Tony Scott, rather unfairly to Lounge's mind, is always seen as the crass one of the Scott siblings, forever in the critical shadow of big beardy bro Ridley. While the elder makes 'films', Tony, with his big cigars and pink shorts, makes 'movies' - slick, stylish, but mindless entertainment. He is arguably the more commercially successful of the two, with Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II and Crimson Tide to his name - all muscular movies made in collaboration with über-producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Joel Silver. And yet, he's also the most creatively adventurous, nailing amazing casts and working with screenwriters like Shane Black, Quentin Tarantino and, here, twisted Donnie Darko genius, Richard Kelly.

Domino claims to be "based on a true story", although that's swiftly followed with a sly disclaimer ("sort of"). In fact, this piece of operatic pulpy fiction is about as far from your standard, by-numbers biopic as it's possible to get, with Scott tossing off a frenzied, psychedelic take on the late Domino Harvey (Keira Knightley), daughter of movie star Laurence Harvey. Domino was a former model who did time as a shotgun-toting LA bounty hunter before being found dead in the bathtub of her West Hollywood home, aged 35, last June. Just before the movie was finished.

Considering Scott knew the real Domino for 11 years, calling her his "surrogate daughter", you'd have thought he'd have been a little more respectful and faithful to her story. It was a wild and crazy life, but Scott claims he wasn't interested in the facts, abandoning two straightforward bio-scripts in an attempt to get to the essence of what made the bombshell tick. The DVD's doc is a snappy but short tribute revealing Harvey as more twitchy tomboy than lipstick lezzer, but the main feature leaves us clueless about her motivation, other than the admission that she wanted to have "a little fun". Yet even that doesn't ring true, since Knightley's Domino is such a sourpuss that you don't get the feeling she's actually having any. Oh, and there's also something about a dead goldfish. Good luck trying your Freud out on that one.

Although the film bombed when it opened in the US last autumn, bested by - gawd help us - the abysmal The Fog remake, this, much like Scott's one certifiable modern classic True Romance, which found its audience on video, is another film better served on the smaller screen, where the bludgeoning visual excess of Scott's relentless, MTV-style direction looks less out of place and the script's morbid humour bubbles more readily to the surface. Domino, you see, is the kind of movie in which an arm is blown off by a shotgun, just because someone wants the safe combination that's tattooed on it, when pen and paper would have been a tidier - but not so cinematic - option. The Bounty Hunting On Acid featurette sees Scott explain the craft behind the film's jittery, mescaline-propelled headcharge, and the key Deleted Scene is the bit where they shag in the sand - with an extra hit of Hendrix-soundtracked authenticity.

Like Donnie Darko before it, Kelly's script is a muddle of mostly great ideas that manages to shoehorn in a dash of backstory (childhood in England, dead dad, boarding school, teenage nunchucks rebellion, nose-breaking Sorority Girl) before we see her walking out on a privileged Beverly Hills upbringing, preferring to get down and dirty with legendary bounty hunter Ed Mosbey (Mickey Rourke) and his partner in grime Choco (Edgar Ramirez) on the mean streets of LA.

Thereafter, the 'plot' descends into narrative freefall revolving around a fake driving licence scam involving Mo'Nique's big, not-so-bad mama, whose sick granddaughter is the catalyst for an armoured car heist, with the loot turning out to be Mafia money. Still with us? Chuck in some Afghan terrorists, an angry Mob, and a reality TV show starring Domino and hosted by two ex-castmembers of Beverly Hills 90210, and you've got the most insanely convoluted scenario not to have Charlie Kaufman's name attached to it. Scott has said he cast Knightley after seeing her spunky turn in Pirates Of The Caribbean and you get the feeling the girl from Teddington is glad to be out of the corsets for once. With fag in hand, New Romantic barnet and fetching neck tattoos, our Keira sheds the stuffy image with glee, blasting guns, screwing al fresco, and lap-dancing gangbangers. It's an astounding transformation - although that plum and proper enunciation ("I. Am. A. Bownty. Hunta.") is still Oh. So. Bloody. Annoying.

Scott's always been a great visualist - his debut The Hunger remains the best-looking vampire movie ever. But he's been refining his cinematic style of late - from slick to downright epileptic. Still, Man On Fire was Merchant-Ivory compared to this feverish dream. We get the whole box of film-school tricks: hand-cranked cameras, slo-mos, whip-pans, freeze-frames, jump cuts, split-screens, scenes that unwind and rewind, bullets that return to their chambers after having erupted through flesh, and much, much more... It's sensory overload cranked up to 12, and when our heroes have their coffee spiked and their Winnebago crashes in the desert, Scott's got nowhere to go, since the whole film's already one long trip, man.

And yet, Domino still delivers - thanks to Scott's utter lack of shame and a raft of joyously OTT performances - Rourke, Ramirez, Christopher Walken's font-fuelled TV exec - that'll have you choking on your suitably sleazy TV dinner. Subtle, it most certainly ain't. But if you're after a legal high, Domino is definitely a pill worth swallowing.

DVD Extras:

"I Am A Bounty Hunter": Domino Harvey's Life. Doc with optional commentary by Richard Kelly and Domino Harvey
Bounty Hunting On Acid: Evolution Of A Visual Style featurette
Seven deleted scenes
Trailers