This week, the wide releases regale us with tales of beautiful bounty hunters ("Domino"), existential romance ("Elizabethtown"), and masses of deadly condensed water vapor ("The Fog"). Which films will connect with the critics?
The life of the late Domino Harvey would seem custom-made for a film. She was the daughter of a legendary actor (Laurence Harvey), she was supermodel-beautiful, and she worked as a bounty hunter. A story like that would make for a good movie, right? Well, according to the critics, that’s half correct: Tony Scott‘s "Domino," starring Keira Knightley, is certainly more a movie than a biography, but it’s also not terribly good. The scribes say it’s simply a slam-bang, senses-assaulting action flick that gives off little indication that its heroine was a real person. At 18 percent on the Tomatometer, this "Domino" is getting knocked over. It’s also the worst-reviewed film of Scott’s career.
When "Elizabethtown" was screened at the Toronto Film Festival, it didn’t get very good reviews. Director Cameron Crowe told audiences and critics that it was still a work in progress, that more cuts would be made. Well, the new version is now in theaters, and it isn’t faring much better, either. Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst star in this you-can-go-home-again romantic comedy about a man returning to his hometown in Kentucky for his father’s funeral. The critics say Crowe never establishes a coherent tone, and despite the cuts, it’s still overlong. At 29 percent on the Tomatometer, "Elizabethtown" may not be worth a visit.
In a development more ominous than dark clouds on the horizon, "The Fog," a remake of the John Carpenter classic starring Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, and Selma Blair, has not been screened for critics.
Recent Cameron Crowe Movies:
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39% — Vanilla Sky (2001)
89% — Almost Famous (2000)
85% — Jerry Maguire (1996)
77% — Singles (1992)
100% — Say Anything (1989)
Recent Tony Scott Movies:
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39% — Man on Fire (2004)
67% — Spy Game (2001)
71% — Enemy of the State (1998)
39% — The Fan (1996)
89% — Crimson Tide (1995)
