Few movie series have ever been as popular, influential or profitable as the Jurassic Park / World double trilogy.  Dinosaurs are the reason, of course, but also because of the top talent recruited to make the films as impactful as possible.  None of them are masterworks, though I would argue that two, Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, are genuine classics.  The others are all good, with the possible exception of the second episode, The Lost World, although I’ve seen it often enough now that I’m okay with that one, too.  This final episode, Dominion, is good but not great; it’s kind of like The Return of the Jedi in terms of trying to wrap up everything while still trying new things that it rather misses the mark, and yet still has very satisfying elements.

Colin Trevorrow’s film occurs a few years after the events of Fallen Kingdom, which introduced dinosaurs to North America.  Indeed, the world now has episodes of actual dinosaur encounters in both city and country, which people often do not survive.  Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) are in the Sierra Nevadas, protecting young Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), when the girl and the raptor Blue’s baby are kidnapped.  Meanwhile, Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) persuades old friend Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to help solve a problem involving giant locusts that are devastating the American heartland.  Ellie is chasing a lead provided by Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum); soon everyone finds their way to Malta, and then Italy, looking for answers and loved ones.

The film would be complex enough with just these characters and storylines, but even more is up for grabs, involving a black market pilot (DeWanda Wise), Ian’s helpful colleague Ramsay (Mamoudou Athie), two of Claire’s colleagues from Fallen Kingdom (Justice Smith, Daniela Pineda), Owen’s friend Barry (Omar Sy), the redoubtable Dr. Henry Wu (B. D. Wong) and a mysterious character from the first film that people may not remember (Campbell Scott; formerly played by Cameron Thor).  About the only characters not involved are the two kids from the original film; evidently the actors were willing but the script had no place to properly put them.

There are also more dinosaurs.  So many, in fact, that I had trouble keeping them separate in my mind.  One or two breeds have feathers; another is (incorrectly) stated as being the largest species of all.  But  three T-Rexs are present (from two of the previous films), as well as Blue, who has cemented her place in my affections as my favorite dinosaur of all.  Fewer people are actually killed by all these animals but the peril level is still fantastically high.  Perhaps too high — it isn’t very believable that most of the main characters survive so many close encounters.

While the main storylines are compelling they are also reminiscent of situations in the earlier films — and others as well; there are moments when this seems very much like an Indiana Jones adventure.  What the film does best is bring the most important elements together before the climax, when the most satisfying moments occur.  The film had to do three things and it accomplishes all of them in the final minutes.  So even though this is a movie with too many moving parts it orchestrates them with skill and impact, at least eventually.  At two-and-a-half hours it has quite a story to tell, and there are already rumors of a longer director’s cut at some point down the line.  I like this film, as I have liked about all of them, but I don’t love it.

I will argue, however, that unlike many other popular film franchises over the last forty years, this one actually has important things to say.  Each episode has been a cautionary tale, whether about messing with nature, or the danger of allowing big business to run rampant without oversight, or the alarming speed at which science is progressing without much self-checking.  The Jurassic Park / World films are ostensibly about dinosaurs, but they are really dealing with our relationship with the natural world, which is out of balance and very self-destructive.  Humans must learn to coexist with elements of the natural world (not dinosaurs, yet, though we are heading for a time when that may once again be possible) and with each other.  Otherwise extinction may well be in our not-so-distant future.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  20 June 2022.