“Jurassic World: Dominion” Joins Past and Present, Ending Tribute Franchise | #CineBuzzIndica

When “Jurassic Park” was released in 1993, cinema witnessed a phenomenon: the film by Steven Spielberg It became the highest grossing film in history so far, earning around $900 million worldwide. Numbers that, nowadays, are not even so exorbitant if we look at the collections of the blockbusters released in recent years, but which at the time saved Universal Pictures from a crisis.

In fact, “Jurassic Park” went beyond just being a box office phenomenon. It can be classified as the definitive movie about dinosaurs, it had sequels that continued – and continue to – grossing in the millions, even billions, was elevated to brand status and, like “Star Wars”, became a cultural phenomenon. geekeven earning its own Orlando park attraction – not dinosaurs, of course.

Since the release of “Jurassic Park 3” in 2001, fans have always speculated when another movie in the franchise would be released. And, in mid-2013, Universal Pictures finally decided to bring the park back to the big screen with the release of “Jurassic World” scheduled for 2015. Result: another blockbuster, the second biggest of that year, behind only “ Star Wars The Force Awakens”.

The more than 1 billion and a half dollars at the box office practically made official the sequel “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, released in 2018, yet another blockbuster that filled Universal’s coffers with its $1 billion and $300,000 raised worldwide. It’s the perfect formula for studios. However, what has always been lacking in the “Jurassic Park” sequels were stories that approached the tone of adventure, imminent danger and originality that the first one has – and that until today works exemplary. And many of these sequels clung to elements of the original “Jurassic Park.”

“The Lost World” works almost like a spin off of “Jurassic Park”, as it gives the character Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) a film for him to star in. “Jurassic Park 3” rescues Alan Grant from Sam Neill appealing to the longing of fans of the character. In “Jurassic World”, the director Colin Trevorrow until he took a chance and did not use classic characters from the franchise, but he bet on a practice that many criticize: it emulates the 1993 film and pays homage to it from reimagined scenes, something that the recent “Top Gun: Maverick” accomplished with praise. What for some was a reason for criticism, for others it was an exciting and well-paced return to an adventure worthy of “Jurassic Park”.

Unfortunately, much of that tone was lost in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, a dour film with many hasty choices. The plot weakens with the escape from Isla Nublar, the human characters don’t captivate – did anyone root for any of them? – and not even the new dinosaurs were presented in a threatening or sympathetic way, after all, that’s part of the fun of the franchise, meeting dinos that, of the two, are either scary or cute. It was then up to “Jurassic World: Dominion” to close the new trilogy by rescuing what the franchise has always had the best: its adventure tone, captivating characters, friendly and also menacing dinosaurs.

The new film takes place four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar. Dinosaurs now live and hunt alongside humans and other animals across the world. Owen (Chris Pratt), Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Maisie (Isabella Sermon) live in isolation. A laboratory-created pest threatens crops and could put the planet’s life at risk. A new genetics company comes into play as past and present come together to save the day.

Let’s face it, “Jurassic Park” has always had absurd ideas in its premises, from the dinosaur park in the first movie, through the idea of ​​taking animals to the mainland in “The Lost World”, to the animal auction in “Jurassic World: Threatened Kingdom”. Despite this, such absurd ideas have always been conceived due to human greed to profit. Perhaps, just the dream of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to see your park working is the purest of ideas in the midst of so much greed.

Greed that obviously returns in “Jurassic World: Dominion” and I dare say that, of the six films in the franchise, the plot of this one is the one that best explores the science, technology and genetics factor beyond dinosaurs. Here, the Biosyn company, unlike rival InGen – responsible for managing the Jurassic World park in the previous film -, has not created any dinosaur hybrid, but a plague that gets out of its control – of course – decimating crops and endangering all the planet.

But the idea behind Biosyn is just an excuse to create a background in the film, after all, what interests the nostalgic viewer is what the previous films took to deliver: triumphant returns of the characters from the original feature. And nothing more pleasant than seeing the Alan Grant trio (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) this time together, not just in cameos or being poorly exploited, but with purpose within the narrative. It is clear that age no longer allows them to participate in the action more effectively, something that is left to the nucleus led by Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and DeWanda Wise. They take more risks, fly planes and motorcycles, face dinosaurs – and run away when there is no alternative -, fight smugglers and, by force of fate – and the script – they also end up at Biosyn.

It is curious to observe how the “old school” trio practically wins a movie within the movie just for themselves: Alan and Ellie live moments side by side that not even “Jurassic Park” provided – and that the sequences undermined with the character of Laura Dern getting married; Ian Malcolm resurfaces as the heartthrob who parades his charm, his open shirt and his punctual humor; while the new trio is more heroic: Owen from Chris Pratt flees from aliraptors on his motorcycle, in what is one of the best sequences in the film; the character Kayla, from DeWanda, has the spirit of Indiana Jones and Han Solo; and Claire from Bryce Dallas has a hard time with one of the new dinosaurs, the giganotosaurus.

This union between past and present is good for “Jurassic World: Dominion”, after all, it is a great farewell. The film is bold in investing in concepts about genetic exploration, which has always been part of the franchise, this time pointing not only to dinosaurs, but also showing how the greed of the powerful can put the whole world at risk. Although certain decisions are questionable, such as giving the little girl Maisie so much relevance after a bad introduction in the predecessor film, in the end, “Jurassic World: Dominion” very well closes the cycle that began in 1993, uniting past and present in an exciting tribute to herself. franchise.