Jurassic World Dominion Fails To Payoff The Trilogy's Biggest Setup

Warning: SPOILERS for Jurassic World Dominion below.

The scarcely seen mosasaurus emerged on screen in the Jurassic World series but its build-up to a bigger role in Jurassic World Dominion isn't paid off. This oceanic predator resurrected from the Cretaceous Period promised a showdown due to its gigantic size and brute strength. The third and most recent installment of the Jurassic World franchise depicted the mosasaurus but didn't give the intimidating carnivore a satisfying sendoff.

First seen in Jurassic World 2015, the Mosasaurus begins as an attraction at the in-universe amusement park Jurassic World. The whale-like predator is not a dinosaur but a carnivore of squamata, which is a classification of scaled reptiles. With a size bigger than the franchise-infamous T-Rex, the mosasaurus becomes a symbol of fear when chaos erupts in the park. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, it's released into the sea when Maisie Lockwood frees the dinosaurs from Lockwood Manor. The ending of Fallen Kingdom implies a larger and more antagonistic role for the creature in the future since it is last shown swimming underneath surfers in a Jaws-type sequence.

There was an expectation that the mosasaurus would have more to do in Jurassic World Dominion because of how ginormous and destructive it can be compared to other major antagonists in the franchise. The first two films foreshadow this by focusing briefly on its eating habits as well as its speed and strength underwater. Dominion neglects to pay off its best setup by allowing only the opening scene to show off the mosasaurus' predatorial impact in the new world. The scene is notably short, depicting the carnivore taking down a boat full of sailors. The sequence is frightening but doesn't encompass the full scale of effects from this creature following the cataclysmic events in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Instead of reutilizing the T-Rex and other large land-based dinosaurs, the mosasaurus could have been a more original main antagonist. It is not mentioned or seen again until the end of Dominion where it is seen swimming amicably with whales, further diminishing the power it's accumulated in the franchise.

The main focus of Jurassic World Dominion is on genetically altered locusts rather than more intimidating dinosaurs and other Cretaceous species begging for the franchise's attention. If the film didn't rehash much of the plot revolving around Maisie that was previously revealed in Fallen Kingdom, there may have been time to pay off the setup of the mosasaurus in a better boat sequence. While Dominion recaps how coexistence is faring in the new world, there isn't enough said about the sea life. It reduces the mosasaurus' unique threat by tabling it for conflicts about locusts.

The critical turnout of Jurassic World Dominion proves that it fails in more areas than in its biggest setup for the mosasaurus. However, reusing the same antagonists from previous installments and newer, less inventive, creatures highlights the lost potential for the mosasaurus to be an effectively threatening central antagonist. Unfortunately, the oceanic predator isn't given the proper screen time or sendoff in Jurassic World Dominion.

Next: Complete Jurassic Park & World Timeline Explained

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