Before popular films such as “Cloud Atlas,” “V for Vendetta,” and “The Matrix” series, directors/writers/producers the Wachowskis made their film debut with the 1996 erotic crime caper “Bound.”
“Bound” begins as Corky (Gina Gershon) an ex-con who has just finished serving five years in prison for “redistribution of wealth” is starting a new job as a handyman in a high-rise apartment building in Chicago. The woman who lives next to the unit Corky is repairing drops by and gives the impression that she is attracted to Corky. Later, the woman, whose name is Violet (Jennifer Tilly) concocts a ruse to get Corky alone in the apartment where she begins a seductive ploy to engage in a sexual tryst.
Before they finish, Violet’s boyfriend Caesar (the great Joe Pantoliano) arrives home. Caesar is employed by the mafia and specializes in money laundering. When several mafia thugs murder a man that had been skimming money, Caesar returns to the apartment with the stash – 2.7 million in cash – to get the funds in order and find out how the thief was able to obtain it. Wanting to escape Caesar’s control, Violet (who has since had several more dalliances with Corky) schemes with her new lover to abscond with the cash and set Caesar up to take the fall.
The first handful of minutes in “Bound” play out like a bad porn film and immediately drop the movie into a ‘D’ or ‘F’ status. Thelighting is too dark and the acting is suspect, specifically from Jennifer Tilly whose whispering voice and unbelievable facial contortions will make you think she’s actually a porn star and not a legitimate Hollywood starlet (though, since her 30-year resume in film also includes “Liar Liar,” “Relax…It’s Just Sex,” and “Bride of Chucky” to name a few, I use the word legitimate with a grain, make that a pound of salt).
Pantoliano is an actual Italian-American and as such can pull off the mafia character with ease and a normalcy lost on some more popular actors who think being an Italian mobster means you have to flaunt greasy hair, designer suits, and an abhorrent accent.
Sadly, “Bound” ends with a cliché and predictable final few scenes that drop any momentum gained from the middle back down to sub-par status. All in all, it’s not the worst, it’s not the best. It’s just an average movie.
– by Matt Christopher
1 Comment
Those early scenes with Gershon and Tilly were very sexy, and they both pulled it off without having to remove any clothes. In no way does that play out like a bad porn film. It was just great dialogue that made those scenes work