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Jurassic World Dominion brings back Ian Malcolm, and with him comes the return of an iconic Jeff Goldblum meme, but this time it’s superbly flipped.
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Jurassic World Dominion.
With the return of Ian Malcolm Jurassic World Dominion Brilliantly revives and flips Jurassic Park‘s biggest meme by Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum returned Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but only for a brief appearance. With domination represents a sort of end to the franchise – at least thematically, if not literally – then his Ian Malcolm gets a bigger role this time, along with another original Jurassic Park Characters Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to give the most fitting farewell possible.
Although the Jurassic world Movies have largely focused on their 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 film many of its best moments. In addition, there are unsurprisingly several recalls to the first Jurassic Park Film, not least BioSyn and Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) as villains, and even the return of Dennis Nedry’s Barbasol may. Nedry’s fate is also honored, with Dodgson’s death to the Dilophosaurus being a beautiful reflection of that moment, but perhaps the best Easter egg comes courtesy of Malcolm.
One of the most iconic and memetic parts of the original Jurassic Park is the sight of Ian Malcolm lying nonchalantly with his shirt fully unbuttoned, characterized by a casual moment that feels (as well as Goldblum’s impressive physique and smoldering looks). With Goldblum, the meme is back too, only this time with a twist. The movie doesn’t directly attempt to replicate it – which might have gone a bit too far – but does reference it, courtesy of the newcomer Jurassic World Dominion’s cast, Kayla Watts from DeWanda Wise. She notices that after a collision domination‘s new villain dinosaur, the Giganotosaurus, has his shirt unbuttoned slightly, telling him to button it up, which he quickly does. Jurassic World Dominion has received negative reviews, but this scene in particular is the funniest in the film and feels like a great nod to the original while giving things a new twist.
It’s just a brief moment, but it helps make the characters involved even better. It reflects that in a way, time hasn’t moved much for Ian, whose attire is very similar to the first Jurassic Parkjust to emphasize the resemblance to the meme, but that he does buttoning up and showing self-confidence makes for a decent update. Meanwhile, Kayla brings a breath of fresh air to the world Jurassic world franchise, and this is a moment that manages to be a natural human reaction and a perfect meta callback. Ian’s open-shirt meme has contributed to both Jurassic Park’s legacy and Goldblum’s enduring cult status, so that’s right Jurassic World Dominion indicates to pay his respects to both.
Besides repairing his shirt, Jurassic World Dominion also manages to redeem Ian for his greatest Jurassic Park Mistake: He swung the flare at the T-Rex, prompting him to attack instead of providing the safe distraction he was hoping for. Ian has now learned from his mistakes as he crafts a makeshift flare in the fight against the Giganotosaurus, but instead of just waving it around, he throws it at the giant dinosaur, landing it right in its mouth and letting others do the safety. When it comes to fighting dinosaurs and wearing clothes, Ian Malcolm has improved a lot Jurassic Park to Jurassic World Dominion.
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