Critics reviews

One of the most blatantly calculated, artistically bankrupt Hollywood calling-cards in ages, this by-the-numbers neo-noir has one gimmick - dyke desire - and no ideas.

Gershon, Pantoliano and Tilly all deliver great performances, but it’s the writer-director siblings who still shine brightest. The dense, tight plotting is among the best of their career, while the film’s visual aesthetic is stunning: a clinical, dynamic look that is both economical and extravagant.

A lesbian relationship that once seemed like the hook for a showy modern noir now seems like the inverse—a showy noir that traffics in a substantive, empowering (and okay, a little steamy) look at two women trying to negotiate a man’s world. It ticks off all the neo-noir boxes . . . while quietly subverting expectations of who Tilly and Gershon are and where the story will lead them.

Twenty seconds into Andy and Lana Wachowski's guns-blazing 1996 debut feature and it's a sure thing you're in the Matrix. The chintzy wallpaper of Bound, the vintage architecture, the ebony wardrobe—all design elements are phony-baloney in the most exquisitely, fetish-y way imaginable. It's a labor of fastidious devotion to graphic-novel noir.

Bound is modern noir, with the obligatory iconography and a plot you need a flashlight to find your way out of. But it's hard to put your faith in film-makers whose Year Zero is Blood Simple. Everything here exists only in the eye of the camera. The directors... keep interrupting the narrative to demonstrate the clever tricks they've learnt.

The true pleasures of Bound lie in the Wachowskis’ inventive updated take on film noir traditions, sensuously realized by cinematographer Bill Pope (Clueless).

"Bound" is one of those movies that works you up, wrings you out and leaves you gasping. It's pure cinema, spread over several genres. It's a caper movie, a gangster movie, a sex movie and a slapstick comedy.

It's not the narrative as much as how the film looks that keeps Bound's spectators rapt. The Wachowskis and cinematographer Bill Pope have created an eminently watchable film, whose hook has more to do with the way it looks than with what actually happens. While, for the most part, Bound is a seductive visual treat, there are times when you wish the filmmakers would just cut to the chase.

The film is shot by Bill Pope with such enterprising flair that it never looks claustrophobic, but the action inevitably stalls in such close quarters. It doesn't help that the Wachowskis, with the help of a garden clipper wielded by vengeful gangsters, find time for the kind of grisly violence that will limit their audience. The film's sleek looks and wily genre wit would otherwise have broader appeal.

Above all, it’s a good thing that the Wachowskis are as darkly hilarious as they are because they go in for the Quentin Tarantino-style, in-your-face brutality. “Bound” is not for the faint of heart. In short, “Bound” is admittedly derivative, but it’s such an amusing low-down entertainment it really doesn’t matter.

Gershon and Tilly are initially intriguing but can’t sustain interest in their superficially conceived roles. They share one passionate scene, which is covered in a single take. Most of the other perfs are over-the-top to varying degrees. Behind-the-scenes personnel capably delivered what was asked, which was far too much for the material.