Now That is One Big Pile of Locusts: Jurassic World Dominion Review - Renegade Marquee #21
Tonight, on a PREHISTORIC episode of Renegade Marquee, Captain Kaye and The Streamin' Demon are joined by Teresa, Bioshocker themselves, Matt, and special guest Danielle Solzman to go digging around in the world of Jurassic World Dominion!
How’s it going, fellow Renegades? TIS I, THE DIRECTOR, here to bring you guys the latest excavation from the world of cinema with the Renegade Marquee! And today, we’ve got a stacked cast to go up against another stacked cast as there’s a new Jurassic World movie in theaters!
It’s hard to look at the Jurassic World films and not think wistfully of the past. The original film by Steven Spielberg is one of the most timeless works of art that pioneered special effects work that still remains a benchmark even as it approaches 30 years old next year! (Yeah, I bet you probably feel REALLY OLD now upon hearing that). And even if the subsequent sequels haven’t been the best (The Lost World is admirable, but in my opinion, boring; Jurassic Park III is short, and that’s one of the best things you can say about it… though it was a childhood favorite of mine), I at least will always appreciate that as a franchise, it always seemed to evolve and try to touch on bigger themes and story ideas.
In 2015, Colin Trevorrow came onto the franchise nearly 20 years after its inception to kickstart a new trilogy of films, with Jurassic World being the first installment. And I’ll freely admit, it’s the only one of the new trilogy that I’ve seen thus far, but I remember finding it fairly enjoyable! I had a lot of fun watching it, and there was something to be said about the attempts at commentary on the blockbuster landscape at that point through the successful creation of a Jurassic Park and how audiences grew tired of spectacle in cinema. And while I’ve heard mixed or varying things on Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, I actually did get to see Trevorrow’s other works in the leaked script of Duel of the Fates, and I checked out (BY TREVORROW HIMSELF’S REQUEST) The Book of Henry.
I personally think Trevorrow has the opportunity to be one of the more unsung auteurs of our generation, and I will personally be there for any original projects that he has lined up — I really enjoyed The Book of Henry for what it was, which I describe as a Spielberg film as written by Wes Anderson, and I’m positive that was by intention. But when it comes to the Jurassic World films, I feel like he might be limited by the constraints of franchise filmmaking. If he were to take some time away from the landscape and make something from the heart again, I think audiences might embrace him back in open arms. It’s certainly something that we need more of nowadays, anyway… a little bit of heart?
But don’t take my word for it. I’ll kick it over to the Cap’n himself to get some firsthand thoughts on the latest dino detour in cinema. TAKE IT AWAY!
JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (2022)
“Look, I know that nothing will ever top the original Jurassic Park. It's one of the best sci-fi adventure films of all time, and one of my favorite of Spielberg's blockbusters. And while not all of the sequels have been great, I've honestly been a lot of fun with the World trilogy (and Camp Cretaceous is awesome), so naturally I would end up enjoying this one as well. The main appeal of this film is finally getting to see the new cast teaming up with the original, and while it does admittedly take a bit too long for these two groups to converge, it all becomes worth it in the second half. That's not to say there aren't great moments before that. There's a great motorcycle chase sequence on the streets of Malta that's quite thrilling, and DeWanda Wise makes a damn good first impression as a new character named Kayla Watts, who assists Owen and Claire on their mission. In an attempt to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that the biggest negative I have is the designated antagonist. And to go one step further, you could argue that this franchise doesn't need human antagonists, because the dinosaurs themselves are already a worthy adversary. As a franchise closer, I'd say this movie mostly succeeds at what it set out to accomplish. For better or for worse, I genuinely don't know where else to take this story, outside of short films like Battle at Big Rock. If you haven't enjoyed any of the Jurassic Park sequels, I doubt Dominion will win you over. But if you liked the previous two entries, then you will certainly enjoy this as well!” - Captain Kaye
That’ll do for this episode! Special thanks to my brother from a Hawaiian mother, Neoplasmic, for editing this episode. Keep your shovels at the ready and get to digging, because you’ll uncover a new podcast very soon…
