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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
Two
TONY Scott introduces Domino with the phrase 'based on a true
story... sort of'. What follows probably has very little to do
with fact.
The film is very loosely based on the life of model-turned-bounty
hunter, Domino Harvey, the daughter of respected actor Lawrence
Harvey and another model turned socialite, Sophie Wynn.
But it is such a wild and preposterous ride, fuelled by Scott's
own breathless directorial style, that you simply cannot take
it seriously.
Keira Knightley plays the eponymous heroine as a bored rich girl
who finds herself irresistibly drawn to the seedier side of life
as well as the thrill of bounty hunting.
After teaming up with Ed Mosbey (Mickey Rourke), the best hunter
in the business, and his partner, Choco (Edgar Ramirez), the trio
quickly become celebrities and are exploited by a reality TV crew
fronted by madcap producer, Mark Heiss (Christopher Walken), who
gives them their own show.
But just when life seems to be going perfectly, the trio are
given a job by their employer and bail bondsman Claremont Williams
III (Delroy Lindo) which places them on a collision course with
the Mob and inevitably puts their lives in danger.
The ensuing tale is told in flashback as Domino recounts the
story of her life to a criminal psychologist (Lucy Liu), while
also piecing together the bloody mess that represents the aftermath
of the Mob job.
For the most part, Domino is a head-spinning experience that
thrives on excess.
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It's built around a suitably twisting
script from Donnie Darko's Richard Kelly and positively throbs
to the sound of its near-constant soundtrack, lacking much coherence
as it bounces from one episode to the next.
But it remains a guilty pleasure thanks to some fantastic set
pieces and some spirited supporting performances.
Walken, especially, seems to be having a blast as the edgy TV
producer, while both Rourke and Ramirez make a fine bounty-hunting
double act courtesy of their 'lived-in' looks and edgy personas
(you never know what they're capable of next).
Knightley, however, looks a little too fragile to be entirely
believable and occasionally gets drowned out by the visual pyrotechnics
employed by Scott, while her accent seems misplaced.
Scott, too, could be accused of over-employing the visual flourishes
especially since the latter part of the film plays like a greatest
hits compendium of his own back catalogue (with Man
on Fire and True Romance
featuring prominently).
Indeed, film-goers who have previously written off Scott's style
as hopeless had best stay away completely for this will do nothing
to sway them.
Scott fans will, however, get a kick out of the whole overblown
affair, no matter how over the top he takes it.
The real Domino Harvey tragically died while the film was in
post-production but she remained a 'surrogate daughter' to Scott
until the very end.
As a lasting tribute to someone who, by her own admission, referred
to storming through doors with a shotgun in her hand as 'the biggest
adrenaline rush she'd ever had', the film does indeed provide
a cinematic rush of its own.
Find out more about Domino Harvey
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