Domino ★★

TEN minutes into watching the 2019 mystery/thriller Domino my note reads “lots of nods to de Palma”.

Turns out this badly-flawed film was in fact directed by Brian de Palma, providing more evidence that his best work remains well and truly behind him.

It’s a shame because the American’s impressive list of credits includes Scarface, the original Mission Impossible, Casualties of War, The Untouchables and Dressed to Kill.

Domino is actually two films in one, neither of which is that good by itself, let alone when meshed together.

There’s an old-fashioned Hitchcockian mystery, which de Palma has previously done well, and an edgy, modern terrorist thriller, which de Palma hasn’t previously attempted.

As a consequence, extended, non-dialogue and slow-motion action sequences jar with hand-held, quickly-edited sequences that immediately follow, constantly bringing the audience out of the film.

The film starts in Copenhagen and, for some unexplained reason, it’s June 2020. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays one of the most incompetent police officers I’ve seen on film, at one point accidentally leaving his gun behind.

This act directly contributes to his partner being badly injured and a terrorism suspect escaping custody. He teams up with another cop, played by Carice van Houten, to find the escapee who is also being targeted by the CIA.

It all gets pretty confusing and isn’t helped by the constant location and narrative focus changes as well as clunky dialogue, mostly delivered by an unconvincing Guy Pearce trying to be a menacing CIA agent. Van Houten has the only real stand-out scene creating genuine emotion.

The extended slow-motion climax may have worked for de Palma in the past but here it just serves to reinforce the unbelievable elements of the plot and drain tension.

While there is some tension in the film’s hand-held terrorism sequences, they seem unnecessarily controversial, coming so closely to the Christchurch Massacre, particularly when the main scene is repeated as the film’s postscript for no decent, discernible reason.

Finally, filming occurred in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Holland and Italy but may as well have been on sound stages for the atmosphere created.

At least this would have also provided some cost savings for the ‘Belgian tax shelter investors’ who are thanked during the end credits.