Jurassic World: Dominion

I have not watched the previous Jurassic World films due to disinterest and bad reviews, but I was mostly able to follow the last film. The main confusing part was Maisie Lockwood being a clone, but I had read something on the internet that mentioned it, and the movie itself addressed the issue and apparently did a retcon on who was responsible for the cloning, and why.

Anyway, the Dominion movie was filled with nostalgic references to the original Jurassic Park film, even recreating some moments.  Drs. Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm had their own storyline, and were not mere cameo appearances. They were focused on giant locusts bio-engineered by BioSyn, the competitor to Hammond's InGen company that created the dinosaurs in the first place. Dr. Henry Wu from InGen was now working for BioSyn. (Apparently his character was expanded on in the last few films, to give him more depth and importance.) Wu gets a guilty conscience here, and tries to redeem himself, though not everyone trusts him. I didn't recognize the name Lewis Dodgson, but soon learned that he was the furtive guy who gave Nedry the fake Barbasol shaving cream can to hold stolen dino embyros. So it was fitting to see the Barbasol can again and to remember how Nedry died. Lewis is the main evil villain here, though he pretends to be a benevolent tech mogul. Ian Malcolm even works for him, which is how Grant and Sattler get invited to the dino sanctuary.

Ellie Sattler gets to go on the mission, which sets things right after Jurassic Park III kept her at home, married off with kids. (She basically was only a cameo and a phone call in that movie.) In the new movie, her kids are grown and she's divorced, which allows her to rekindle things with Alan Grant, so that's satisfying. Divorce and parenthood have been a theme in previous Jurassic movies. There are a lot of female characters actively participating in the heroics, and they've got multiple black characters who aren't killed off like Samuel Jackson's character Mr. Arnold was.

But the nostalgia and call backs! Even Ian Malcolm starting to unbutton his shirt, or waving around a torch (actually a fiery locust) to distract a dino from this friends. Plus the vehicle turned upside down, spun around by a dino. The Barbasol can reference. Characters saying "I remember you" when they recognize their significance. Hollywood is not just serving up dino CGI action, but pulling on your heartstrings from the past. In this case it's not annoying; it's more like things coming full circle. I suppose that's what Hollywood is doing with the Top Gun sequel and the Toy Story-adjacent Lightyear too, though I'm not interested in those franchises.