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Year:   1996
Studio: Republic Pictures/Spelling Films/
        Dino De Laurentiis Company
Movie:  4/5
DVD:    3/5

Bound is a caper movie that starts out with an intensely erotic lesbian love scene between the two protagonists, Violet (Jennifer Tilly) and Corky (Gina Gershon). Corky is an ex-con hired by a guy to redo his top floor apartment. Next door lives Violet and Caesar (Joe Pantoliano). But ever since Corky meets Violet there's this compelling attraction. They flirt, they start making out before Caesar walks in and almost catches them, and finally they have sex. And then the main plot starts.

See, Caesar works for the mob and he's been given the task of cleaning up $2 in cash that has blood all over it. Well Violet has finally decided to leave Caesar and the whole mob thing and she wants Corky to help her steal the money and run. Corky, having done this before and now that they've done the sex thing to at least have some reason to trust each other -- though it's still very much in doubt if there will be a betrayal -- plans the caper.

The last half of the movie is doing the caper, which involves manipulating Caesar into believing his rival Johnnie (Christoper Meloni) has set him up. Unfortunately things get out of hand, people die, and the plan starts getting more and more complicated as the two lovebirds try to get away with the money and their lives.
I thought the whole caper was well done. The camera work is quite awesome. The love scene was amazingly hot and it even fits the story, though it didn't have to be quite that graphic. I keep underestimating how good Jennifer Tilly can be because half of her acting roles are just ditzy parts.

The only extra feature is the commentary track, which has the writer/director Wachowski brothers, Andy and Larry. Susie Bright, who played a bit part in the movie but apparently was important behind the scenes, is also there throughout. Joe Pantoliano is there for a while. Jennifer Tilly comes in an hour into the movie and Gina Gershon 15 minutes after Tilly. It's a fairly entertaining commentary track though it's rather scattershot.

What I Liked: Great cinematography and the make out scene, which arguably is even more erotic than the actual love scene.

What I Didn't Like: The bar scene didn't seem to add anything to the story. It seemed to be more of a favor to Susie Bright.

Copyright (c) 2004 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: November 17, 2004
Page Last Updated: November 17, 2004