Domino (2005) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Action | Main Menu Audio & Animation | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
Running Time | 122:43 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (61:05) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Tony Scott |
Studio
Distributor |
Paramount Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Keira Knightley Mickey Rourke Edgar Ramirez Riz Abbasi Delroy Lindo Mo'Nique Ian Ziering Brian Austin Green Joe Nunez Macy Gray Shondrella Avery Dabney Coleman Peter Jacobson |
Case | Alpha-Transparent | ||
RPI | ? | Music |
Harry Gregson-Williams Jan Pomerans Tom Waits |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
|
||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
After Tony Scott’s latest foray into action cinema, the visually impressive and emotionally satisfying Man On Fire, I was keen to see what he would do with a script penned by one of my favourite writers of the last few years – Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame (infamy?).
Their collaboration, Domino, is a fusion of action comedy with MTV video cinematography, telling the story of Domino Harvey, a real-life bounty hunter – though this show is far more a fictional hommage to the woman than a factual recounting of her life. Beginning with a shoot out in a farmhouse involving a severed arm with a tattoo, we are soon taken back in time to see how Ms Harvey turned from being a high profile fashion model to a ruthless bounty hunter. Along the way we have Christopher Walken as a reality TV producer, Ian Ziering and Brian Austen Green of Beverly Hills: 90210 fame (again, infamy?) as “celebrity hostages”, Lucy Liu as a hardnosed FBI agent with a penchant for over-sharpening her pencils, and a host of other celebrity co-stars in amusing if often short roles.
Domino herself is played quite adeptly by Keira Knightley, who handles the role with sufficient sass and style, plus an almost constant sneer that still manages to look hot on her face. Knightley is, however, almost outshined by Mickey Rourke. As Domino’s bounty hunting mentor Ed Mosbey, he puts in a highly memorable gruff-voiced performance of a man who’s made many mistakes and just keeps on making them. However, for my money, Ian Ziering and Brian Austen Green are real standouts, poking fun at themselves the whole way through. Any fan of early 90s TV will scream with laughter.
Is this a great film? Not quite. By all accounts, it is considerably better than Kelly’s last film, Southland Tales, which completely tanked at Cannes in 2006 (scoring the lowest of any film ranked at that festival, a total of 1.1 out of 5). But it does not hang together as a complete and coherent film with an emotionally satisfying conclusion – the reason for the sacrifices of our main characters comes too little, too late, and rings a little hollow. In that sense, Man On Fire really outshone this effort. That said, this is an extremely fun film, with many laugh out loud moments, and a lot of crazy antics and wonderful visuals. I also highly recommend watching this film twice, as you will pick up on a lot more of the subtleties the second time through.
A-grade entertainment, this falls short of. Beer and pizza movie? A definite yes.
Video is presented in 2.40:1, 16x9 enhanced, slightly off from its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. I watched it in regular standard definition over component and upscaled to 1080i at 50Hz over HDMI.
This is one of the best transfers I’ve seen for a while – incredibly sharp, fantastic colour, excellent shadow detail. Certainly, this is better over HDMI than over component video, and I would recommend that you view this over HDMI if you have that capability. I no longer have a CRT to view this in standard def that way, so I cannot give any comment about what this will look like on older TVs
There is some graininess to the print in certain scenes where it lends an intentional filmic effect. Indeed, there are a lot of filmic effects put in by Tony Scott who likes visual flair.
The print is devoid of film-to-video and MEPG artefacts, and I noticed no dirt on the print even up on a 100” screen.
There are no subtitles.
The dual layer pause is at 61:05. It occurs during a scene change and is barely noticeable.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
Audio is available as an amazing Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (448Kb/s) track in English only.
As with the video, this is one of the best audio tracks I’ve heard.
Dialogue is clear and easy to understand, at the times when it’s meant for dialogue to be easy to understand.
Surround information is plentiful and amazing. The music comes through loud and clear.
There is plentiful and excellent subwoofer use – enough to give my subwoofer a real workout.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, static and silent.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The R1 release also includes:
Given the quality of the R4 release, I think that we may have an unflagged 5.1 EX track on our release here. That aside, the R1 release is still superior in every way.
Domino is a very entertaining if flawed movie. By trying to do too much, it overreaches in some respects, but those who know of the relationship between Ms Harvey and director Tony Scott will see this as the fitting tribute it was intended to be.
This DVD transfer is exceptional, but we miss out on the extras from R1, including dts audio.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony DVPNS92, using HDMI output |
Display | Sony VPL-HS60 WXGA 3LCD Cineza Projector (10,000:1 contrast ratio) with 100" Longhom Pro-Series Micro-Textured White Matte PVC 1.78:1 16:9 Fixed Mount Screen with Black Velour Trim. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Sony TA-DA9000ES |
Speakers | Jensen QX70 Centre Front, Jensen QX45 Left Front & Right Front, Jensen QX20 Left Rear & Right Rear, Jensen QX-90 Dual 10" 250 Watt Subwoofer |