My thoughts: Jurassic World Dominion
I saw the last foreseeable Jurassic installment of the franchise yesterday and surprisingly thoroughly enjoyed it. I won’t leak any spoilers only to say what you think will happen will 100% happen, so don’t you worry.
Jurassic World Dominion offers everything you hope it will: big roars, plot holes, and chaotic problems that spill over into even more chaos. We see the original cast from the first movies blend into the storyline with newer characters, and I think they made the bond between them all just the right amount of cheesy and cute.
What surprised me most was the moment I walked out of the theater, I understood a bit more how the fans of Marvel or DC can exude so much passion for their movies. I’ve never really resonated with nor respected superhero franchises. To me, they only offer convoluted, trope-heavy storylines and big effects budgets. When they’re not overdoing it with unrealistic stunt choreography, they’re engaging in laughable dialogue that no real person would have.
The story is always predictable and the characters are one-dimensional and uninteresting.
I feel a bit of a fool, however, because I’d say the exact same things about this final Jurassic film and yet, I have to admit that I enjoyed it a lot. I didn’t expect anything more than what all the other movies preceding it delivered: great fight scenes, a killer raptor chase and dinosaurs chillingly stalking their human prey, the gargling of their growls vibrating the theater walls.
This brings me to the conclusion that nostalgia is a powerful tool.
I grew up watching the Jurassic Park movies. I can vividly remember the scene in the first film of the dinosaur stomping by that kid’s window at night illuminated by the blue of the pool light.
Didn’t sleep for weeks.
I’m sure I watched Jurassic World Dominion with an intoxicating nostalgic bias, and therefore, my judgement was clouded. However, I think this franchise’s overarching message holds substantial water:
“Life finds a way.”
In the face of control, hardship and disaster, we see both dinosaurs and humans fight to find a way to survive and thrive. It’s this struggle between science and the human race trying to wrap their arms around nature and nature resisting containment with passionate fury. I love that the film leans heavily on exploring the ethical dilemma of holding creatures in captivity and controlling their environments in the name of “protecting them.” They touch on the danger of genetic engineering and the God-complex we have as human beings to think we can safely control something as unruly and unpredictable as life.
Even though these concepts are vital issues that exist outside the theater and a silly flick, I enjoyed this movie as just a movie too.
It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me want my own dinosaur.