Jurassic World Dominion's Violence Misunderstands Jurassic Park's Appeal

The Jurassic World trilogy has tried to recapture the magic of the original Jurassic Park, but Dominion looks set to miss the mark again.

Jurassic World Dominion's Violence Misunderstands Jurassic Park's Appeal

Jurassic World Dominion is set to be an ultra-violent encounter as dinosaurs freely roam the planet, but the brutality of the Jurassic World series completely misunderstands the original Jurassic Park‘s success. Dominion will focus on the velociraptor-loving Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and also feature the returning Jurassic Park characters Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill). Dominion will continue the old movie’s focus on humanity’s attempt to co-exist with dinosaurs, but early signs suggest that Jurassic Park Dominion has forgotten what made the original so great.

Colin Trevorrow, the director of the first two Jurassic World movies, returns to direct the sixth installment of the film franchise. Four years on from the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, dinosaurs will be scattered all over the world in Dominion. Naturally, that will lead to several action-filled encounters between humans and the dinosaurs that escaped in Fallen Kingdom, in all kinds of unique set pieces, but the trailer for Jurassic Park Dominion suggests that it misses the mark on one of Jurassic Park‘s biggest strengths.

Jurassic Park‘s best moments come when director Steven Spielberg shows restraint and builds tension in a scene, rather than jump straight into gory deaths like Jurassic World Dominion promises to do. The raptors in the kitchen scene is one of Jurassic Park‘s best because the focus is almost entirely on creating suspense and putting the audience on edge as Lex and Tim have to quietly outwit the dinosaurs. Only after a couple of minutes of build-up do the raptors attack. The trailer for Dominion, possibly Chris Pratt’s last Jurassic Park movie, suggests that it will not pace itself in the same way and instead deliver wild deaths as soon as the film starts.

Obviously, Jurassic Park has its violent action moments. Donald Gennaro being eaten by the T-Rex while sitting on the toilet is a brutal death, but it is perfectly built up, first with the iconic, tension-building shot of the trembling water and then with Gennaro and the other human characters attempting to hide. Similarly, Warden Robert Muldoon’s death is so effective because it is set up with him quietly hunting a raptor for some time before he is ambushed by the “clever girl”. Both of these scenes are built to induce anxiety before getting to the action, something that the final Jurassic World movie doesn’t look as if it has the patience to do.

It’s important to give scenes time to grow because it creates the sense that the characters have a fighting chance. Jurassic World Dominion doesn’t appear to give minor human characters that hope, with the trailer showing a scooter-riding civilian being devoured by a T-Rex without any chance of escaping. Zara had a similarly savage death in Jurassic World when she was thrown around by a group of Pterosauats and then eaten by the Mosasaurus. Colin Trevorrow’s preference for creating visually shocking deaths shows no sign of stopping in Jurassic World Dominion, but the movie’s to-the-point, savage violence completely misunderstands the success of Jurassic Park‘s slow build.