his leg so much he had calluses on his shin bone. Ellie and Alan kiss

ALCOHOL: Someone offers a character a beer.

NUDITY: Claire shows some cleavage.

OTHER: Someone mentions Evolution. People break into a facility to release some dinosaurs in captivity.

Spiritual Lessons

There was one moment in the film that made my mouth completely drop that I felt I had to address. In the film, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldbulm) is speaking to a bunch of people at a Biosyn facility, and he states the following (and I’m paraphrasing): “ We are dominion over creation. We are subordinate to creation.”

As creations, we know this goes COMPLETELY against everything Scripture stands for. In fact, this statement is contrary to the evidence found in the book of Genesis, particularly Genesis 1:26:

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Scripture clearly states that first God created the other creatures that live on the earth and then he created us to rule over them. He loves us so much and holds us in such high regard that he trusts us to watch over the rest of his creation that he toiled over to form. If you don’t believe in how much he values us, check this out!

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” —Psalm 139:13-14

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” —Jeremiah 1:5

Closing Thoughts

I guess all good things must come to an end and whether that means the Jurassic series has come to an end, well, only time will tell. What I can tell you is that is NOT the greatest Jurassic film to grace the screens, not by any stretch. Oh yes, there’s some dino-action involved, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, “Were the dinosaurs just an afterthought to the humans in this film?”

Aside from all this, the dino-action that does occur is VIOLENT at times. While it’s not graphic, it’s present and I’d recommend strong discernment before deciding whether or not you decide, as a Christian, wish to subject you or your family to this film. I do NOT suggest taking children to “… Dominion” as it does get intense at times.

In fact, make like the characters in this movie and run far away from this film.

• Violence: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Moderate
• Sex: Mild
• Occult: Mild
• Nudity: Minor
• Drugs/Alcohol: Minor

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.