DOMINO
(2019)
Starring
Mikolaj Coster-Waldau, Carice van Houten, Guy Pearce, Eriq Ebouaney,
Nicolas Bro, Paprika Steen, Thomas W. Gabrielsson. Directed by Brian
De Palma. (89 min).
ON
BLU-RAY FROM LIONSGATE
Review
by Tiger the Terrible😽
Once
upon a time, Brian De Palma was an indelible brand name. Arguably the
most polarizing director of the so-called “New Hollywood”
(which included the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and
Friedkin), his work was identified by glorious excess. Not just
sex and violence – though there was often plenty of both – but a
Hitchcock-influenced visual flair.
That
Brian De Palma is long gone. In his place is a hired gun
whose name still has some market value, but his heart doesn’t
seem to be in it anymore.
That’s
not to say Domino isn’t a decent film. It’s a watchable
little thriller with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Christian Toft, a
Danish cop trying to avenge his partner, murdered by
suspected terrorist Ezra Tarzi (Eriq Ebouaney). However, Tarzi
himself is forced by CIA agent Joe Martin (Guy Pearce) to hunt for a
vicious ISIS leader, Wold, which is convenient since Tarzi wants the
man dead, too. Meanwhile, Wold engineers a horrific attack at a film
festival and plans another one during a bullfight in Spain. It
becomes sort-of a race against time as Tarzi hunts for Wold while
Toft hunts for Tarzi with the help of Alex (Carica van Houten), who
was having an affair with Toft’s partner.
 |
| Not a member of the Dollar Shave Club. |
Domino
is fairly well-paced with a story just interesting enough to keep our
attention, punctuated by bursts of violent action (the mass shooting
at the film festival is actually pretty disturbing). The performances
are also uniformly decent, Pearce being a particular stand-out. But
other than a knock-out rooftop chase that epitomizes classic De
Palma, the film simply lacks the flamboyance and panache of his glory days. In short, it could have been directed by anybody.
So
while Domino is definitely better than some of Brian De Palma’s recent films, it’s
kind-of a shame it isn’t more memorable. Enjoyable enough in the
moment, there’s nothing about it that sticks with the viewer for
too long afterwards.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
DIGITAL
COPY
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD. LIKE CAT CHOW.
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