Major spoilers for Jurassic World: Dominion
Jurassic World: Dominion is the final installment to the second Jurassic Park movie trilogy, ending the franchise where we’re reminded of how cool dinosaurs are, but men should, most definitely, NOT be out here playing God. With Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ending on the “this should be fine” note of “oh shit, that’s a dinosaur roaring at a lion,” Dominion picks up four years later. Dinosaurs are just HERE now, leading to a lot of commentary on whether or not we can coexist with them. With that comes the evil corporation of the hour, Biosyn, and a boss who thinks he knows what’s best even as he’s shown undeniable proof that he doesn’t.
It’s that boss that leads me to my favorite easter egg of the movie. As our Rachel Leishman said in her review, the movie is dripping with nostalgia with nods to the original scattered throughout the film. “It’s a movie that preys on nostalgia like a velociraptor preys on white men with too much confidence.” For me, my favorite moments were, hands down, whenever the original trio was on screen together, but they aren’t the only ones who return from the original film. The trailers I’d seen had revealed the return of Dr. Henry Wu, but they didn’t reveal who he was working for.
We’ve seen this villain before…
The man in charge of Biosyn is a man named Dr. Lewis Dodgson. It was a name I recognized, but I couldn’t quite place why. Throughout the entire film, I kept watching him and thinking, “This is familiar, but why is it familiar?” Then, when my wife and I got home, she looked at me and said, “He’s from the first movie!”
I couldn’t believe it. When was he in the first movie? Then she pulled up a clip and I couldn’t help but laugh. Dodgson (“we got a Dodgson here!”) makes a brief appearance. He’s the one Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) meets up with in Costa Rica. He’s the guy who gives Nedry the money ($750K) and the embryo transfer device tucked inside a can of shaving cream. In Jurassic Park, Dodgson is played by actor Cameron Thor; in Jurassic World: Dominion, Dodgson is played by Campbell Scott.
Ironically, Dodgson is the main villain of the novels (I’ve only seen the movies), so the final movie finally puts him in the role of antagonist. Admittedly, he sounds far more intimidating in the books than he is in the film.
My favorite easter egg: the shaving cream
Along with the return of Dodgson, the can of Barbasol shaving cream is in the movie, too. It’s a bit worse for wear, as to be expected since it washed away as Nedry was being killed by the Dilophosaurus. Does that mean Dodgson went back to get it? Did he find Nedry’s dead body? Whatever the case, Dodgson has the can of shaving cream and even takes it with him in his attempt to flee the compound when everything turns to shit.
The can of shaving cream is my favorite easter egg as, again, I looked at it and went, “Okay that’s there for a reason, come on, brain, THINK!” It all came to me when we got home and my wife remembered Dodgson. I thought it was a clever little nod to the original, and a pretty accurate sign of men with too much power not learning their lesson when they should. You know how badly this went in the 90s, Dodgson, you should’ve just left it alone.
Dodgson being in the movie has been talked about online, but since I didn’t look into Dominion much beyond the trailers, I went into the movie with no clue that he (and his shaving cream) would be in the story. Maybe that’s why it’s my favorite easter egg? Because I didn’t know it was coming? Or maybe I just have a soft spot for moments where a character who’s been there the whole time in the background finally steps into the plot.
(Featured image: Universal Pictures)
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Published: Jun 10, 2022 11:25 am