Domino

Domino (Director: Tony Scott)

The Brothers Scott have had a busy year, what with Ridley's Kingdom of Heaven and their co-production "Numbers" on CBS. The younger Scott has probably made more super-hits than his brother, beginning with Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II. What seems to appeal to Scott most though are these over-the-top gritty action thrillers like Revenge, The Last Boy Scout, the Tarantino-scripted True Romance, The Fan, and Man On Fire. More along the lines of blockbusters include Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, and a movie that probably seemed to have a lot more going for it in Spy Game, but they were no less over-the-top. Domino comes to us from Donnie Darko writer/director Richard Kelly and Steve Barancik, based somewhat on a true story of bounty hunter Domino Harvey, daughter of The Manchurian Candidate's Laurence Harvey.

For the most part, I've enjoyed Tony Scott's films. Most of them are outrageous fun, when ridiculous becomes an art form. With producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, Scott made guy movies that are instantly watchable. You marvel how likeable some of these movies are. Now, I'm not a big Bruckheimer fan, but it seems that Scott has become actually more indulgent since breaking from him after Enemy of the State. We saw a glimpse of that with 1996's The Fan, probably Scott's worst film. Last year's Man On Fire, as much as I liked certain parts, had almost disengaged completely from telling an actual story.

And here's the problem with Domino, a movie that has a very engaging and complex story, completely muddled by Scott's need to play with cameras and editing. It's like watching Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet mixed in with Scott's own mad-scientist sensibilities, deposited into a can of Buzz Cola full of pop rocks, is thrown into a centrifuge for a few minutes, it's face turns into Richard Nixon, and is cracked open. See you in hell, candy boys!

Simply, the story is about tough-chick Domino (Keira Knightley) who joins bounty hunters Ed (Mickey Rourke) and Choco (Edgar Ramirez) in the exciting world of Boba Fett (might as well). Their bounties come down from Claremont Williams (Delroy Lindo), who later gets them into a mess of trouble trying to help out one of his mistresses Lateesha (Mo'Nique) with her granddaughter's operation. Meanwhile, producer Mark Heiss (Christopher Walken) signs them up on a reality show, which is really an opportunity for Walken to do what every stand-up comedian salivates to see.

The story has high-octane confusion, and since this is the director of True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, and Beverly Hills Cop II, expect a massive shootout in the end that includes cops, mobsters, and "innocents." By the time it gets to that, though, you'll be worn out by this movie. It just beats you the hell up. Looks like young Keira, though, is getting used to showing her boobs now and then, like this year's The Jacket. So, good for her. She's cute and can afford it for the sake of the story.