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5. Domino says the world is divided into three groups: the rich, the poor, and everyone in between. Do you agree? What do you make of the film's closing images? Does this film portray wealth or poverty in a meaningful fashion?
   
   

The Family Corner

Domino is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content/nudity and drug use. Most of the profanity is of the four-letter-word variety. The violence includes a man's arm being shot off at point-blank range, several people being executed by the mafia, and a few gun battles and explosions. The sexual content includes a lap dance, a scene in a strip club, a sex scene in the desert, and a scene of someone watching a porn film in a motel.

Photos © Copyright New Line Cinema

© Peter T. Chattaway 2005, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times says that Tony Scott's Domino "has to its great credit absolutely no social value outside of a feverish will to entertain, though that might prove tricky, since its assaultive wild style seems designed to repulse as well as attract."

Christian film critics would say they're repulsed by the film, rather than attracted to it.

Domino is an action movie loosely based—very loosely—on a true story about a bounty hunter named Domino Harvey who came from London and went to work in South Central Los Angeles. It's basically a genre film, scripted by Richard Kelly, who wrote Donnie Darko, a film that's become a cult favorite even amongst Christian film buffs. Following Harvey's descent into a violent and degrading world, where she embraces violent and sexually degrading tactics to complete her missions, it's likely that it will be heralded as a story of "female empowerment." But it's closer to the mark to say that the film entertains audiences with the shameful antics of an unprincipled woman.

It's also worth noting that while the film celebrates Harvey as a hero, the real Domino Harvey (who makes a brief appearance, tongue firmly in her cheek) was charged with drug trafficking after struggling with addiction for more than a decade. After this film was packaged and ready for theaters, she was found dead in a bathtub, with toxic levels of painkillers in her body. A sad end to a pathetic story … one that isn't included in this film.

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) says, "Show, don't tell. It's one of the guiding rules of creating art. Apparently, director Tony Scott believes in doing both—in excess. … The result is a dark, grubby environment full of depraved characters and a ridiculous plot only made more senseless through its unwarranted violence, sex and profanity."

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) says, "Tony Scott's nonstop camera moves, quick cutting and pretentious lighting effects make for a disjointed, confusing, ugly and hardly funny mess."

Most mainstream critics are knocking Domino down.

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