Jurassic World: Dominion

The return of the main characters from the first Jurassic Park was pleasing, as they are still likeable, enthusiastic scientists who love dinosaurs. Drawing the viewer into a world that dinosaurs are a living part of is cool. The movie gets off to a good start with the trafficker’s den in Malta and the long action scene that takes place there. Chases on rooftops and on a motorcycle in the streets, as we know them from Bourne and Bond movies, upgraded with velociraptors...why not?! But the rest of the film, in which we are only transported to a different reservation than in the first film, is a lumbering retread of what we have already seen, and it’s not very exciting, for that matter, with a lame Tim Cook-esque villain, logical crutches and nonsense unworthy of this film franchise. And only one fantastically shot scene that recalls Spielberg (the dive into the lake). And sadly, it is a short scene. Dominion is the weakest instalment of the whole franchise. (06/08/2022)

It's hard to understand how such an experienced creative team can produce such a dud from a substance as undoubtedly juicy as Jurassic World. Not even the old guard can help. Typically stodgy Neill and know-it-all Goldblum in the roles we ate up in the glorious first film, which incidentally is WAY better or at least the same as the xth sequel. Even the good old mechanic effects, of which there are plenty, were managed by Spielberg at least at the same level, but with better camera work and editing. The current CGI mess isn't even worth mentioning, and when Bryce Dallas is jumping from barrack to barrack like Bourne in Tangier it's clear that this attempt at frenetic live action, but with dinosaurs, isn't really going to be anything innovative. If that was all, it would still be bearable, at least to eat some popcorn, but the script was written by someone apparently on drugs and the fact that the whole confused, disjointed, incoherent dinosaur inferno lasts 150 minutes sends this megalomaniacal colossus down the drain. (07/18/2022)

While it looks promising in the beginning, in the end the third Jurassic World isn't much better than the second. If it weren't for Doctors Grant, Sattler and (especially) Malcolm, I probably wouldn't have cared about a single character, and yet the new heroes were so entertaining and promising in the first film of the trilogy. I guess the problem is that the filmmakers didn't know what to do with them next, they were all about releasing dinosaurs into civilization and didn't bother with the humans. I simply didn't have much fun, from the middle of the film onwards I raised my eyebrows more and more, hoping that at least Colin Trevorrow would entertain me with visual effects and action, but they weren't even that great (how is it possible that Jurassic Park and The Lost World still look fantastic, while here you see digital dinosaurs that don't move completely smoothly, and animatronic dinosaurs that look like better toys?), and the action or suspense scenes didn't exactly take my breath away either (for example, the clash between the humans and the giganotosaurus starts off great, or copying Spielberg, but ends up being utterly ridiculous), and I wasn't worried about anyone. No, not even the pond scene, which was pretty lame. Apart from Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, probably only Michael Giacchino didn't disappoint me... And I'd love to see the likeable DeWanda Wise in something better. (06/10/2022)

This is the recycling of the dinosaur movies where all the good has gone down the drain, leaving an unpleasant concentration of what is wrong with the Hollywood factory. The lazy script follows the same pattern for the sixth time, completely ignoring all the possibilities offered by the prehistoric monsters that are spread all over the planet. The joining of the new party with the old one features no surprises or a single spark. The parental theme is boring, and the only really full-blooded character is Kayla Watts (who maybe should have filled the quota, but she's a well-written and well-acted pilot)… Other than that it all goes on forever for two and a half hours. At the end, Ian Malcolm starts to spout a few catchphrases and unbuttons his shirt, and that’s about it. If it wasn't for the dessert in the form of the eaten guy on the electric scooter, which honestly made me laugh for about 5 minutes, I would award it the maximum misery. (06/29/2022)

It is difficult to maintain the pace for more than one scene and except for the surprisingly grandiose and repeatedly escalating difficulties in Malta, it is impossible to immerse yourself in the plot. Every beautiful shot is accompanied by a stupid line or an exaggerated stretch of logic. It can only be understood as a genre retreat to certainty. Colin Trevorrow once again churns out a variation on his own Jurassic World and the original park and navigates the classical waters of adventurous chases with a megalomaniac human antagonist on the side. Perhaps that's why I liked the over-the-top, controversial, but perfectly different Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The powers that be are returning to the model of an attraction that fulfills its purpose, showing exactly the dinosaurs that the audience expects, linking the fates of characters we want to see intertwined – and surprisingly, even this time it is enough by a hair's breadth. Once it reaches its almost hour-long finish, everything is finally in its place and I get a sense of closure of the new trilogy and the complete hexalogy. And that is ultimately what I came for in the first place and the last place. 70% (06/21/2022)