Domino (2005)
The Cast
Keira Knightley .... Domino Harvey
Mickey Rourke .... Ed Mosbey
Edgar Ramirez .... Choco
Riz Abbasi .... Alf
Delroy Lindo .... Claremont Williams
Mo'Nique .... Lateesha Rodriguez
Ian Ziering .... Himself
Brian Austin Green .... Himself
Macy Gray .... Lashandra Davis
Dabney Coleman .... Drake Bishop
Lucy Liu .... Taryn Miles
Christopher Walken .... Mark Heiss
Mena Suvari .... Kimmie
Tom Waits .... Wanderer
Written by Donnie Darko's Richard Kelly, and directed by Tony Scott, Domino is essentially a biopic of a former model-turned bounty hunter named Domino Harvey. Essentially a biopic I say because, well, apparently half the events in the movie didn't take place or something like that. Even during the credits, a title card flashes up saying "Based on a True Story.... sort of". As if that wasn't enough to discount it as a legitimate biopic, Kelly inserted Beverly Hills 90210's own Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green into the story, like that would legitimise the film in the eyes of his rabid Darko fanbase.
Domino has a stellar cast, most of whom are given precious little to work with. It's another case of Walken-syndrome, where you're savouring every precious second that he's on the screen, knowing full well that one short cut later you're going to be thrust back into the rotting meat of the main story. Walken is pretty good in his small part as a producer for the WB, recruiting Domino and her partners Ed (Rourke) and Choco (Ramirez) to be part of a reality TV show based on their bounty hunting. Mena Suvari is note perfect in her role as his assistant, which kind of tells you all you need to know about the rest of the cast.
Ziering and Green take the route of self-mockery, just like many more noteworthy celebrities before them did much more successfully. Lucy Liu makes me completely forget she was ever O-Ren Ishii, Dabney Coleman does his usual schtick, same with Lindo. Tom Waits is inexplicably cast as some preacher-type character, giving the film a very odd Natural Born Killers-feel to it. Well, actually if you ever wake up from the seizure-inducing camera effects throughout the entire film, you'll have already had that feeling for quite some time.
The two main cast members - Knightley and Rourke - are pretty good in their performances, though I'll put an asterisk beside that compliment. Rourke can be a talented actor, but he's essentially getting the same part over and over again in different movies and is probably afraid of refusing the roles because he might have to go back to boxing. The sidenote on Knightley's performance is that it's hammered home to the viewer throughout the entire movie that Domino Harvey is OMG a badass and everyone thought this would be a career-defining performance to push her forever out of the Brit pics she started her career with.
Tony Scott can be a great director, when he's not just rehashing something Oliver Stone did a decade earlier. The movie isn't really that enjoyable as a car wreck film either. I was clock-watching halfway through the movie, boggled that there was still an hour to go in the running time. You get the feeling that somewhere in the story there could've been a great, gritty heist thriller but it was passed over in favour of mass-marketed shit.
1 / 5