Dominique

When I stumbled upon this 2024 action thriller titled "Dominique", I was intrigued. Sure, I had never heard about the movie, but there was just something about the cover that worked for me.

The storyline in the movie was pretty straightforward, sort of in the spirit of the action movies of the 1980s and 1990s, where it is one man, well in this case woman, against a large group of highly-trained professionals. I will say that writers Michael S. Ojeda and Oksana Orlan, with the latter also starring in the movie, actually put together an enjoyable and entertaining enough script. I was adequately entertained throughout the course of the 100 minutes that the movie ran for. Sure, the narrative was sort of predictable, up to the end, where director Michael S. Ojeda takes the movie and gives it a rather unforeseen twist. I liked that.

The acting performances in the movie were fair, but leading actress Oksana Orlan sort of put on a performances with a wooden face, showing little or no emotions. I hope that the character was written to be that way, otherwise it was a lousy acting performance. While I was not familiar with actors Maurice Compte and Sebastián Carvajal, they really spruced up the movie with their performances.

There is a good amount of action to supplement the rather basic and straightforward narrative, so that worked out well enough.

I have to say, though, that "Dominique" is a movie that certainly is watchable once, but it has absolutely zero replay vale to it. If you enjoy action thrillers, give director Michael S. Ojeda's 2024 movie "Dominique" a chance if you have the opportunity.

My rating of "Dominique" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This low-budget action/revenge flick could have been great. A female JOHN WICK even. The plot is simple and the bad guys are pure evil, which would be fine if there was more thought put into the action.

Star Oksana Orlan does what she can with a limited script that doesn't give her much to do besides kill people and look exhausted despite being seemingly invulnerable to any serious harm.

There's some decent violence and gore but the CGI gunshot wound spatters look pathetic and fake and take you right out of the film. I hate when producers cheap out and choose that over far more realistic and practical squibs. It always looks cheap and takes the film down a notch.

Overall, DOMINIQUE isn't boring but it could have been so much better.

This movie had the potential to be a standout revenge thriller, but unfortunately, it falls short in several key areas. The lead actor delivers a solid performance, showing promise in the role, but the film's direction fails to capitalize on that strength. The supporting characters, on the other hand, often overact and can be grating, detracting from the film's overall tone.

The ending is especially disappointing. Revenge movies are defined by their climactic finales, that moment of catharsis and justice, but here, it feels like the filmmakers ran out of time-or budget-before they could deliver a satisfying resolution. The lack of a powerful, emotional payoff is a major letdown for fans of the genre.

That said, there's one bright spot: Oksana Orlan. She shows real potential as an action star, and with a stronger supporting cast and a larger budget, she could truly shine in this genre.

Ultimately, this movie misses the mark, but with a few key improvements, it could have been something special.

A retired assassin crashes in Colombia and gets drawn into a conflict between corrupt cops and an innocent family.

There's little new in this story. However, it's done with such enthusiasm and enough little twists that I liked it. The first twist is Oksana Orlan herself. There just aren't that many women making kick-ass action movies. We get a good one every once in a while, but the classics are all from decades ago. Terminator 2, Aliens... even Mad Max: Fury Road was a decade ago.

Oksana's character, Dominique, is a classic anti-hero who has to be convinced to stick around and defend a family. You can see her humanity slowly returning as she hangs out with a loving family, though their antics annoy her. It was more characterization than was strictly necessary.

Oksana also seems to have more emotional range than some action heroes. When I put this movie on, I pessimistically expected everyone to sleepwalk through the movie and collect a quick buck. Instead, I think you can feel that Oksana really wanted to bring Dominique to life. It's a level of enthusiasm that action fans don't often get these days when taking chances on an independent action movie.

Her love interest and his family were likeable. I thought just the right amount of time was spent giving Dominique a reason to stick around and fight without making you wonder "when does the action start?". The pacing is good, and it the movie never gets bogged down with too much drama.

Eventually, the movie gets serious about its action. Dominique is basically a terminator, but she uses interesting strategies to give herself an edge. I was disappointed that she didn't keep it up throughout the movie, but the fights are more interesting than just watching her blow away bad guys with an automatic rifle. If there's a sequel, I hope they lean on this more.

The fight choreography wasn't bad, and I thought the stunts were also fine. Oksana pulled off being a badass pretty well. The biggest problem was that the bad guys died so easily that they felt kind of like stormtroopers after a while. If you're expecting something mind-blowing, you'll be disappointed.

The SFX were cheesy sometimes, but you can live with them if you're a fan of independent action movies. They generally kept things simple and didn't try to do crazy stuff outside of their budget. A rocket launcher shows up, which could have been disastrous, but they stick to mostly showing the aftermath.

If you enjoy Scott Adkins movies, you may want to check this out. It's got a similar independent vibe, though his movies have better choreography and stunts. I went in with very low expectations and had fun.

Action/violence on the level of a movie from the franchise of "taken" or "john wick." I expected it would be one hand on the popcorn, the other on the fast forward button. But no. The crooked cops, the burned out soldier of fortune, finding a cause worth risking her life. There are twists, you won't see coming.

Fun. Worth giving it a shot. 6.5. It drops a little because its obviously not a big budget, slick Hollywood production. That was a negative, but after 15 minutes, that ceasaes to be an issue. When it ended, I actually wondered if this could find its way to Dominique II? Probably not....but think of all the crappy movies that have seen a 2nd iteration.