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Dom Robinson reviews
Entertainment in Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: EDV 9363
- Running time: 122 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Pressing: 2006
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 21 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: I am a Bounty Hunter: Domino Harveys Life, Bounty Hunting on Acid: Tony Scott’s Visual Style,Deleted Scenes, Theatrical trailer, Teaser trailer.
Director:
- Tony Scott
(Beverly Hills Cop 2, Crimson Tide, Days of Thunder, Domino, The Fan, The Last Boy Scout, Man on Fire, Revenge, Spy Game, Top Gun, True Romance, TV: The Hunger)
Producers:
- Skip Chaisson, Samuel Hadida and Tony Scott
Screenplay:
- Richard Kelly
(from a story by Richard Kelly and Steve Barancik)
Cast:
- Domino Harvey: Keira Knightley
Ed Mosbey: Mickey Rourke
Choco: Edgar Ramirez
Alf: Rizwan Abbasi
Claremont Williams: Delroy Lindo
Lateesha Rodriguez: Mo’Nique
Himself: Ian Ziering
Himself: Brian Austin Green
Drake Bishop: Dabney Coleman
Burke Beckett: Peter Jacobson
Frances: Kel O’Neill
Taryn Miles: Lucy Liu
Sophie Wynn: Jacqueline Bisset
Edna Fender: Dale Dickey
Locus Fender: Lew Temple
Mark Heiss: Christopher Walken
Kimmie: Mena Suvari
Himself: Jerry Springer
Howie Stein: Charles Paraventi
Anthony Ciglutti: Stanley Kamel
Dominois a movie “based on a true story… sort of” about Domino Harvey, a Ford model-turned-bountyhunter as she got fed up with the pretentiousness of Los Angeles high-society and didn’t want to becomea typical “It girl”. (Oh, if the likes of Paris Hilton, and any of the Hervey/Harveys – whatever they’recalled – would get the hint!)
Keira Knightley (right, in character), most recently having portrayed a totally different character in a remake ofPride and Prejudice, plays the titular character and is arrested by the FBI at the start andtells the whole story in flashback to agent Taryn Miles (Lucy Liu). She hooks up with established bounty hunter Ed Mosbey (MickeyRourke, continuing his welcome comeback), Choco (Edgar Ramirez, in his first Hollywood movie)and the driver of their huge armoured vehicle, Alf (Rizwan Abbasi, who’s featured in episodes ofTouching Evil, Taggart and stars in BBC Scotland soap River City).
After proving their worth, they gain interest from TV exec Mark Heiss (Christopher Walken), sort-ofably assisted by Mena Suvari (below-right), always hot and looking particularly so here as secretary Kimmie, whowants to produce a new reality TV show, Bounty Squad, hosted by Beverly Hills 90210‘s BrianAustin Green and Ian Zierling, the latter of whom’s, I found out here, first name is pronounced”Eye-an”, not the usual “E-an”. Given that Domino states early on that “the 90210 world is not for me”you can imagine her reaction to seeing that pair tagging along.
As Domino, Ed and Choco go about their business, they’re led by Claremont Williams (Delroy Lindo),who Keira alights to as their “Charlie to our three Angels” and get most of their info from the Los AngelesDMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). There’s a lot to take in during Domino and if I was to go intoit all, it would probably take longer to describe than it would just to watch it, as well as possibly givingspoilers along the way, but suffice to say there’s a heist, carried out by a gang dressed up as “TheFirst Ladies”, of $10 million from an armoured truck belonging to Drake Bishop, owner of the StratosphereHotel and Casino, a man who loses an arm, a sick child, Macy Gray and it all cuts about in an attempt to make sense.Well, it can be followed but it’s still a disappointment and makes me feel that, perhaps, Tony Scottthought he’d go for his ‘Reservoir Dogs’ as we have a violent movie that starts from a certain point, thencovers all the back story and, once we’re up to date, we continue on.
It’s like a flashy MTV video, but lasting for two hours instead of four minutes, and Keira really can’t act.She tries to give an air of slutty American sassyness in a posh, English girl but completely fails to pull itoff, partly because of her lack of conviction and her irritating accent. Maybe it’s the kind of role sheshould’ve attempted in about 10 years, after she’d at least have been able to develop her range. Someonemore spunky and more capable of acting would be Keira’s Bend It Like Beckham co-star ParminderNagra, although she looks even less like the real Domino as she’s of Indian descent, but thenwhen did Hollywood ever let facts get in the way of telling a story? U-571, anyone?
Keira’s eye make-up makes her look like she’s borrowed it from Frank Sidebottom, such is the ‘stand-out’look that she’s got… and ‘stand-out’ doesn’t mean outstanding, but a far away look in her eyes. Later,as the bounty hunter’s fortunes take a turn for the worse, musician Tom Waits turns up to waffle somespiritualist bullshit and take the film to a new low; and on being filmed for a reality TV show for a week,Jacqueline Bisset, as Domino’s Mum, says, “I beg you not to get involved with this drivel.” Hmm…
There’s also an inconsistency early on – the induction seminar in how to be a bounty hunter is just ascam for Ed, Choco and Claremont to get away with $99 apiece from the 50-or-so people who turned up, sowhy did they return to the same venue later on for a 2003 Bounty Hunter of the Year Award ceremony? Andwhy would anyone therefore take them seriously? If Richard Kelly’s into writing such nonsense that doesn’tlink up – and drags on for far longer than it has any right to – then perhaps he should write currentepisodes of Eastenders(!)
And if you’ve seen True Romance, then what happens at the end of Domino is – in structureas things come together – a carbon copy of that film’s culmination. Tony Scott: you’re getting lazy.
Don’t get me wrong as I love films with an overblown style where it counts, and many of Tony Scott’smovies have done that perfectly, e.g., and in order of production, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop 2,Revenge, Days of Thunder, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance and Crimson Tide, but hereit really doesn’t work as it transcends all those in over-egging the pudding and spoiling the souffle.Scott started to slip with The Fan, while Enemy of the State would’ve been better withoutWill Smith in the lead.Spy Game was awful and I’ve yet to seeMan on Fire, but I don’t know if I should as Denzel Washington only ever plays the same characterso I can’t see it being a meeting of relevant and effective minds.
Note that this film was dedicated to the real Domino Harvey, who died on June 27th last year after anaccidental overdose, the lady on which the film is based. She was only 35. Compared to the attractiveKeira Knightley, though, Domino Harvey looked like a lesbian version of ‘Tank Girl’… if that characterever exhibited a heterosexual appearance at all.
Also note that despite the film having sucked, Keira Knightley’s still niceto look at, hence all the pics 🙂
All that said, there are some good things about this DVD release – in the audio/visual department.The picture and sound are superb. There’s not a single glitch to be found on the 2.35:1 anamorphicwidescreen image, which will really suffer when cropped to 16:9 for eventual TV broadcast (when willTV execs learn that the general public are used to such an image now and won’t complain about “blackbars”, given the abundance of DVDs in the same ratio as well as the same effect being applied to manymusic promos.
Soundwise, there’s both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 options, so I opted for the latterand, like the flashy visual style with excellent sound FX when it counts, such as an explosion in thefinale which rocks around the speakers and rumbles brilliantly. Your neighbours won’t thank you for it,but it is, at least, one highlight of this overblown mess.
The extras below are all presented in 16:9 anamorphic, with all film clips in the original 2.35:1anamorphic ratio.
7 Deleted/Alternate Scenes (7½ mins) which all have an optional director’s commentary,but whichever selection you opt for you get it anyway and, thus, have to switch it off manually once thematerial has started. In fact this happens on the other DVD extras too. Why?! (Also note that you can’tjust select the option to *include* the commentary and expect *not* to get it either)
I am a Bounty Hunter: Domino Harveys Life (20 mins): Cast, crew and relatives all talk aboutthe real Domino Harvey along with archive footage of her. Discussion includes how she lived her lifeand how it was incorporated into the movie. This segment contains optional commentary by Richard Kelly…or not, at first, if you see what I mean.
Bounty Hunting on Acid: Tony Scott’s Visual Style (10 mins):Scott says he always wanted to be a rock star and that Domino is exorcising his rock and rolldemons in terms of style and music. So it was intentionally a two-hour music video. He succeeded.Oh dear. We also learn that a lot of the visual style of this movie came from something he experimentedwith for his Amazon.com advert, named Agent Orange. That was a five-minute short, and wouldprobably be just enough. Sometimes, less is more.
However, I do like Richard Kelly comment about the flashbacks and the visual style, “It’s a non-linearstory and we’re experiencing it as though you’ve got Tony Scott controlling the TiVo.”
I’d be snatching the remote from his hand if he was changing the channels and messing about when I’musing mine! 🙂
Trailers: One a teaser (anamorphic 16:9, 90 seconds) and the theatrical one (anamorphic 2.35:1,almost a minute longer)
Audio Commentaries: One from Tony Scott and Richard Kelly, the other stating ‘Script Notes andStory Development Meetings with Tony Scott, Zach Schiff-Abrams, Richard Kelly and Tom Waits’.
The DVD menu has motion and audio in keeping with the way the film was shot, there are 21 chapters whichis fine and subtitles are in English only.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.