JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION

[HD-man]

I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but just in case:

Spoiler

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[DinoToyForum]

I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but just in case:

Spoiler

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What?

[suspsy]

Jurassic World Dominion is being billed as the "Conclusion of the Jurassic Era" and that will undoubtedly be the case. Mostly because it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this once-beloved franchise should become extinct.

https://gizmodo.com/jurassic-world-dominion-review-chris-pratt-laura-dern-j-1848883641?utm_campaign=io9&utm_content&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0EvFYURQX325olUi3WEydzQXzBsBcBhlVOYOZkhVRaI-1LjeoLSZmv2Ts&fs=e&s=cl

[SRF]

Thanks @suspsy for sharing that review. I'll just wait until I can watch this movie at home. Until then, I'll just watch Prehistoric Planet a few extra times instead.

[suspsy]

Leave it to Rolling Stone to really dish out the stings.

Were Jurassic World Dominion not already the conclusion of this nex-gen reboot cycle, you would naturally assume that it'd be the last entry — or more accurately, the final straw — of this series as a whole. It's not so much a movie as an extinction-level event for the franchise, one in which the last remaining bits of good will and investment in this particular intellectual property are snuffed out like so many unlucky Stegosaurses.

You'd never accuse the original Jurassic Park of being pure — it's an old giant-monsters-run-amuck flick done up in fancy Nineties duds. Yet the way that Spielberg and his cast worked those drive-in movies chills and leaned into those genre curves made it feel exhilarating, if not sui generis. It was a sleeker model with impeccable craftsmanship, a slab of passionate pulp with a high-gloss. Dominion feels like a contractual obligation at best, and a D.O.A. attempt to wring one last drop out of an already depleted brand at worst. At one point, a T. Rex wanders into a scene and surveying everything around him, throws back his head and let's a long howl of rage. Had he done that for over two hours, he would have known exactly how we felt.

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/jurassic-world-dominion-movie-review-1362206/

[Brocc21]

I haven't seen the film yet but-

Spoiler

I actually like the idea of Biosyn breeding Locusts that destroy everything, aside from Biosyn brand crops of course. Feels very in character for them from what we see of them in the novels. Though it seems to take up a little too much of the run time in the film.

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[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I never read reviews..they just want attention and a negative review gets a lot more than a positive one.

They've said several times it's not the end of the franchise. It also sounds like that reviewer is throwing shade on the 90s masterpiece original and Spielburg.

[suspsy]

I don't think it's simply a matter of trying to get attention in this case. Many of the reviewers quoted above have professed to love the Jurassic Park movies—-they just really hated this one. And even that RS reviewer is right about the original JP film not being perfect. It really was a monsters-run-amuck story at its core, but Spielberg knew how to shape it like a sculptor working with clay or marble. Trevorrow is a kid with Play-Doh by comparison.

[Faelrin]

40% on Rotten Tomato's Tomatometer (131 critic reviews, with 5/10 so far). Not that I had particularly high hopes for this film, but that's worse then what FK has so far. I've already seen some scathing reviews as well, from critics and fans of the franchise. Though I've also seen the contrary where folks enjoyed it. YMMV I guess. I plan to see it either tomorrow or Friday probably, depending on how I feel. Despite waiting for this film for a few years now, I feel more enthusiastic about JWE2 and the upcoming DLC at this point. Oh and of course the Mattel stuff as usual. I mean I read a leak of the plot a while back, through an early screening, and I had mixed feelings about it then, so my expectations are low, plus how I generally feel about FK now (especially after revisiting it, after it was out of the theaters).

I expect it to continue to fluctuate up and/or down until after its full global and domestic release on the 10th.

The other films ratings on RT by comparison:

Jurassic Park: 92% Tomatometer (132 critic reviews, with 8.4/10); 91% audience (250,000+ ratings with 4.3/5)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park: 53% Tomatometer (80 critic reviews, with 5.6/10); 51% audience (250,000+ ratings with 3.3/5)
Jurassic Park III: 49% Tomatometer (187 critic reviews, with 5.3/10); 36% audience (250,000+ ratings with 3/5)
Jurassic World: 71% Tomatometer (358 critic reviews, with 6.6/10); 78% audience (100,000+ ratings with 3.9/5)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: 47% Tomatometer (433 critic reviews, with 5.4/10); 48% audience (25,000+ ratings with 3.1/5)

Not sure about anyone else, but my personal rankings are roughly in the order of release, but with JPIII and JW tied for 3rd. I'm curious to see where Dominion will land for me after I see it.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I don't think it's simply a matter of trying to get attention in this case. Many of the reviewers quoted above have professed to love the Jurassic Park movies—-they just really hated this one. And even that RS reviewer is right about the original JP film not being perfect. It really was a monsters-run-amuck story at its core, but Spielberg knew how to shape it like a sculptor working with clay or marble. Trevorrow is a kid with Play-Doh by comparison.

The original was adapted from an EPIC novel...that's not to be forgotten. Most of what made it different was in those pages from the start.

[suspsy]

Eh, being adapted from an esteemed novel is really no indication whatsoever of a quality film. Stephen King will happily attest to that. Indeed, Jurassic Park is one of the few Michael Crichton novels that was an unmitigated success in its translation to the screen. Congo and Sphere and Timeline are also fantastic reads, but nobody talks about the movie adaptations. Many people don't even remember them.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Eh, being adapted from an esteemed novel is really no indication whatsoever of a quality film. Stephen King will happily attest to that. Indeed, Jurassic Park is one of the few Michael Crichton novels that was an unmitigated success in its translation to the screen. Congo and Sphere and Timeline are also fantastic reads, but nobody talks about the movie adaptations. Many people don't even remember them.

Just a contributing factor.  King's adaptations have always started well but fell flat at the ending..at least for me. I've seen Congo, Sphere and Timeline but never read the books. I guess you need a good fanbase to carry a franchise. I recall the Pepsi commercials with Amy from Congo and even have some of the toys but that was about it. Sphere didn't even get that.

[bone crusher]

When a film flops critically, is it more of the Director's fault or writer's? Din't they already have an early press screening last year, I thought any negative impressions would've been fixed by now.

[Dusty Wren]

When a film flops critically, is it more of the Director's fault or writer's? Din't they already have an early press screening last year, I thought any negative impressions would've been fixed by now.

Considering that Trevorrow is both the director and co-writer on this movie, I'm comfortable assigning him all the fault. I've seen three of his non-JW films, and they all suffer from poor writing and character development. And his directing isn't good enough to salvage the bad writing.

Also, there's only so much you can do to "fix" a film that has already been shot and edited. Reshoots are expensive, and actors may no longer be available to do them. Creating new CGI scenes (or heavily editing existing ones) is also expensive and takes a lot of time. The studio will pay for changes if they think it will draw in more viewers, but at this point they're banking on the franchise name and the promise of fighting dinosaurs to get butts in seats. They don't actually care what critics think when it comes to movies like JW. They just care that lots of people will pay to see it.   

[paintingdinos]

I'm not going to see the film in theaters, but I am interested to see how much of it actually used the animatronics and practical effects.

I very much did not enjoy the last couple of films. For many reasons, but largely because they are just SO over the top. I think having to work within the confines of something like a massive animatronic, in addition to just looking better to me, also sort of forces them to be more conservative with the creature's movements and actions. Which I prefer.

People often criticize JP3 for being a bad film, and that's probably true, but I love love love all of the creature designs and animatronics. I'll gladly watch it for that alone. But JW? Fallen Kingdom? Not so much, what little there is doesn't personally justify sitting trough 2 hours of mediocre film (vs a crisp 1:30 for JP3... WHY are films so unnecessarily bloated and long these days).

I wanted to like some of the designs. I was excited to see more puppets and animatronics being used, provided they are actually in the film. I hope producers continue to invest in it and don't use mediocre films that are plagued with bad everything else as justification not to spend money on the stuff that actually makes these films cool.

[suspsy]

I agree that the studio cares first and foremost about making money, but they would still prefer it if their blockbusters received more positive reviews than negative ones. It's obviously far too early to say, but if Dominion ends up making significantly less than the previous instalments, that could well prompt Universal to drop Trevorrow completely and go about rebooting the franchise, similar to how Paramount dropped Michael Bay and rebooted the Transformers franchise after losing money on Last Knight.

[Takama]

Spoiler

notes

The best featherd dino in the film is called an ******* by Owen (maybe a jab at people like us?)

The prolouge is NOT in the film. But sort of aluded to in the final battle

the Giga was not used as much as Colin was hyping. But i still wish they did not give it that stupid hump.(They even use it in a scene where it STICKS OUT OF THE WATER to call back to JP3

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Overall, this was better the JWFK IMO but it will not beat the JP trilogy by a long shot

[BlueKrono]

I liked it more than I expected. Overall it felt almost as contrived as the other JW editions, and there was no end to the face-palm moments.

Spoiler

Though I have to say, the Placerias was the best part.

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Good diversity of species. And it helped having the original cast. Jeff Goldblum definitely earned his paycheck.

[HD-man]

Just recently found out about the following video while watching "Silver Screen Science - Prehistoric Planet", my favorite line of which is, "Prehistoric Planet was everything that [the JWD prologue] should have been"

Spoiler

Though I have to say, the Placerias was the best part.

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Do you mean Lystrosaurus?

[Faelrin]

So I got back home from Dominion. 2:05 am. Let me get my thoughts out before going to bed.

Spoiler

Did it have a good story? Um nah. Was it fun for me? Yeah. I feel like I enjoyed this more then FK despite the obnoxious plot armor (especially the Pyroraptor lake scene which I already discussed earlier), and barely anyone died except two of the villains (Delacourtt and Dodgson), and some background characters (Allosaurus got the most kills hands down). Some other stuff like burnt locusts coming back to life (when Ellie and Claire try to turn the power back on to the Biosyn facility), plus how oversized they were like they climbed out of the Carboniferous period + modified with Cretaceous period species DNA, and obviously the weak dialogue and forced/awkward Marvel style humor didn't help either. Some other stuff I questioned like Delacourt getting tag teamed in a three way between a juvenile Carnotaurus, the Lystrosaurus(?!), and a juvenile Baryonyx. Also one could legitimately make a drinking game out of how many times the JW train your raptor/dino pose was done from Owen and Barry and Grant too. This isn't HTTYD, but feels like it now lol.

There were a ton of animatronics from things like the Nasutoceratops babies, Beta, Dimorphodon in cages, the Lystrosaurus, Microceratus, Stygimoloch, Dilophosaurus, and Gigantosaurus. Unfortunately while I like the designs from most, they overall felt pretty stiff and unconvincing in most shots. Immersion breaking. Quantity over quality for sure.

The end fight was forced and pointless/unnecessary. Strangely Giganotosaurus was more the anti-hero or whatever despite being an antagonist earlier. It showed up right as the fan favorite T. rex got in the way of the characters escaping, and got into a territorial dispute ala JWE2. It also felt like a rehash of JW and FK's endings combined. And then we find out there were two other T. rex present in one of the end scenes after the fight (Big & Little Eatie? Or buck and doe. Edit: Trevorrow confirmed it was buck and doe from TLW). Where were they earlier and why were they okay with Rexy/Roberta like a big happy family reunion, and not territorial? Also at least the Giganotosaurus felt like a predator and not like the Joker and "wants to watch the world burn".

Stuff I did enjoy was the Atrociraptor chase despite the plot armor. As much flak as I gave them earlier I do like their designs and they did remind me of TLW raptors in being clumsy brutes. I also enjoyed the Therizinosaurus, but in the same highly territorial nightmare fuel way they are in Ark. Thing slaughtered a deer just to eat the plants where it was. The sound design was great for it too.

Giganotosaurus had a moment with Moros like in the prologue with it chilling and getting its teeth cleaned. I need this interaction in JWE2. Kind of a blink and miss it moment. Also another blink and miss it moment is that Iguanodon could be spotted in the forest fire sequence before the Giganotosaurus runs from the flames, and later with all the species in the lake.

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I'll edit this and add more on tomorrow or else I'll be up all night. Almost 3am now.

Edit: Okay some other stuff now.

Spoiler

I think another reason I enjoyed this over FK was honestly the characters, despite the lack of or confusing arcs. Aside from the returning trio, I think DeWanda Wise's character Kayla was pretty enjoyable to watch on screen too.

Some dumb stuff like the "What's your story?" thing Dodgson said to the three Dilophosaurus before he got eaten made me laugh out loud in theaters. Also what was up with him constantly needing snacks? Did he pick up a character quirk from Nedry out of nowhere? And the most glaring thing is how did he get the Barbasol can at the end? So many questions. Also regards to Wu's sudden jump from villain to hero? Also how was he not arrested and held responsible for everything from JW to Biosyn?

The clone girl/Maisie arc was strange too. So the supposed falling out between Hammond and Lockwood over Maisie being a clone from FK was reconnected, since his daughter gave birth to the clone, long after JP fell. I don't think Charlotte giving birth to Maisie was an issue though, despite Maisie being a clone, since that should be technologically possible (I think?), nor that Maisie was genetically tampered with to fix whatever genetic issue she had, with CRISPR gene therapy being a thing. I guess it does raise some ethics questions though, even if done with seemingly good intentions, and kind of reminds me of Ian's bit of speech from the first film.

I think the locust plot felt Crichton-like, but could have been handled better (no supersized locusts for example, with prehistoric DNA, and no burnt locusts coming back to life at an opportune time). The fact dinosaurs were just allowed to co-exist with modern species gave me red flags too. In what world would something that would create a a major global ecological crisis be tolerated? Though things like agricultural use and pets does make sense to me, such as the Nasutoceratops farm, and the Moros at the end.

And despite the plot armor that was ever present in this whole film, I also liked the Dimetrodon amber mine/cave scene. Was amazing seeing these finally in any Jurassic film, after being there from the start in a way through Kenner's toyline (and of course the Demon Carnotaurus too, which carried over from FK). Sure the design could have been a little better, but I don't think it was terrible either. Also gave me a good excuse for a much improved Mattel figure with the correct number of digits finally, and the addition in JWE2 which I can't wait for.

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So non spoiler stuff here:

Cons: Poor dialogue, poor pacing (things barely had time to breathe a little. Felt like the film was trying to speedrun itself. It also simultaneously led to it feeling bloated and incomplete for me), stiff animatronics, way too much plot armor, so scenes to create tension where ultimately pointless.

Pros: I liked the new species designs (though some are hyped up way too much in marketing strangely, with one not enough imo), and the set pieces were fun, especially Malta and the Biosyn valley. The return of the old cast was fun, only hampered by the poor dialogue. I found lots of moments fun, despite the thick plot armor.