Friday, June 18, 2010

Domino (2005)

I've watched too many Hungarian and French movies about the Existential Void so I dig out a VHS tape containing a trashy movie about .... the Existential Void. Tony Scott is the person responsible for the quasi-experimental action flick Domino. No, it wasn't good at all and yes, Tony Scott directed Top gun. Though it was an inanely directed, messy film the story of which was ridiculously overwrought, Domino was quite fun to watch because of its visual over-the-top, music-video stylized voluminousness. Sadly, the "edge" of the visuals has a slightly dated feel already a couple of years after the film was released. Scott works with extremely short takes (2-3 seconds per take), processed images & filters, plus lots of slow-motion and other visual tricks. For all its visual inventiveness, this is pure zero-brains entertainment and the whole thing comes off pretty ... cheap. Be prepared for lots of cheesy, unintentionally funny lines.

Keira Knightley plays a tough bounty hunter. In the film, her role is limited to a pretty face and cool clothes. Mickey Rourke plays her colleague and his role is to have a rugged face. God damned Ian Ziering plays a former Beverly hills 90210 star (which is quite fun). And I won't even start talking about the Tom Waits cameo... The main learning from this movie is that people from Afghanistan are skillful in the art of blowing things up. Here's how Ebert ended his review: "Seeking guidance in understanding the movie's manic narrative, I poked around online, and discovered in one review the explanation that the movie "totally challenges the bourgeois notion of the nuclear family." Oh."

No comments:

Post a Comment