 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Domino
- Review Date: February 19, 2006
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2005
Common Sense Media says
Lurid biography that's way too violent for kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie isn't for kids. Violent in content and form, it features murders by a variety of means (shootings, explosions, knifings, bare-hands and martial-artsy assaults). Its look is grainy and harsh, and its editing is very fast and aggressive, matching the storyline. Characters drink, do hallucinogenic drugs (resulting in a scene in van and then, after it crashes, in a desert), and smoke, lots. The film features a lap dance by Domino, and shots of her bottom "crack" under low-rise jeans, ogled by tattooed bounty hunters at a meeting.
What's the story?
DOMINO tells the story of the model, daughter of movie star Laurence Harvey, bounty hunter, and drug addict who was found dead of an overdose in her L.A. apartment in 1995. The film opens with Domino (Keira Knightley) -- in her present, bloodied, sultry, and chain-smoking -- as she explains her part in an armored truck robbery to FBI Agent Taryn Miles (Lucy Liu). She reveals rejecting her fashion model mother's (Jacqueline Bissett) "90210 world," and, following her expulsion from college, she pursues bounty hunting, teaming up with veteran Ed Moseby (Mickey Rourke), psycho killer Choco (Ed Ramirez), and an Afghani explosives expert (Rizwan Abbasi). She proves her worth by stopping a shootout with a gang by lap-dancing the leader. Subsequent successes lead to a reality show, "The Bounty Squad," but things go very wrong while they're on a job for Claremont Williams III (Delroy Lindo). Suffice it to say that stuff blows up and the TV camera indicts you for watching. It's not news, but it is hectic, sensational, and true enough.
Is it any good?
This is a brutal, lurid, and romantic take on Domino's life. It's also a compelling film in its structure and challenge to conventions. But it's not suitable for children and will trouble some adults. The movie comes hard and fast, a two-hour assault of broken bodies, harsh lights, gun blasts, and tabloidy effects structured as a jaunty, uneven flashback. Domino is not interested in legalities, facts, or justice. While its focus is surely erratic, it might be best described as a reflection on media's exploitative chronicling of crashes between the filthy rich and the dirty underclass.
When she appears at the very end of Tony Scott's raucous film, her shaved head, pale complexion, and large eyes hardly match the movie's version of Domino, perfectly coiffed, extravagantly made-up, and gorgeous, in the person of Keira Knightley. Even as it grants the film an unearned weight, this last portrait, brief and haunting, also underlines the movie's point: show biz kills.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the familial relationships that develop in the film. As Domino rejects her fashion model mother (and continues to mourn the death of her father), she finds a second supportive unit in the bounty hunters. How does the movie suggest that Domino, for all the difficulties of her life as a bounty hunter, finds a perverse peace and sense of understanding among these rough types? How does the movie use the framing device -- the interview with the FBI agent -- to provide Domino's point of view? Is this an effective device, given the harrowing chaos of the story she tells?
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AGE
I Got a Headache Watching This Movie
While I have to give the movie credit for being filmed in a unique style and color, the color and slightly hallucinatory feel of the screen almost gave me a headache from watching it. It doesn't help that it wasn't a very good movie anyways, and the only reason I even gave it two stars was for the "artistic" way it was filmed (though the movie is anything but), and the fact that I could see how the movie was supposed to work on a whole. However, most of the scenes that were supposed to add depth to the movie were disconnected and so contrived that while you're watching it, you're too busy thinking "Haven't I seen this a hundred times already?" to pay attention to what's going on.
Content-wise, the language is the main thing to be worried about, with over a hundred "f*cks" and a lot of other words-- but language is unavoidable in most cases if you are in highschool or up. As for the sex, CSM must not have watched the whole thing: yes, there was a lap dance, but another character also watched a porn movie (yes we saw parts of it), they go to a strip club with obvious, nudity-induced results, and two characters have sex (albeit in a rather odd place), and we see breasts and lots of groping and passionate kissing. However, I will say, for a movie about bounty hunters, there isn't too much violence, (bits sprinkled here and there), except near the end, where every jumbled excuse for a plotline comes together in a big mess of a gunfight/conclusion.
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AGE
Ridiculous movie.
Domino is a ridiculous movie. It is pretty cheesy and stupid for one thing, and it is just way too far fetched to even be taken seriously. Keira Knightley is one of my favorite actresses, but I did not like her in this movie at all. Keira is good in her more funny/light movies (i.e. Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.). I think the only reason that Keira played in this movie is because she wanted to be known as a more kick-butt, no nonsense girl in her movies, but please Keira, stick with the other movies. This movie is extremely violent, and almost non-stop swearing (f--k, s--t, and all the other ones you can think of), and inappropiate sexual behavior. I wouldn't recommend that anyone below the age of 13 watch this (and that might even be too young), and if you do watch it, beware..you may not like what you see. I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars - Later.
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| Studio: | New Line |
| Director: | Tony Scott |
| Cast: | Keira Knightley, Mena Suvari, Mickey Rourke |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 120 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | October 14, 2005 |
| DVD release date: | February 21, 2006 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content/nudity and drug use |
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