Domino (2005)

Director:

Tony Scott

Writers (WGA):

Richard Kelly (screenplay)
Richard Kelly (story) ...

Release Date:

14 October 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

I Am a Bounty Hunter

Plot:

A recounting of Domino Harvey's life story. The daughter of actor Laurence Harvey turned away from her career as a Ford model to become a bounty hunter.

Plot Keywords:

Explosive | Helicopter Crash | Afghanistan | Funeral | Bomb

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Keira Knightley	...	Domino Harvey
Mickey Rourke	...	Ed Mosbey
Edgar Ramirez	...	Choco
Riz Abbasi	...	Alf (as Rizwan Abbasi)
Delroy Lindo	...	Claremont Williams
Mo'Nique	...	Lateesha Rodriguez
Ian Ziering	...	Himself
Brian Austin Green	...	Himself
Joe Nunez	...	Raul (as Joseph Nunez)
Macy Gray	...	Lashandra Davis
Shondrella Avery	...	Lashindra Davis
Dabney Coleman	...	Drake Bishop
Peter Jacobson	...	Burke Beckett
Kel O'Neill	...	Francis
Lucy Liu	...	Taryn Miles

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content/nudity and drug use.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:15 | Hungary:16 | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | Czech Republic:15 | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | France:-12 | Finland:K-15 | Philippines:R-13 | Argentina:16 | Japan:R-15 | Italy:T | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R16 | Brazil:18 | Germany:16 | USA:R (certificate #41701) | South Africa:16 | Indonesia:Dewasa | Ireland:16 | Malaysia:18PL | Denmark:15 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Iceland:16 | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Alexandria Hotel, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Domino 17521 Inc.

Trivia:

Tony Scott first thought of Keira Knightley for the role of Domino after seeing her in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Alf is supposed to be Afghani, but when he started talking towards the end of the movie he doesn't speak in Afghani/Arabic, he is speaking in Hindi.

Quotes:

Domino Harvey: [V.O] Choco grew up on the streets of Venezuela. When he was four years old, he stabbed another kid in the eyeball with a pencil.
Domino Harvey: [V.O] There were wires crossed somewhere in his soul.

Movie Connections:

References "ABC News Nightline" (1980)

Soundtrack:

Jesus Gonna Be Here

You'll love it or hate it – it's a stylistic thing

My name is Domino Harvery. {EDIT *dizzying* CHOP} My--my--my name is Domino Harvey. {CUT, CHOP} My name is Domino Harvey. {EDIT. CUT. Playback}

Never have I seen a director take so much flack for his style before. By now it is evident that most people do not appreciate Tony Scott's choppy, flashy, dizzying editing technique. If I have to choose between loving it and hating it, I'd say I love it. It was borderline distracting at times, but the end result was pretty good and it's nice to see a director with a creative edge to his style and some originality (even if it borrows heavily from MTV videos).

This stylistic edge manifests itself as Keira Knightley plays the role of cocky badass bounty hunter Domino Harvey and even her dialogue seems strangely choppy. Otherwise she plays her poorly because I pretty much hated her character and did not sympathize one bit with her, no matter how much she suffered. We follow Domino through her life as she joins up with fellow bounty hunters Mickey Rourke, Rizwan Abbasi and Edgar Ramirez. The crew become tangled up in the FBI and suddenly has a reality show contract under Christopher Walken's TV production company (what is Christopher Walken doing in every film, by the way?). I guess that is a clever film technique, because now Tony Scott is free to use as much flashy MTV/Reality Show editing footage as he likes. It becomes a pastiche of MTV culture at this point.

It followes then that the story is told at an amazingly rapid-fire pace, with lots of raunchy strong language and gun violence. There are some funny jokes; it's all very modern and surreal at the same time. It's a mess, but it's a rather enjoyable mess. It is ultimately flawed in so many ways (the actors try too hard to make their characters "cool", for one) but it works. I give it a weak 7/10 which may seem generous when compared to the general consensus of movie-goers who graded this film — but I feel it had some good ideas and executed them well.

7 out of 10