Bound

I remember seeing the previews for this back in the day. I was never interested in seeing it because the trailers and all the reviews made it sound like little more than a lesbian-themed Skinemax movie with more well-known actors. It wasn't the lesbian part that bothered me -- it was the erotic thriller aspect. Even at the age of 19, movies that were little more than exercises in exploring how much nudity and sex they could get away with, supported by just enough rickety plot to qualify as a movie, didn't have much interest for me. But over the years, I kept hearing how this was bold, innovative, intelligent, and exciting, and not just an excuse to see Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon naked every ten minutes. So I decided to give it a shot. All those reviews got one thing right: this is not some paper-thin movie that only exists for the nude scenes of its attractive female leads ... in the sense that there is only one scene like that to begin with. Everything else? We have another installment in that long-running series called "Did I see the same movie everybody else did?". Because I did not find Bound to be bold or innovative or intelligent or exciting. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Kill Bill Vol. 1. A lot of the talk for that movie was, "it's an homage to old kung-fu movies". I feel the same way about this being an "homage" to noir movies as I do Kill Bill being an homage to kung-fu movies -- copying their template and just adding violence is not an homage. It's the work of a lazy, ignorant hack who thinks imitation is all that's necessary. An homage pays respect, embracing something while putting a new spin on it. X is an amazing homage to 70's exploitation horror, but brings its own unique aspects to the genre with far more intelligent characters, a bold take on sexuality both in life and in cinema, and much more. Bound is a noir thriller, no doubt about that. But apart from the two leads being women, all it brings to the table is escalated violence. One person (Tilly) is stuck in a relationship with a bad person, new person (Gershon) comes into their life, sparks fly, let's run away together and screw 'em over on the way out. There's a plan, something doesn't go according to plan, improvise, get saved by far too many strokes of divine luck, roll credits. This is not a new idea by any stretch, and all the stylistic direction in the world from the Wachowskis can't hide the fact that Bound paints by numbers, and their set only goes up to five. This is as rote as it gets for this formula. I acknowledge that Gershon and Tilly have great chemistry, and it's nice to see both a butch lesbian that isn't the butt of a joke, and a movie where a same-sex relationship that isn't the central plot point. Gershon and Tilly are allowed to be attracted to one another, and it's treated no differently than if Gershon was swapped out for Leonardo DiCaprio. That's refreshing, and for the 90's, bold as hell. And Joe Pantoliano plays a great slimeball (no surprise there, he always does). I was never outright bored by Bound, but I was also always waiting for the supposed brilliance I'd heard about to shine through, and it never does. Yes, it keeps up a brisk pace, and yes, the director has some flair to it. It is not a meritless movie. That's why I'm not all the way in the negative on this. But I can't be any more positive because those elements don't contribute any more positive impact than simply being there. Bound isn't terrible. It's perfectly serviceable, but it's hampered by its strict adherence to the noir thriller formula. Doing a gender swap on one of the leads and having geysers of blood doesn't take the formula in new places. Bound is like someone wearing the same outfit as someone else at a party, but because they also wear a hat, it's totally different. It's not.