Jurassic World Dominion sets out to put a bow on a franchise that began almost thirty years ago. But does it? The film has a sweeping scope with globetrotting action but in the end, we here at Gizmodo were left with more questions than answers about, not just various elements of the plot, but the state of the Jurassic world itself.
15 questions in fact. What follows are those questions regarding all things Jurassic World Dominion. Be warned, though. Many of these don’t have answers and they’re full of spoilers.
1. Why?
For real. Why did Fallen Kingdom end with the terrifying tease of dinosaurs now released into the wild, the most terrible thing that could happen since the very first Jurassic Park, only for that…not to be what the film is about? Dominion feels more like Jurassic World 7 than 6, like a whole movie was skipped about dinosaurs rampaging through cities, terrified humans, and the heroes who did their best to balance it.
When Dominion starts, that’s pretty much all done. Then a story of saving the world from enhanced locusts is somehow supposed to provide that closure because it’s a metaphor for society? It just seems so messy and unfocused. However, in an interview with The Wrap, co-writer and director Colin Trevorrow says the idea of locusts as the focus of the film was a way to make sure paleobotanist Ellie Sattler would be driving the story this time around. A good thought, as we will never say no to more Laura Dern, but not quite successful.
2. How will dinosaurs and humanity get along?
Jumping off the “Why?” question, Jurassic World Dominion ends with a hope and a prayer that dinosaurs and modern society can co-exist. We even see some very gorgeous shots of dinos running alongside more common animals. But we also know certain dinosaurs will be trapped at the former BioSyn compound. So will all the dinosaurs be sent there eventually, or will it just be a few? Either way, what will humans do to protect not just the dinosaurs but themselves? Will laws be passed? Can society adapt? So many questions left untouched by the film. But don’t worry. The locusts are dead.
3. What did Ellie and Grant “finish?”
At the very end of the movie, we see Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant (Sam Neill) set to go into a court in Washington DC to testify against BioSyn. “Let’s finish this,” Sattler says, or some close approximation of that. Is she just talking about getting BioSyn shut down? If so, does that really “finish” anything with the dinosaurs? Also, what do they have to testify to, they were there for like 3 hours? If the whole movie is going to be about these two characters getting back together, maybe a bit more info is needed.
4. How was Dr. Wu about to stop the locusts?
This one we actually kind of understand. To an extent. Maybe. At a few points in the film, Dr.Wu (B.D. Wong) explains to not just Dodgson (Campbell Scott) but also Maisie (Isabella Sermon) that the locusts are growing out of his control. They need to be stopped. But the only way to do that is to study Maisie’s DNA because her “mother,” Charlotte, figured out how to cure Maisie of a disease Charlotte had by manipulating DNA. Also, somehow, the baby raptor Beta, who was conceived alone by mama Blue, is needed for comparison.
It’s a confusing for a bunch of reasons, one of which we’ll get into in the next question, but the assumption is, after everyone escapes the BioSyn location, Dr. Wu did study Blue and Maisie (sometimes off-screen), found the answer, used it on a locust, and saved the day. Seems like they could’ve showed some of that.
5. What was Dogson’s plan?
This one has been bugging me (pun intended)! But I think I have it cracked. We know that BioSyn is studying dinosaurs to help humanity. We also know that, in addition to helping humanity, they created these locusts to kill any crops not grown with BioSyn seed, thereby giving the company a monopoly on, basically, the entire world’s food chain.
At some point, Dodgson realises this isn’t going so well which is why, we think, he decides to kidnap Beta and Maisie. Dr. Wu needs their DNA, and if he asks nicely, there’s a danger people might find out he’s responsible — hence the underground, criminal way in which they do it. The confusing part is that at no point does Dodgson make it seem like he actually is doing all this kidnapping for a good cause. Case in point, he okays the murder of Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) in order to cover it up, although that doesn’t come to fruition.
In a perfect world, Dodgson would have brought Maisie and Beta to BioSyn, Dr. Wu would have fixed the locust problem, and no one would be the wiser. But then Ramsey betrayed him, and Claire and Owen came after Maisie, which gets the whole ball rolling.
6. Where are all the kids?
Stepping away from the plot for a little bit, it’s a damned shame that Jurassic World Dominion brings back so many major adults, but none of the kids. It would have been great to see what Tim and Lex (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards) from the first two films were doing and how those events impacted their lives. Ditto to Malcolm’s daughter Kelly (Vanessa Chester) from The Lost World. She at least gets indirectly mentioned though, when Malcolm talks about his kids for a second. But that the last two Jurassic movies (Fallen Kingdom and Dominion) forgot what the first four all knew — the kids should be at the centre — is a big part of why they both failed.
7. What are Claire and Owen going to do with Maisie?
Early on in Dominion, it’s clear that Claire and Owen have no plan of what to do with Maisie. She’s the world’s most important IP, according to Dodgson, which is why they have her living in a super remote location with them. It’s for her protection. But doesn’t she need to go to school? To have a life? It’s so weird that they basically are keeping her in a prison. Once they rescue her and bring her home, there’s zero indication that’s changed. Wouldn’t she still be important to science, is she a celebrit, where are they going to go… the film conveniently ignores all of this, because there’s no good answer.
8. What happened to the prologue?
You may remember that back in 2021, a 5-minute prologue was released for Jurassic World Dominion, first in theatres with F9 and then online. You can watch it above! It primarily takes place in the time of the dinosaurs and traced one of the mosquitos John Hammond’s team ended up using for DNA in Jurassic Park. It was a gorgeous sequence that seemed to be setting up a movie that really could have brought everything together.
Now, none of that is in the movie. The reason, according to director Colin Trevorrow, was that the movie was running too long and it had to be cut. Which sort of makes sense as it’s not really related to the movie we ultimately got. But our feeling is also it didn’t mesh with the reality of the movie, and cutting it doesn’t set up unattainable expectations.
9. Did I miss the T-Rex at the drive-in scene?
No, you didn’t blink and miss a huge sequence with a T-Rex in a drive-in. Nor did you make it up. That sequence was actually the end of the aforementioned prologue scene and, as such, got used in many commercial tie-ins for Dominion. In the end though, when the prologue got cut out of the movie, so did this. Just a case of the merchandising and tie-ins being on a different timeline than the filmmakers.
10. Why wasn’t Charlotte Lockwood’s research a bigger deal?
We don’t have an answer for this one. Jurassic World Dominion makes it clear that Maisie’s clone/mum, Charlotte Lockwood, who was among the most important brains behind Jurassic Park, figured out a way to manipulate DNA to cure disease. And to impregnate with your very own clone. Both of these breakthroughs sound like they are pretty damned significant. And yet, no one seems to really be that interested. Maybe when Charlotte died, she was just too smart for other people to figure it out. It’s unclear.
11. What’s up with InGen?
In the previous five Jurassic movies, InGen, the company John Hammond founded, is at the centre of the story in various different ways. And yet in Jurassic World Dominion, a competing company, BioSyn, is now at the forefront. We don’t know what happened to InGen (which had been purchased by Masrani at some point) after the events of the last film, but we can guess having their dinosaurs released into the wild probably wasn’t good for stock prices. Maybe they went under or had to be dissolved. Either way, it’s kind of odd not to tie up that loose end and introduce a whole new company that’s very similar.
12. Was that deja vu or just the ending?
Jurassic World Dominion ends with a showdown between the Giganotosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex with our heroes running around below them. Then, after the Rex gets seemingly defeated, the Therizinosaurus arrives to team up with the Rex to defeat the Giganotosaurus. None of which has anything to do with the characters, mind you, but the idea of having two big dinosaurs fighting, and then a third one comes to finish the battle, is very similar to how Trevorrow’s previous Jurassic film, Jurassic World ended. There, the Indominous Rex and T-Rex were fighting when Blue the raptor distracted the Indominious so that the Mosasauras could come and kill it. Not exactly the same, but very similar.
13. How did Dodgson get the Barbasol can?
When you think of Lewis Dodgson, you think Barbasol. It was he who gave the iconic can to Dennis Nedry in the first Jurassic Park, only for it to get buried in the mud as Nedry was killed. Now, in Jurassic World Dominion, we see that Dodgson somehow has the Barbasol can back in his possession. How is that so? Well, Trevorrow said in an interview that the answer will be in the upcoming Netflix animated show, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. And we’ve already seen a tease. Watch above.
14. How did the fire locusts escape?
I’ll admit. I don’t know much about architecture or huge science labs but, if I was breeding killer locusts, would I give them direct access to escape their habitat? I think not. And yet, in Dominion, after Dodgson decides to torch all the locusts, they get set on fire and escape – from a subbasement – out into the wild. Now, is there a logical explanation for this? We’d imagine there is. But if you need these creatures to have access to the outside, why build their habitat in the subbasement? Seems like that huge space leading outside is a waste of space.
Are we getting too nitpicky? Yes, I agree. One more.
15. Will there be more Jurassic Park/World movies?
Jurassic World Dominion may be the last film of this “Jurassic Era,” but you never say never in Hollywood. Trevorrow says that new characters like DeWanda Wise’s Kayla Watts, and Mamoudou Athie’s Ramsey Cole are here for other filmmakers to use if they want to revisit the franchise again. So it seems like, yes, eventually, there will be more Jurassic World movies. Whether or not they should for the foreseeable future however, is debateable.