14
JUNE 22�29, 2022
NOW PLAYING
NEW RELEASES IN THE
WORLD OF MOVIES
‘Jurassic World Dominion’ gets a jolt from original stars
By Chris Hewitt
Star Tribune
What is Albert Einstein’s defi -
nition of insanity? Letting the di-
nosaurs out of their cages, over
and over, and expecting them
not to slaughter all of humanity
this time?
That happens — again — in
“Jurassic World Dominion,”
which takes an hour to get going
but becomes satisfying, largely
thanks to old cinematic friends
who haven’t united since the
original “Jurassic Park” in 1993.
Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and
Sam Neill all return in “Domin-
ion,” and they are the best thing
about it.
In the fi rst hour, those OGs
keep us interested in a movie
that seems unsure what we want
from the sixth in the series (hint:
It’s dinosaurs). The world has
become so used to dinos that
some are being domesticated,
even weaponized.
After reintroducing us to
Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris
Pratt, who starred in fi lms No.
4 and 5 — and now live in a
Utah cabin that looks like a box
From left: Dr. Ian
Malcolm (Jeff
Goldblum), Dr. Alan
Grant (Sam Neill),
Dr. Ellie Sattler
(Laura Dern), Claire
Dearing (Bryce
Dallas Howard),
Owen Grady (Chris
Pratt), Maisie
Lockwood (Isabella
Sermon) and Kayla
Watts (DeWanda
Wise) in “Jurassic
World Dominion,”
co-written and
directed by Colin
Trevorrow.
John Wilson/
Universal Pictures
of human meat to their dino-
neighbors — “Jurassic” takes an
extraneous detour into 007-style
international intrigue, with
scenes set in Malta, Italy and
elsewhere.
It’s OK (there’s a spectacular
motorcycle chase) but the fi lm
seems to have forgotten the fi rst
word of its title. Dern, Goldblum
and Neill never do.
Dern and Neill’s scientists, of-
fi cially the slowest-burning will-
they-or-won’t-they? in cinematic
history, have stumbled onto a
corrupt company called Biosyn
that is using dinosaurs to take
over the world food supply and
perhaps something even more
nefarious. So they journey to
corporate headquarters to meet
their frenemy Goldblum, who
helps turn the tables on Biosyn’s
evil leader, played by Campbell
Scott. (Like Mark Rylance in
“Don’t Look Up,” Scott seems
to be doing a white-haired riff
on Apple’s seemingly mild Tim
Cook).
The appeal of the fi rst and still
THE JOSEPHY CENTER JOSEPHY.ORG
best “Jurassic” was its simplic-
ity: “Dinosaurs! Cool! Uh-oh!”
Director Colin Trevorrow gums
up “Dominion” with too many
complications — including an
amusing performance by De-
Wanda Wise as a daring pilot but
also several people who won’t
interest you — and that makes
for a choppy fi lm. Just when
LO S T I N E , O R E G O N
SUMMER HOURS
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY 8 AM TO 8 PM
10 am L - A 8 T pm
pm
Fri A and
E Wed,
O N F Thurs,
R I D A Sun
Y A • N 10
D am
S A - T 9 U
RD
Y Sat
541-569-2285
HOURS:
MONDAY-SATURDAY
12-4PM
S C R AT C H M A D E
BEER
PIZZA
DENIM
AND MORE
G L A C I E R C O L D • FA W N F R E S H
something gets interesting in the
fi rst hour, we’re off to another
subplot.
The last hour, though, is
one dangerous set piece after
another, and they all work. The
characters, who’ve been on
separate missions, fi nally unite
to the strains of John Williams’
original “Jurassic Park” theme,
and the movie gets down to the
business of watching humans
we like just barely escape from
rapacious dinosaurs.
Maybe Trevorrow thought
the movie needed new ele-
ments because we’ve grown too
accustomed to special-eff ects
dinosaurs, but don’t worry. The
“Jurassic” innovators still have
several nasty creatures to creep
us out with.
They still have the original trio,
too. No disrespect to Platt and
Howard, who are fi ne, but it feels
like the wonder, fear and curi-
osity that Dern, Goldblum and
Neill brought to “Jurassic Park”
comes rushing back here.
Each is given a lovely echo of
a moment from the fi rst movie,
and each brings a quality that
enlivens “Dominion”: the amaze-
ment of Dern, the decency of
Neill and the wit of Goldblum,
who is to “Jurassic” movies what
Maggie Smith is to the “Down-
ton” universe. Every single word
he says is hilarious.
In the end, “Dominion” suc-
ceeds not because of anything
fresh but because of its familiar-
ity: Kids are saved from peril,
bad guys get eaten and it all
ends with a helicopter zoom-
ing into the distance, unaware
of dangers that lurk in the next
sequel.