Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Jurassic World Dominion: Critique 3/5


*****SPOILERS*****

 

Hair Problems

 

Hair was an unexpected issue.

 

Zia was unrecognisable in this film.

She no longer had glasses. Her hair was in a completely different style and length. She didn’t talk about the past. It’s been four years since she last was seen on screen. This meant there was no way to recognise her as a character we already knew. Plus, she barely had any screen time in this film, meaning I didn’t hear her voice, or see her face, long enough to recognise her that way.
If the look of a character is completely changed, something needs to be done to ensure the audience can identify them. Otherwise, there is no continuity and it doesn’t make sense. For example, Henry Wu was recognisable despite his hair being longer because we see his face for longer, hear his voice for longer, and nothing else about him changed.
I only found out her identity after seeing the credits and doing an image search!
 

Maisie has blonde in her hair. As it’s winter, this means it has to dyed rather than natural sun bleaching. Plus, it looks professional, meaning none of them did it at home.

Owen and Claire have told Maisie she can’t go past the bridge. If they don’t like her doing that then they definitely wouldn’t have let her into town for anything, let alone hair dye.
Yes, Maisie could have done it without their permission. But they definitely would have noticed. So when Maisie lies in this film about how, “The only people I’ve spoken to these last four years are you two,” Owen and Claire would have challenged her (because it’d be sensible to assume that Maisie spoke in the salon).
Clearly, there’s no way in-world Maisie would have had her hair dyed. After all, Owen and Claire are hiding Maisie from the unsavoury people wanting to take/study her: why risk her discovery over something so unnecessary and trivial as hair colour? As such, it was a mistake on the filmmakers’ part to colour her hair as they did.
 
 

Character Issues

 

Malcolm, Sattler and Grant all swear in this film.

It doesn’t fit with their characters. We’ve seen them plenty of times in other Jurassic Park/World films and they never really swore. Yes, characters change, but the chances of all three changing in the exact same way is statistically unlikely.
Yes, the Jurassic World characters swear, but that works with their characterisations. Making Grant and co do something just because others are doing it doesn’t make sense.
So for Malcolm, Sattler and Grant to start all of a sudden swearing now? This is beyond bizarre.
 

Some of the characterisations were insufficient.

Sattler screaming, “Oh, my God” was not believable. She’s not the kind of person who would say anything in that way in that moment. Even if she were, one would expect Sattler to maybe gasp or make an observation. Her screaming those words clearly doesn’t match her character.
Dodgson’s tantrum was weird. At the start of it, he makes two short, sharp arm movements. Combined with the fact they were at an unnatural, uncomfortable angle, it makes this movement an unwelcome surprise. Maybe the actor/director were aiming for something unique but they achieved something subpar.
 

Kayla goes to land the chopper in the courtyard. Ramsey warns her, saying the dinosaurs are in there now, something emphasised by the sauropod raising its head at that moment.

I know it’s dark, but how did she miss all the massive dinosaurs? Plus, when the sauropod head came from underneath the chopper, and she dodged it, this means she can somewhat see underneath her. Thus she should have noticed the dinosaurs in the first place.
Also, surely a pilot has to look somewhere before they land it there? All she’d have to do is tilt the chopper for her to see below. Considering the hight-tech plane and her piloting skills, neither this skill nor the necessity of doing it should have escaped her mind.
 

Sometimes the characters did something that would have been faulty if anyone did them.

            When Grant, Sattler and Maisie hear someone coming towards them, they run away so that they aren’t discovered. Yet Sattler drops her mask on the floor: anyone who sees it will know something’s up. Plus Sattler purposefully ripped the mask off and dropped it. No-one would purposefully leave a clue for the opposing side, especially not someone as clever as Sattler.
            When the system reboots, everyone is surprised, saying it shouldn’t do that. But then they hit it with an axe: this makes the system reboot which was their aim. Surprised it did something they didn’t want, but then it does something they do want, which happens to be what seconds before they said they didn’t want? What a mess.
 
 

Claire Issues

 

Claire gives the giganotosaurus a taser shock on the side of its mouth/head. But the taser lands in the air next to the dinosaur: about 30cm sideways and she would’ve made contact.

Whilst it’s hard to believe she missed something so big, people do misjudge things, especially when risking their life. Like Claire was, going near the mouth of the world’s largest predatory dinosaur.
However, it looks to me like the filmmakers didn’t properly align Claire and the dinosaur, because the film carried on as if Claire didn’t miss, meaning she hit it even though it doesn’t look like she hit it.
 

When Claire hides underwater from the therizinosaur, she holds her breath for a long time.

Far longer than is normally possible. People can train to achieve this, sure, but we’ve neither seen Claire in water nor talk about swimming. It’s not believable that she’s developed this skill just because it’s convenient for the plot.
When people are scared, or doing something uncomfortable, every moment feels dragged out. So maybe this moment was in slomo for the audience to experience the dragged-out time alongside Claire. Yet we could see her blinks, and the movements of both her and the dinosaur, plus the water rippling: all these were at normal speed. So this slomo excuse is not viable.
 
 

Other Issues

 

The frozen lake scene was full of oddities.

            A shot of the swimraptor jumping into the lake is in slomo and is accompanied by a screech. We’ve heard the swimraptor screech at normal speed before. If something is in slomo, not only does it take longer but it is deeper. Yet the screeches at normal speed and at slomo speed are exactly the same.
            As Owen and Kayla slowly walk on the ice, they slip a lot. Yet when they run on both occasions (before and after Owen falls into the water), they have perfect balance. People’s balance gets worse with speed, particularly on slippery surfaces like ice. So for running to be better than walking, on not one but two occasions, is wrong.
            When fleeing the swimraptor on the gangway, Kayla screams. But she starts and finishes it at moments that don’t seem natural. Also, her screams sound forced without any notes of fright. Considering this situation is a frightening one, any screams should demonstrate this.
 

Maisie is the clone of her mother Charlotte. This film and the previous one don’t agree on why this happened.

            In the previous film, Miles revealed that Lockwood’s daughter die and he wanted her back. And he had the technology to do that. Later, Miles says this is what drove Hammond and Lockwood apart.
            In this film, Maisie’s mum Charlotte cloned herself. How can Maisie be Lockwood wanting her daughter back if Maisie was alive before Charlotte died? Perhaps Miles misunderstood or filled in the blanks incorrectly? But if this were the case, someone should have corrected this so that it’s a character’s mistake, not the filmmakers’ mistake.
This film’s explanation for Maisie’s existence drive the plot. So if the explanation doesn’t make sense, this collapses the story.
It's a muddle. Yes, there are ways to justify the disparity between the films. But it’s flimsy, so the filmmakers lacking consistency is surely the more realistic explanation.
 

Finally, let’s look at miscellaneous issues.

            The locusts break out of their containment chamber. This is not feasible. I scoffed the first time I saw it because it’s complete rubbish.
            The humour is very reduced compared with the other films. The first two Jurassic Worlds made a big effort to always roll with the light-hearted jokes and laughing when in dire situations. So to have that all removed in this film, the change in tone was far too drastic. Also, Malcolm is a big part of this film: he’s always been the comic relief (especially in dire situations), so him not doing so here doesn’t make sense.
Grant and Sattler pant heavily when they cling to one another on the floor; Grant leans over Sattler as he looks into her eyes. The shot is too long, giving the audience more time to register and notice how forced it looks. The same amount of romantic tension could have been achieved with a third of the time (and, more importantly, achieved without the issues).

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