Domino: A film reconsidered

When I first saw Tony Scott's 2005 film "Domino" I thought it was dreck. A complete trainwreck in every sense of the word. His usual kinetic (bordering on seizure enducing) visual style was amped up to the point where I never had a clue what was going on in any scene. I thought the story (at least I'm told there was one) was every bit as boring as it was impossible to follow and even the performances by actors I like a lot left me scratching my head.

This goes to show that every movie, no matter how much you think it stinks, is someone's favorite. My lovely wife LOVES this movie. It's in her all-time top 3 behind Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park so it's not as if she has poor taste (she married me after all.) She loved it so much that I figured I MUST have missed something or was being unfair in some way because how could I completely hate a film she loved so much.

It's incredibly interesting to me that 2 people can have such a polar opposite viewpoint about the same movie. How could I hate everything about a movie she loves everything about? Did we watch the same movie? I think so, we were in the same theatre after all. Perhaps it has to do with what different people look for in films, or maybe I'm too hard on the things I watch? Maybe I'm a pretentious snob? Maybe she's not as bright as I thought she was? Or maybe it's as simple as there being "no accounting for taste"

I decided to give it another shot; actually another couple shots. I have now seen the film 3 times, and you know what? After giving the film another chance and sitting through it with a completely open mind I can honestly say that every single complaint I had the first time I saw it... is completely true. This movie sucks.