Jurassic World: Dominion (4 Stars)

This is the final film in the Jurassic Park franchise. For now, at least. There was a 14-year gap between the third and the fourth film. Nobody knows what will happen 20 years from now, when the film studios are desperate to make money. The only thing we can say for sure is that "Jurassic World: Dominion" is the final film of the second Jurassic Park trilogy.

It has all the characteristics of a final film. It goes back to the beginning. It re-assembles the main characters from the first film, Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), alongside the regular cast of the last two films. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler don't add much to the film. I have the impression that they were only added to the cast for sentimental reasons. Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are the film's real stars.

The film takes place a few years after the events of "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". Dinosaurs are now living in the world in a natural equilibrium with mankind. We see news reports at the beginning telling stories of people being attacked by dinosaurs, but these are exceptions, not the rule. We've moved a long way from the first three films, when it was just a matter of running for your life whenever you see a dinosaur. The biggest danger in the new film comes from a corporation called Biosyn. In order to sell its own crops it's created a new species of giant locusts which devour all crops except for Biosyn's genetically modified crops.

That's the film's biggest problem, in my eyes. I would have liked to see more people running for their lives from dinosaurs. That's something that only happens on a large scale towards the end of the film.

"Jurassic World: Dominion" isn't a bad film, but it doesn't live up to the quality of the first two films, both of which are in my top 20 films. The difference is that they were directed by Steven Spielberg. I shan't say anything else to avoid spoilers. I'll write a more detailed review of the film when I own it on Blu-ray.