Playing like a cockeyed mixture of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME and DELIVERANCE, this macho action outing concerns a bereaved father who avenges the death of his son in the bloodiest mourning ritual yet seen in a straight-to-video feature.
Veteran cop Cliff Harris (Brad Johnson) goes away on a hunting trip with fellow sportsmen Fitz (Tim Thomerson), Culley (Woody Brown), Lance (Glenn Morshower), Perelli (Steve Gianelli), and Cliff's rookie partner Joel Kelly (Geoffrey Blake). Waiting for them in the great outdoors is their
wilderness retreat's co-owner Lynwood (Brion James), who deals with the accidental hunting death of his only son by using human beings for bloodsport.
Unprepared for the crossfire that follows their campfire bull session the following morning, the vacationing sextet argues over their course of action after Perelli is fatally wounded and Kelly is kidnapped and caged by Lynwood. After they choose to separate, Fitz and Lance stay behind to wait for
missing Kelly while Harris and Culley set out to fetch the law. What the hunters don't know, however, is that Lynwood has been systematically slaying men in other sectors of the retreat.
Culley suffers leg-breaking injuries in a trap set by Lynwood. When Harris is forced to survive alone, he gets mistaken for Lynwood by distraught survivors from other hunting parties. Meanwhile, Lynwood catches up with Fitz and Glenn, whom he later finds hanging upside down. After Lynwood picks
off two helicopter pilots, Kelly breaks free and accidentally burns down the maniac's lair only to take a gunshot in the back whle fleeing down the rapids. Although Harris defeats the resilient Lynwood in a fight, the vigilante riflemen searching for Lynwood dog Harris's every step until
Lynwood's partner arrives to set them straight.
Back in civilization, Cliff, Kelly, and Culley remain traumatized by their brush with death. Harris finds his i.d. tags, which had been stolen by Lynwood, dangling from a fence on his property it seems Lynwood is still at large.
Full of expansive vistas that are breathtakingly picturesque, DOMINION offers little in the way of original thrills. The film has several questions that go unanswered. For example: if Lynwood has been eliminating scads of vacationing hunters, why haven t any relatives reported their loved ones
missing? And what exactly does Lynwood plan to do with the young man he puts in a cage? And, by any chance, does Lynwood have any plans to open other homicidal wildlife resorts across the country? As no answers are supplied, viewers must content themselves with several well-staged chase
sequences.
The stars performances are all undistinguished, but what actor could realistically deliver a line like: "... to be alone like a tear, an unforgiven tear as it's dried by some cheap paper tissue..."? The testosterone-pumped DOMINION may leave non-macho types snickering knowingly into their copies
of Robert Bly. Recommended for the weekend warrior-set, DOMINION allows manly men to live vicariously, and will supply guaranteed boredom for all others.(Graphic violence, extreme profanity, adult situations.) leave a comment