Tony Scott’s sun-soaked, frenetic style of action filmmaking had already reached incredible heights by his second feature,Top Gun. Scott sustained a run of classic action movies throughout the ’80s and ’90s, but into the 2000s,he developed an even more stylized and explosive approachthat hit an apex with one of his most underrated films.
DominostarsKeira Knightley,Mickey Rourke,Edgar Ramirez,Delroy Lindo,Christopher Walken, andLucy Liu. The film, written byRichard Kelly(writer-director ofDonnie DarkoandSouthland Tales), was released in 2005, in between Scott’s collaborations withDenzel Washington,Man on FireandDéjà Vu. WhileDominowas met with a much harsher critical reception, the film’s outlandish style and narrative approach have aged well over the last 20 years, leaving it one of Scott’s strangest and most entertaining movies.
‘Domino’ Is Experimental, High-Octane, and Wholly Unique
Dominofollows Knightley in the titular role of Domino Harvey, a real-life model turned bounty hunter who went after a variety of people involved in drug trades and even murders. The film’s exciting premise acts as enough of a hook, but with Kelly’s subversive and strange approach to screenwriting and Scott’s experimental craft shifted into high gear,Dominobecomes a cinematic experience unlike any other.
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“You don’t like my rice?”
The film is colored in a particularly strange way, with yellows and greens and blues flaring throughout every frame, anddarker colors that seem to bleed out of the highly exposed, sun-bleached background. The coloring and lighting choices lendDominoa visual flair that is entirely unique. It can be difficult to adjust early on, but the style is so bold that it is impossible not to admire Scott’s craftsmanship. Structurally,Dominoalso separates itself from your average film with anon-linear narrativebuilt around the framing device of Lucy Liu’s detective character interviewing Domino about the story’s events, which unfold in a complicated and winding fashion.
With additions such as the film’s jerky camerawork and snappy editing, Scott and Kelly deliver an action film that could have been generic in lesser hands. Instead,Dominois a colorful and dynamic thrill ride that borders on the avant-garde due to the sheer ambition of its specific stylistic and narrative approach. It’s not surprising thatDominowas acritical dud in 2005, becausethere’s no precedent for a Hollywood movie of this size that sustains such a wild toneand look for two full hours.
‘Domino’ Was a Big Influence on Edgar Wright for ‘Hot Fuzz’
Scott’s style evolved considerably over the decades, and bled into the DNA of Hollywood action filmmaking as explosive, dynamic directors likeMichael Bayentered the fray. However, the direct influence of Tony Scott’s style is perhaps most evident in the work ofEdgar Wright, more particularly in his 2007 film,Hot Fuzz. In a2007 interview with Collider’s Steven Weintraub, Wright raved about the style ofDomino, admiring Scott’s directorial craft and the frenzied, colorful quality of his later films.In the film’s commentary, Wright also expressed howDomino’s freeze-frame, choppy editing style was integrated, not only into the action sequences, but even in mundane moments such asSimon Pegg’s character completing police paperwork. This added an obvious comedic effect, while also providing a unique visual flair to even the more shoe-leathery parts of the film.
Hot Fuzzalso employs a hand-cranked camera during shootout sequences, which is a trademark of the action scenes inMan on FireandDominothat rendersan uncanny, breakneck quality to the action as the image becomes jerky,and the frame rate is not consistent.Many action comedies(and action movies in general) that we see now have perfunctory and poorly constructed action scenes that feel entirely disconnected from or not driven by the story, but Wright makes use of innovative action filmmaking techniques popularized in Scott’s work that add a layer of legitimacy to the film.
Wright is only one of dozens of artists who have been directly influenced by Scott, and countless more have been inspired by his expansive body of work.Dominomay not be the most appreciated or acclaimed of Scott’s films, but it is a significant one that conveys a filmmaker whoconsistently had his finger on the pulse of something new and exciting. Scott was a tastemaker as much as he was a storyteller, andhis tastes have proved right as the years have gone by.This one might need a few more years to marinate, but those of us who get it know thatDomino’s cult-classic status is long overdue.
