Director Colin Trevorrow has confirmed that the third and final installment of the Jurassic World trilogy is now in full swing. Sub-titled “Dominion,” the film will unite the new trilogy cast with original Jurassic Park stars Sam Neil, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern for one final (possibly?) dino outing.
While the original Jurassic World film was praised as a fun return-to-form for the franchise, the second film, Fallen Kingdom, was met with slightly less favor from critics and audiences. In order for this final installment to work, here are some things Trevorrow needs to keep in mind.
IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE DINOS
If the original Jurassic Park taught us anything, it’s that the dinosaurs don’t always need to be the main focus. Jurassic World has done an admirable job of sticking to that by introducing solid character arcs for Owen and Claire, but Fallen Kingdom moved too far away from it.
Since the original Jurassic Park gang will amalgamate with the new cast, it’s a great time to explore not just how the older characters have developed since their ordeal, but how they interact with those who have continued to persue John Hammond’s original vision. Sometimes, the road to the next big action sequence is paved with introspection.
FOCUS ON THE ADVENTURE
While the prospect of dinosaurs escaping into the heartland of America is an interesting prospect, it could quickly fly off the rails if spectacle takes precedence over the story. The focus of previous Jurassic Park/World films has largely been set on adventure, and this was lost somewhat in Fallen Kingdom as the franchise focused more on corporatism.
If this is truly to be the final outing for the franchise, it needs to recapture the magic of the original film somehow. The movie would be served better by concentrating less on evil company henchmen, and more on coming up with a tangible solution for the dinosaur problem.
NO MORE GENETICS
Jurassic World has made genetic tampering a focus of the first two films, but it’s time to dial that back for the sake of the story. The first film touched on this when Claire’s character remarked that kids look at a Stegosaurus “like an elephant at the city zoo.”
This could end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. The first two films said enough about this issue that it can safely be sidelined in favor of focusing on the dinosaurs we all know and love. Audiences don’t need a genetically engineered antagonist. They need a sense of wonder, excitement and awe.
BLUE ISN’T NECESSARY
While audiences loved Blue, she doesn’t necessarily need to be involved in the third film. Owen’s relationship with the Velociraptor runs deep, but it’s going to get harder and harder to sell audiences on the notion that they always find their way back to each other.
If Fallen Kingdom was any indicator, Blue is free. Maybe she should stay that way, rather than being roped in as a convenient plot device. After all, there are a lot of other dinosaurs out there to focus on.
MORE T-REX SCENES
Few would argue that the beloved Tyrannosaurus Rex is a main staple of Jurassic Park/World films, and no director on the face of the planet will ever be able to change that. While subsequent films in the franchise have put some mean dinos in the spotlight (most notably the Spinosaurus), the T-Rex is the one audiences always want to see more of.
As a plot character, the T-Rex is perfect. Its dodgy vision gives writers options when it comes to interactions with key characters, while its menace and terror factor never seems to go away. While other dinos like the Indominus Rex have a lot of fancy genetic features to play with, the T-Rex is a straight-up, natural-born killing machine that can turn the story upside down with just one scene.
MORE IAN MALCOLM
Everyone loves Ian Malcolm, thanks largely to Jeff Goldblum’s own quirky personality and how it plays out in the character. It’s obvious that many of his scenes in the original Jurassic Park were ad-libbed (which director Steven Spielberg is fond of), which led to some hilariously natural and entertaining dialogue.
Malcolm should take more of a central role in the film, without strangling the rest of the characters out of the picture. His lack of chemistry with Alan Grant could work in the film’s favor to create some wonderfully silly and memorable moments, especially after so many years of knowing one another.
MORE ELLIE SATTLER
Ellie came into her role largely in the second act of Jurassic Park, while staying relatively low key through the first. As such, we didn’t get quite as good a look at her character as we’d have liked. Whether she’s still married to someone other than Alan Grant is anyone’s guess, but Sattler’s character should be featured beyond just her past relationships.
As a paleobotanist, there’s not much Ellie can offer in terms of dinosaur advice, but she can act as a lens through which audiences can explore how Earth’s modern flora might affect them. In order for this to work, Ellie’s going to need more screen time in order to demonstrate her skill set.
NO ODD PLOT TWISTS
On paper, Fallen Kingdom’s plot seems like a workable story, but it was executed with far less grace than the script might have originally suggested. As such, the film went from big-budget summer adventure flick to spine-tingling horror film within the space of a single act. It was jarring, to say the least.
It didn’t completely derail the film, but it definitely took the franchise out of its fishbowl, and put it into the wrong kind of tank. The third film doesn’t need any crazy plot twists in order to work its magic. That’s what the dinosaurs are there for.
UTILIZE THE ENVIRONMENT
America is a big country with a lot to see, and this third film had better take advantage of it! Let’s get back to some good old-fashioned 1980s and 1990s adventure set pieces, with a strong focus on the beautiful environments we have here at home.
There are plenty of forests, lakes, rivers, countrysides, and mountains to take advantage of, and peppering the dinos into these beloved locales will really help sell the sense of scale and adventure of the film. This is one area where director Colin Trevorrow should go big.
NO MORE CLIFFHANGERS
At this point, the franchise has nowhere to go. Everything that needed to be said has been said, and it’s going to be rather difficult to top dinosaurs running amok in our backyards. The last five films have pulled out all the stops to give us a memorable ride, but it’s time for that ride to end.
Sequel-itis is real, and it can have a detrimental impact on the legacy of a good franchise. Let’s wrap up the story for all time, then encase this property in amber so that we can remember it fondly as something that didn’t continue to deteriorate into redundancy.
