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Dominion Perfectly Flips Jurassic Park's Greatest Jeff Goldblum Meme

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Jurassic World Dominion. 

With the return of Ian Malcolm, Jurassic World Dominion brilliantly revives and flips Jurassic Park's biggest Jeff Goldblum meme. Goldblum returned in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but only for a brief appearance. With Dominion representing the end of the franchise of sorts - at least thematically, if not literally - then his Ian Malcolm gets a bigger role this time around, joined by fellow original Jurassic Park characters Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), in order to provide as fitting a sendoff as possible.

Although the Jurassic World movies have largely focused on its new generation of characters, led by Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), it's the return of Alan, Ellie, and Ian that gives the third movie many of its best moments. Along with that there are, unsurprisingly, several callbacks to the first Jurassic Park movie, not least BioSyn and Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) as the villains, and even the return of Dennis Nedry's Barbasol can. Nedry's fate is also given a homage, with Dodgson's death to the Dilophosaurus providing a nice mirror to that moment, but perhaps the best Easter egg comes courtesy of Malcolm.

Related: Jurassic World Dominion Ending Explained (In Detail)

One of the most iconic and memed parts of the original Jurassic Park is the sight of Ian Malcolm casually lying with his shirt fully unbuttoned, which stands out for just how random a moment it feels (as well as Goldblum's impressive physique and smoldering look). With Goldblum back, so too is the meme, except this time with a twist. The movie doesn't directly attempt to recreate it - which may have been a little bit too far - but does reference it, courtesy of the newcomer to Jurassic World Dominion's cast, DeWanda Wise's Kayla Watts. She notices that, following a run-in with Dominion's new villainous dinosaur the Giganotosaurus, his shirt is a little too unbuttoned, telling him to fasten it up, which he quickly does. Jurassic World Dominion has received negative reviews, but this scene in particular is the movie's funniest, feeling like a great nod to the original while putting a fresh spin on things.

It's only a brief moment, but it helps to make the characters involved even better. It reflects that, in some ways, time hasn't moved much for Ian, whose attire is very similar to the first Jurassic Park, just to hammer home the similarity to the meme, but that he does button it up and shows self-awareness makes for a neat update. Kayla, meanwhile, is a breath of fresh air in the Jurassic World franchise, and this is a moment that manages to be a natural human response and a perfectly meta callback. The meme of Ian with his shirt open has formed a part of both Jurassic Park's legacy and Goldblum's enduring cult status, so it's right that Jurassic World Dominion references it to pay its respects to both.

As well as fixing up his shirt, Jurassic World Dominion also manages to redeem Ian for his biggest Jurassic Park mistake: waving the flare at the T-Rex, causing it to attack rather than providing the safe distraction he'd hoped for. Ian has learned from his mistakes now, as he crafts a makeshift flare in the fight against the Giganotosaurus, but instead of just waving it around, he throws it at the huge dinosaur, landing it right in its mouth and allowing others to make it to safety. When it comes to both fighting dinosaurs and wearing clothes, Ian Malcolm has improved a lot from Jurassic Park to Jurassic World Dominion.

Next: Dominion's Biggest Death Is A Perfect Jurassic Park Callback

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