Dominique review

Dominique was on the verge of being an enthusiastic recommendation as a smaller budget action film that channeled early Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger outings. Star/co-writer Oksana Orlan might not be the smoothest at delivering convincing dialogue but has a screen presence that should make her at minimum a star on the B-action movie front.

All that goodwill slowly gets squandered as director/co-writer Michael S. Ojeda continues taking this action flick down a needlessly cruel route that makes Dominique one of the most frustrating films I’ve watched all year.

There have been worse films by far, but Dominique was doing more with less and thriving. But the final act is so infuriating that it nearly ruined the entire viewing experience.

Orlan plays Dominique, a highly trained and brutally efficient assassin. Her small airplane was shot out of the air leaving her scrambling for safety and hiding its precious cargo. At a local bar she encounters a friendly police officer Juan (Sebastián Carvajal), who offers her some friendly advice as she is in a Columbian town run by the cartel and full of corruption.

Initially, Dominique doesn’t say much. She’s all attitude and cold, icy glares with a knack for snatching other people’s cigarettes. She eventually warms to Juan especially after he introduces her to his family. His very pregnant sister, Paulina (Maria del Rosario) and her three children — teenager Abril (Alanna De La Rossa) and her two younger siblings — and Juan and Paulina’s father.

The family has already been traumatized as Paulina’s husband was killed by the cartel. Juan has high stakes as well as an inside job at the police department led by the very corrupt Capt. Santiago (Maurice Compte, Narcos) resulted in the death of his wife and child. And he wants to see Santiago and the rest of the crew brought to justice.

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Dom wasn’t exactly in the best physical condition when her plane crashed, and an infection made it worse. While she’d rather leave right away, Juan’s welcoming family compels her to stay. Just for a little while.  At 5’11” Orlan looks the part of a larger-than-life action hero. That’s harder to appreciate as del Rosario is hardly tiny at 5’9″ as well.

In an interesting twist that was different from the norm of this genre, it’s not Dominique’s actions that lead to things going bad for the family, but Juan. He’d been gathering incriminating evidence against Santiago and the force, and they’ve found out about it. Now Juan’s family is in serious jeopardy. Good thing they’ve got an assassin temporarily staying with them.

Orlan pulls off the cool bada$$ hero without unconvincingly being written like one. It comes natural in her performance. Some of her line delivery is a little stilted and wooden — sound familiar? — but she grabs the film by its throat effectively conveying to viewers that she’s in total control. Compte makes for an effective sleazy style villain and a decent foil for Dominique while del Rosario and De La Rossa deliver charming supporting performances.

Ojeda has a good grasp on shooting competent action sequences. Some of the bullet effects and CGI blood sprays look a tad too cheap, but that’s more a matter of polishing it up as opposed to fixing something that’s unsalvageable.

The big battle with Dom defending the family is well staged with some terrific tense moments of uncertainty. Ojeda and Orlan established early on that no character was safe, but they begin to go too far in this scene. Sure, there’s something to be said about more credible and realistic shootouts, but it’s taken to a disconcerting extreme here.

Despite its very questionable narrative payoff, Orlan comes off like a potential major B-movie action star and Ojeda proves skillful at better than expected low-budget shootouts.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Dominique is now available in theaters, on digital and on demand including Amazon Prime.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Photo Credit: Lionsgate