The biggest news to hit Jurassic World: Dominion was the return of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). While Goldblum had been in the previous movie, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, we hadn’t seen Neill or Dern since the original trilogy. This meant the three would be together again after decades, and that fact alone felt worthy of the price of admission.
After seeing the film I can honestly say that these three are the best part of the adventure. They still have the chemistry they had in the 90s and they work well with the rest of the cast. It also helps that this trio, who has aged like the finest of wines, hits one of my favorite character archetypes of someone who’s gone through this before.
There’s a sort of relatability I feel when I watch someone who’s gone through a tremendous, life-changing event, walking back into it with the deepest of sighs. They expect the people around them to have learned better. They’re amused when someone thinks they know more than them. And they’re very, very ready to go home and take a nap. So I wanted to list a few of my favorites.
The original Jurassic Park trio has been there, done that
When things start to go downhill for humanity because of what’s going on at Biosyn, the original trio knows what they have to do. Granted, it takes a bit of convincing for one of them to join, but when the three of them come together it’s very much a “this corporation is being absurd, we know how this works, let’s get this done” kind of vibe. This is especially felt when they meet the newcomers, leading to hilarious exchanges of “you actually TRAIN raptors?”
Leon Kennedy just can’t catch a break
Leon Kennedy will go down in history as having one of the worst first days of work ever. A zombie outbreak that ruins his welcome party at the police station isn’t the best start, and honestly, it just gets worse from there. This is especially the mood in Resident Evil 4 where he’s sent on a mission to rescue the president’s daughter. As soon as hints of another kind of deadly virus start to enter the plot, Leon is just SO done with everything.
Peter B is so, so tired
When Peter B Parker finds himself in a different dimension with a Spider-Man who is in need of some training, he lets out an annoyed grunt over his burger and fries. He barely wants to keep doing the Spider-Man thing in his own dimension, let alone Miles’. From the worn-down appearance and sweatpants, this Spider-Man has been through way too much and doesn’t want to deal with it anymore. Alas, he’s gonna have to throw off the tattered coat and do the thing, but hey, he’s still got it (and gains a new appreciation of it, too).
A grumpy old Bat and his dog
In Batman Beyond, we get to see what a future Gotham City looks like along with being introduced to a new Batman – after watching the old one give it one last try before retiring. The city still needs its Caped Crusader, though, so enter Terry McGinnis, 20 years later, and an interesting dynamic between McGinnis’ Batman and Bruce Wayne acting as his mentor. Old man Bruce is one of my favorite versions of the character, from his snarky responses to Terry and his moments of reminding folks that he can still kick their ass, it’s just with a cane now.
This is Logan’s default setting, but it’s even better with Storm
Logan will always and forever be “too old for this shit” in whatever story he’s in, but to this day my favorite “I’m very much done” storyline is the one he has with Future Storm. These two live in a reality where the X-Men were never formed. When they return to the past with Bishop and Shard to try and make things right, it leads to some very good “eye roll, I can’t believe I have to put up with this” content. Storm has my all-time favorite line where she’s so appalled by “skin-colored prejudice” that she finds it quaint. Like. They’re mutants who fight in a war all the time, and they’re here to try and prevent that reality for YOUR ass. Sit down, racist.
Sarah Conner. That’s it. Send tweet.
Confession: I saw the Terminator movies backward, starting with T2 as a kid and then having my mind blown when I found out it was a sequel. To be fair, I was only a one-year-old tiny tot when the original was released. That being said, I couldn’t believe the difference between Terminator Sarah Conner and T2 Sarah Conner. Talk about an absolute “oh we’re doing this again, fine, let me get my gun” character switch. This may honestly be when I first started to be in awe of characters like this. “Understandably pessimistic” and, “let’s get this over with” have never looked so cool.
Sailor Moon, a girl who deserves some rest
I’ve already written about how Usagi deserves to eat all the cake she wants. This might feel like an odd choice for this list since a lot of these characters are adults, but as a reincarnated princess who was sent to Earth to AVOID the trauma that happened in her kingdom, watching Usagi cycle through “my friends just died” then “the villain has been defeated, we can now have peace” then “welp, no more peace for us I guess” is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about with these “I’ve done this before” characters.
Let Aizawa sleep, please
What’s interesting about Aizawa is that at the beginning of My Hero Academia his “let me nap” attitude feels like it’s meant to be for laughs. While it is hilarious, as we get to know more about him, his story becomes a bit more tragic. He really does want what’s best for his students – which is easy to see when we first meet him and he tells Deku to figure out his quirk WITHOUT hurting himself. He also wants what’s best for children in general (ie: Eri) and has a much bigger heart than he lets on. And that’s before we get to the big twist and everything he’s been through in the manga. This truly is a man who would be fine napping with a cat and SHOULD be napping with a cat.
Breath of the Wild Link LITERALLY just woke up
Arguably, there are a lot of Zelda games where Link just wakes up and is told “hey, you’re a hero” but Breath of the Wild really made you feel it as you uncovered the story of what happened in the past. Not only is Link going through all of this again, but he LOST last time. Now he has to do it all over again, without the help of the Champions he developed bonds with, while everyone he meets approaches him like, “You can’t be the legendary Champion, there’s no way, lol.” It’s a lot to process, and who knows what’ll happen in the second game.
Kratos has FINALLY calmed down, y’all, damn
Kratos is known as one of the most violent, hostile video game characters out there. He seeks vengeance against the Olympian gods after the death of his wife and child (whom Kratos, unknowingly, killed after being deceived by Ares – but hey, Ares was trying to teach him a lesson or… something?) However, in the 2018 release of God of War, Kratos is a lot calmer. Now living in Midgard with his son, Atreus, the two set off on a quest to scatter his wife’s (Faye’s) ashes at the highest peak of the nine realms. You get the sense that this Kratos, after everything that happened in the past, would be perfectly fine living a chill life. However, it doesn’t take long for the “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in” to hit.
Who are your favorite characters who are definitely ready for a nap?
(Image: Rockstar Games/Universal Pictures/edit by Briana Lawrence)
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