Domino

I'm always a sucker for a Brian De Palma movie but sadly, as with many directors of yesteryear, his best work is long in the distant past. The best we can hope for these days is something mildly enjoyable, but DOMINO isn't even that. It's a low budget Danish terrorist thriller, as a random cop gets involved with a plot involving a man driven to revenge by family tragedy, ISIS terrorists, and the CIA. It's a muddled and disjointed affair, failing when delivering cheesy slow motion and a jaw droppingly awful terror attack that's so wrong-headed that it's unbelievable they included it. The cast, including Nikolaj Costar-Waldau, Carice Van Houton, Guy Pearce and Soren Malling, are all fine but have little to work it. De Palma is at his best when delivering Hitchcock homages (the opening VERTIGO reference is fun) and the soundtrack is nicely done, but overall this is yet another missed opportunity.

So you're told to watch a movie about a terrorist plot, starring Guy Pearce, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Carice van Houten and Søren Malling. And you think "Hey, I know these guys, they are good actors!". You are told that Brian De Palma is directing, and you think "Brian 'Scarface' De Palma? Let's watch this!" 90 minutes later you are still trying to wrap your head around the impossibly bad movie that you have been subjected to. How on Earth did this happen? Yeah, the Trivia section mentions production issues and all that, but then again, what the hell was this? Let's just forget this movie exists and move on.

What was De Palma thinking? This is one of the most lackluster movies of the last 10 years. Key elements of good storytelling are completely missing, from interesting characters right through to an amazing soundtrack. Whoever wrote this was incredibly lazy in that the final set piece to this film was undone by a swift kick to the nuts, not forgetting the haphazard way the 'bad guy' of the movie was eventually caught by coincidence. All actors are incredibly stiff and monotone in their delivery and for an espionage film this story has next to no intrigue whatsoever. It feels like a really bad telemovie or a bargain bin DVD produced for someone to reduce their tax. Horrible... simply horrible.

This movie features an excellent cast, with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Guy Pearce, and Carice van Houten. The negative reviews and ratings make no sense. If you like old-style crime movies, you'll definitely enjoy this one. It's an entertaining thriller with a superb final fifteen minutes.

All I can say is that most who viewed this film are probably millenials who can't appreciate a great setup. This is a good complex movie, lots of character interaction that extends through the usual good guy bad guy scenarios.

Christian (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Lars (Søren Malling) are Cops in Copenhagen. After a one night stand, Christian forgets his piece leading to the stabbing on his partner. Christian and Alex (Carice van Houten) investigate as the man got away. The man is Ezra Tarzi (Eriq Ebouaney). He is after ISIS members who killed his father. The CIA wants to use him against ISIS while our cops want him brought to justice. The movie goes down an adultery path for no good reason. Some killing. Not the best crime drama. Guide: F-word. Implied sex. nudity (Ella-June Henrard?)