Domino

When I think of Keira Knightly, I generally don't think of her as a bad-ass bounty hunter. Though that's exactly the role she took on in Tony Scott's Domino. Apparently the story is somewhat factually-based, for actor Laurence Harvey, who audiences may remember from the original Manchurian Candidate, had a daughter named Domino who did in fact become a real-life bounty hunter. I don't know how much of Domino is fact or fiction, but either way, it's still interesting seeing Natalie Portman's long-lost twin go on such a wild ride like this.

Told in flashback, in a style very reminiscent of Interview with a Vampire (only with Lucy Liu replacing Christian Slater), we see how British-born Domino Harvey found her calling as a U.S. bounty-hunter. She was apparently very close to her father when she was very young, but his death left a scar on her soul, and when her goldfish dies soon after her father does, she makes a decision to completely detach herself emotionally from all that's important to her in life. And as she gets older and gains more expertise in weaponry, she decides to take on a job as a bounty hunter for famous bail bondsman Claremont Williams (played by Delroy Lindo). She's paired with Eddie (Mickey Rourke, in a not-too-distant offshoot of his Sin City role) and Choco (Edgar Ramirez), who thinks that he can draw in the ladies by speaking Spanish. Her first raid, as she notes, almost ended in utter destruction after being set up by the person they sought. Only Domino saved the day by offering a lap-dance to the gang leader in exchange for the whereabouts of their target; it worked, too! (I wouldn't turn one down from Keira, either.)

As expected, the trio becomes very close over time (and Choco, of course, develops unspoken feelings for Domino). But once the background of the characters is finalized, we finally get to the meat of the story: former DC radio deejay Mo'Nique plays Lateesha Rodriguez, a shady DMV employee and world record-holder for being the youngest grandmother at 28 (and for the record, Lateesha's brief appearance on Jerry Springer with her "flowchart" was one of the funniest things I've ever seen). Her young granddaughter has a rare blood disease, though, and because Lateesha just got fired from the DMV, she has no insurance and thus needs $300,000 for her granddaughter's operation. So she and her friends, at the behest of Claremont Williams, set up a phony armored car heist, ripping off billionaire Drake Bishop (Dabney Coleman in a long overdue film role) and then offering to recover the money and the robbers for Bishop—for a finder's fee of $300,000.

So Domino and her crew, followed by a reality TV producer and crew (Christopher Walken and Mena Suvari, along with cameos by former 90210 alums Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green), go after the "robbers" of the armored car—aptly named the "First Ladies" because they wore masks of former First Ladies during the robbery (I can't remember the movie title, but wasn't this done before in the late '80s, where bank robbers donned masks of former presidents?)

Only problem is, Lateesha made a bad choice in who to set up for the robbery, because one of them was the son of a major mob boss. And when Domino and her crew pick him and his buddies up for the robbery, nobody realizes they're being set up—at least right away. Domino starts to realize it when one of her goldfish dies . . . harking back to when the goldfish died in her youth, the dead goldfish in the present day served as an omen for Domino and her crew. And with the FBI hot on the tail of the mob, Lateesha, and Domino's crew all at once, you can imagine the mayhem that ensues. (Though I got a good laugh out of the underwater cell phone calls. It reminded me of the Cone of Silence from Get Smart.)

I liked how Domino was filmed. Tony Scott employed a very flashy style (I'm sure to appeal to young audiences), with lots of quick-fire editing and alternating/smearing colors. I've already heard it referred to as "MTV" style. The camerawork was equally impressive, like the reverse footage of people getting shot—to symbolize that people actually weren't shot and killed. But despite good filmmaking techniques, a few things about Domino still bothered me. For example, I was a little disappointed that some of these roles were throwaway. Christopher Walken was too underutilized, I felt, as was Mena Suvari as his secretary (in fact, has she done any meaningful acting since American Pie or American Beauty?). Christopher Walken as the panicky reality TV producer did add plenty of humor to the story, freaking out over little things like the changing of fonts in movie posters, but he came and went too soon. I also would like to have seen a little more screen time for Dabney Coleman, for he's an actor I've missed seeing over the years. Though his contributions here were quite well done.

Going back to the flashy style for a moment, let me say again, I liked it, but I think its excessive use did make the story hard to follow in some spots. A better balance between plot and style would have benefited, I think. And the ending? I hate to say it, but I found it predictable—but that's mostly because it followed the same template from other Tony Scott movies. In other words, if you've seen Enemy of the State or True Romance, it's the same ending, essentially recycled. As to the performance of Keira herself, I don't know why, but I just couldn't get into her as a bounty hunter. Yes, it was fun to watch her in such a role—okay, it was fun to watch her, period!—but I couldn't quite lose myself in her role.

I give Domino a 6 out of 10. It was good as a shoot-'em-up thriller, with a smokin' hot leading lady, but lacked the right mixture of plot, style, cohesion, characterization, and casting. And for Tony Scott movies in general, I'd go with the two mentioned above (though I haven't seen Man on Fire yet).