Prior to sitting down in the theater to watch Jurassic World Dominion the night that it premiered, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my most anticipated movie of 2022. With fellow critics having returned from early screenings with disappointment and derision about the franchise's supposed ending, I was certainly nervous, to say the least. Color me surprised when I had the time of my life traveling back into the Jurassic universe and seeing the franchise's two trilogies collide on the big screen. At the time I found the movie to be a perfectly good disaster thriller, delivering on decades-old unfinished business and taking audiences on another excellent dinosaur romp.
I've seen the theatrical version a handful of times since that initial viewing, and I felt the same nostalgic joy with each re-watch. Getting to see the extended edition of Jurassic World Dominion, which comes to home release this week, has only cemented the film's place as my second favorite Jurassic movie — come on guys, no one's touching Jurassic Park. The extended edition of the movie adds a whopping 14 minutes to the film's runtime, most of which adds depth to the story as well as fixes some clunky editing issues audiences had with the theatrical version.
The most notable addition to the film from the added footage is the new opening sequence. For the first time in the entire franchise, we go back to when dinosaurs ruled the earth through a sequence of breathtaking shots featuring more dinosaurs than I can name. The scene sets up a 65-million-year-old beef between the T-Rex and Dominion's new terrifying baddie the Giganotosaurus and sets a warmly nostalgic tone with a reference to the mosquito that started it all. It also serves to perfectly bookend the end of the film with the dinosaurs having come full circle.
Jurassic World Dominion sees the long-awaited return of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Alan Grant (Sam Neill) back together for the first time in nearly 30 years. While I mourn the universe where they made their way into the reboot trilogy sooner, these three were easily a major highlight of the franchise’s epic conclusion. Dern, Goldblum, and Neill’s chemistry — in any combination — is just as electric as it was in 1993, and they easily weave moments of terror, romance, and humor throughout the entirety of Dominion’s extended 2-hour-and-40-minute runtime. While the most satisfying moment of their return is the rekindling and ultimate explicit canonization of Alan and Ellie’s romantic relationship, it’s also just a joy to go on one more thrill ride with these characters. The extended edition includes another handful of moments between Alan and Ellie that only serve to enrich their decades overdue relationship.
On top of having this trio back together, Dominion also feels like the most true-to-the-original Jurassic sequel for a number of reasons, namely the return of more horror elements. Man-eating dinosaurs are pretty scary in general, but everyone remembers the pure, suspenseful terror of Jurassic Park moments like Lex and Tim hiding from the raptors in the kitchen, or Ellie rebooting the power systems and realizing she's not alone. Dominion manages to evoke those same feelings better than some of its predecessors with the jump-scare-induced heart-pounding cave scene in which Alan, Ellie, and Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) are trapped with several menacing Dimetrodons or the sinking dread of watching Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) get cornered by the deceptive Dilophosaurus.
With improved technology, Dominion can even go further than Jurassic Park was able to with certain horror elements. In the original novel, the death Michael Chrichton writes for Dennis Nedry is a gory affair, and while both films keep that PG-13 level of what's implied vs. what's shown, Lewis Dodgson's (Campbell Scott) death builds off what they were able to do with Nedry's in Jurassic Park. Dominion makes several similar references to Jurassic Park throughout that play into that nostalgia without doing things like underestimating the audience or re-hashing iconic lines like Dern's "woman inherits the earth," which would've cheapened those elements. Instead, we get scenes that conjure up a delightful bit of deja vu, like Ellie and Claire tag teaming the power reboot and zapping the hell out of a swarm of GMO'd dino-locusts or Ian successfully distracting the Giganotosaurus with his flaming bug torch.
The extended edition of Dominion fixes many of the minor issues I had with the theatrical version of the film. In addition to starting off on a more genuine and meaningful opening sequence, adding back in the full conversation between Alan and Ellie, a moment of intimacy between Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire on Kayla Watts' (DeWanda Wise) plane, and a handful of transitional beats made the movie feel more cohesive and intentional in places where it may have been somewhat clunky or jarring in the theatrical version. While Howard and Pratt do seem to take more of a back seat in the final installment in their Jurassic trilogy, doing so allowed their storyline to also feel more cohesive as they lean fully into being parents and becoming a family unit. And while I wish we'd gotten a couple more action-hero moments from Claire, it's still satisfying to watch her arc come full circle in Dominion as the once detached CEO fights tooth and nail to save both the dinosaurs and her own kid.
There are a handful of additions to Dominion that don't do the film any favors, including an almost comical slo-mo shot of Blue and a scene between Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie) and Dodgson that ultimately reads as redundant. However, another feature that makes Jurassic World Dominion so fun to watch is that it introduces Wise's irreverent (and queer!) Kayla, gets a few additional moments of cool in the extended edition. The Ian to Claire and Owen's Alan and Ellie, watching her bring an untouchable level of levity and charisma to the new trio will make you wish she'd been a part of the reboot trilogy from the beginning. Dominion also expands upon the new movies' ability to show some absolutely insane dinosaur moments. From the new opening sequence to impressive feats like seeing the Mosasaur out in the open ocean and the Therisinosaurus (which is somehow a herbivore) stalking Claire into the pond, the Jurassic conclusion is jam-packed with dinosaurs in a way that we've never seen before.
Despite its initial (and frankly somewhat confusing) poor reception among critics, Jurassic World Dominion has grossed over $974 million at the global box office and there's a reason the film was review-proof. With many audiences coming back for repeat viewings, Dominion doesn't have to be groundbreaking to be good. The movie is a campy yet heart-pounding thrill ride wrapped in nostalgia and just the right amount of fan service to make it an excellent summer action movie. Seeing the whole franchise come together for one last epic dinosaur romp filled with humor, horror and a happy ending is exactly what I wanted from this movie, and I'm so glad I got it.
Rating: A-
The extended edition of Jurassic World Dominion arrives on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, and Blu-ray on August 16. Check out our interview with director Colin Trevorrow below.