Domino [Blu-ray]

If you are familiar with Brian De Palma's back catalogue, then his new low budget thriller Domino is a very rewarding watch. If you are not familiar with this director then you may wonder what the fuss is about and think of the film as anachronistic or even a cheesy B-movie.Like a lot of De Palma's films over the years, Domino has had some pretty polarising reviews, but as a De Palma fan I really liked it. He is a master of the suspense thriller. Here's my thoughts on the movie:I won't tell you too much about the plot but if you are expecting just a standard run-of the-mill revenge thriller that it is pitched at on the surface, then you may be surprised.Domino is full of the auteurs own career obsesssions: Voyeurism, Hitchcockian-suspense from helplessness and impotence, provocative & un-apologetically confrontational in its subject-matter and darkly humourous. Clearly lower budget than the likes of some of his blockbuster films yet full of stylistic directorial flourishes: a story told in part by visual grammar, split-diopters, slow ominous zooms, split-screens, set-pieces & hypnotic slow-motion, commentary on film-making and film-within-films & use of technology, Brechtian performances, a mistrust of authority figures (in this case the CIA), and a disconcerting score by De Palma regular Pino Donaggio.Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Christian as a flawed, somewhat helpless & clueless hero, (again a typical De Palma trait), and the characters surrounding him are the domino pieces the title refers to, toppling when Christian forgets his gun after a tyrst with an un-named woman, which sets other events in motion. This in itself is a brilliant scene, with a subtle piece of misdirection, the gun hiding in plain sight. There's three other astonishing set-pieces, the rooftop chase (homaging Vertigo and To Catch A Thief), an audacious split-screen scene at a film festival (shown twice, but note how the second viewing has been edited/finessed by the terrorist 'director') and the neon drenched bull-fight arena slow motion finale.Domino isn't on the level of a Carlito's Way, Carrie, Blow-Out, Dressed to Kill or even his more recent criminally underappreciated dreamy thrillers Femme Fatale and Passion, as some of the characters lack depth and are not fully fleshed out in the brief running time, and the film clearly had budgetary issues that De Palma has gone on record about. However, this is still a very interesting & stylish watch for anyone into the pure cinema of De Palma.Look out also for little clues De Palma gives you of events to come: the position of the figure in the picture on the wall at the opening scene in the café, and the red, blade like sails of the windmill.P.S. - look out for blood red tomatoes as a bizarre running motif throughout this movie!

Wasn't the best film I've ever seen and in some ways been done before in films and TV series but still worth a watch. When I saw the cast I thought it was going to be some sort of Scandi noir but it was done in English for those who are scared of subtitles. Pretty basic storyline including rogue detectives and some isis terrorists but with a very strange music score right out of Hitchcock thriller. Not a bad performance out of the actors and the filming was pretty good as it moved around Europe. Probably something to watch to get away from those constant live TV programs and constant repeats...

I enjoyed this movie. Seeing a GOT actor in a different role can be very hit or miss. Nikolaj did a good job playing a believable role. Finding out things he never suspected about his best friend and trying to solve a murder all the while chasing someone across Europe. Well worth watching

Comes across as a low budget Hitchcock tribute movie.. The baddies are two dimensional and the detective skills really are bordering on the child like.. Shane because it starts out with great promise, once the highly dramatic roof scene is over, it`s all down hill after that.. The drone finale is comical...

A cop from Copenhagen hunts down the terrorist that killed his partner. Oh dear. What happened to the once great director Brian DePalma? The man responsible for classics like Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way and the first Mission Impossible movie and Carrie seems to have given up and this is a shockingly mediocre thriller. Good performances from Game Of Thrones stars Nikolaj Costar-Waldou and Clarice Van Houten and Guy Pearce as a CIA agent do lift the film with DePalma trying to make a modern Hitchcock type thriller and failing miserably. It looks cheap and made for TV and is unsurprisingly cheap on DVD and Amazon Video too.

The movie was instantly forgettable apart from the musical score, which was comical at best and sounded like the Nutcracker was playing in the background during some of the action scenes

Very predictable

I purchased this DVD as the film is directed by Brian de Palma, someone who's films I normally admire. This film, although watchable, seems a little like a made for TV movie, produced on a limited budget, with a fairly basic plot and quite short. Guy Pearce as usual is the stand-out actor, but I certainly wouldn't rate this piece of work as of de Palma's normal standard of film-making. Shockingly no subtitles for the hard of hearing option