Domino (2019)

written by Petter Skavlan

directed by Brian De Palma

One night, after a futile half hour of searching for something to watch, I found myself running into this Brian De Palma flick from 2019. From the trailer alone, I already suspected it wouldn’t be that great. But little did I know it would turn out to be such a crapfest. Hell, this was De Palma, the man who brought us Carrie (1976), Blow Out (1981), and The Untouchables (1987). Even his worst movies are a love letter to the visceral power of cinema.

Not so Domino, an incompetent mess in which a couple of Danish cops (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten) get embroiled in a conspiracy involving terrorists and the CIA (I think, I stopped caring after the first fifteen minutes). It’s nonsensical, shoddily staged, and unintentionally funny. But what’s really disappointing is that De Palma’s signature moments – the split screens, the Alfred Hitchcock “homages”, the slow-mo montages – all feel tired (I still kinda liked the ridiculous ending with a drone and a suicide bomber at a bullfighting arena, but I’m fully aware of my bias for the director). Skip Domino and watch the great De Palma (2016) documentary instead.

Rating: *½ | Below Average

Carlos I. Cuevas