Universal Pictures’ latest blockbuster, Jurassic World: Dominion has finally landed in theatres. Our resident film buffs Tom Parry and Stefan Bradley went to check it out.

TP: This is the third movie in the Jurassic World trilogy, a series which has polarised filmgoers from day one; what did you make of it, Stefan?

SB: It’s pretty obvious that the purpose of this movie was to get the cast of the original 1993 Jurassic Park film together with the new cast of the Jurassic World trilogy while throwing in some dinosaur action. These movies make so much money, and I’m sure Dominion will hit the $1 billion mark, as the last two did. Like many, I loved the original Jurassic Park as a kid, and I liked the sequels they made. I enjoyed all the action scenes in Dominion and I’m also nostalgic for the original characters returning, so overall I enjoyed watching this presumed final entry in this saga.

TP: It’s the textbook definition of a popcorn movie. You don’t care about the story or characters; you’re there to see the action and special effects. In that sense, Dominion delivered. I think the bike chases in the middle were very well done, but all the other chase sequences were pretty lacklustre.

SB: The thing is, the more I think about it, the more I start to get annoyed about the movie’s issues. And I can’t stop thinking about the flaws because they keep coming at me. To me, this is easily the worst of the franchise, and it’s not a good movie. At nearly two-and-a-half hours, it’s way too long, and doesn’t do anything substantial within its runtime. This is a sci-fi movie about dinosaurs, so you have to suspend your disbelief to a certain extent, but it was laughable how many times characters or dinosaurs just appeared at the right place at the right time to move the plot forward. The returning actors from the first movie play their roles well but their potential was wasted.

TP: The film feels half-hearted, to be honest. It’s as if the producers knew the wider audience didn’t care about the dialogue, and have lazily put a story together as filler until the dinosaurs appear, so they can still sell tickets. This film would have benefited from another rewrite or two, or split up into two parts, or a miniseries. You’re right, it’s so long, but it still feels like there’s not enough. How is that even possible?

SB: Some may say that this franchise has run its course or gotten stale, but I truly believe it’s simply about the execution, and there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been great. They’ve made six Mission: Impossible movies and the most recent one is arguably the best. They brought back Mad Max and Top Gun after three decades and made two of the greatest action movies this century. They rebooted Batman again this year and it was a really good time. They’ve made 28 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, and they’re still going strong. The new Star Wars entries have had mixed results, but at least they took their legacy characters and did risky things with them. My point is, the Dominion film-makers chose to tread old ground, write a plot with almost no stakes, and do a completely surface-level exploration of its ideas and themes. They ticked a bunch of boxes, including having the T-Rex fight another dinosaur at the end.

TP: Agreed. No-one ever feels like they’re in a sense of peril, and the dinosaurs are merely a distraction. Yes, a handful of people fall victim to a dinosaur’s teeth, but it never feels like the major characters are in danger. The hook of this movie was dinosaurs were now living amongst humans rather than isolated on that island, but they never explore that concept in a way that’s engaging.

SB: And you know what else is frustrating? The plot sees the characters trying to stop an ecological disaster involving locusts. Genetically engineered and very large locusts for sure, but this should be a movie about dinosaurs, not insects!

TP: Not to mention that the story arcs of the main characters all feel inconsequential.

SB: There’s essentially no spoilers! You won’t learn anything new about any of the cast, because they don’t grow as individuals themselves, they just survive another dinosaur incident. In fact, even the one story arc where there is conflict doesn’t seem to get resolved by the end. This is supposed to be a culmination of six movies which began nearly 30 years ago, but it doesn’t feel like a finale. Avengers: Endgame had an incredible ending for many characters, even though you knew more movies were coming.

TP: Actually, I felt that there was a satisfying resolution. I felt like they did end Dominion in a place where they don’t need to do more movies. There is no tease that is suggesting a new instalment is on its way, although I’m certain they will release another sequel eventually. Everything’s wrapped up in a neat package, but it’s there to reopen if they want to.

SB: This is a bad movie that I don’t want to revisit, even though I had fun when I watched it. On reflection, Jurassic World: Dominion is a massive disappointment. I will note that a third person who joined us in the cinema, a huge fan of this franchise, hated this movie for every reason we’ve talked about, and was bored the whole time. So there’s another opinion.

Jurassic World: Dominion is rated M for sustained threat and action violence, and is currently screening at Sale Cinema.