Bound is a nimble, sexy crime thriller whose familiar plotting gains urgency from Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly. The Wachowskis occasionally fuss over the presentation, but the women give us good reason to care who outwits whom.
Bound is a good reminder that a familiar crime plot need not be a tired one. Lana and Lilly Wachowski write and direct a thriller about two women conspiring against a mobster, giving us a reason to care before asking us to follow the complications. It is sharp, funny entertainment, with a weakness for showing off that occasionally interrupts the pleasure. The attraction between Corky and Violet matters as much as their ability to carry out a plan.
Gina Gershon’s Corky is the ex-con, Jennifer Tilly’s Violet the woman involved with Joe Pantoliano’s mobster Caesar. The casting gives the familiar tough lead and seductive accomplice a different charge, and the actors make that change count without treating the romance as an announcement. We were more caught up in their attraction than we expected. Gershon and Tilly make plotting together feel intimate, so trusting the other woman becomes something we want for them, with consequences beyond whether their scheme succeeds.
Pantoliano is important to that balance. His Caesar gives the women someone worth conspiring against, and his performance keeps the gangster scenes lively enough to hold their own against the romance. The Wachowskis understand how close a tightly planned crime can come to farce: the more calculation goes into it, the more entertaining an awkward development can be. Following the scheme is enjoyable because we have an interest in the people attempting it, and Pantoliano contributes considerably to the humour.
Bill Pope’s cinematography gives the criminal plotting a glossy finish, and the camera’s flourishes make watching the schemers part of the fun. There are moments, though, when the wish to impress competes with Gershon and Tilly for our attention. Eve Cauley’s production design contributes to the polished, retro look, placing these familiar noir characters in surroundings that suit their posturing. The result is attractive, but sometimes too carefully arranged to let the danger feel entirely convincing.
The caper benefits from Zach Staenberg’s editing, which keeps the complications legible without making the waiting feel idle. We have time to anticipate trouble, and the film gets considerable enjoyment out of making us do that. Don Davis’s music is effective at sustaining the tension, though it contributes less personality than the performers do. Neither the cutting nor the score needs to make the scheme seem more important than it is; the question of whether these women can rely on one another already gives it enough weight.
The limitation is that the Wachowskis sometimes seem too pleased with their own cleverness. Their script can make a complication feel inserted to demonstrate ingenuity, and the conspicuous styling encourages us to notice the contrivance. But calling the women’s relationship a gimmick misses what the performances achieve. Gershon and Tilly make us care about the risks their characters take without asking the film to become solemn about them.
Noir has plenty of room for people driven by desire into bad decisions; the pleasure here is in seeing two women take the central roles and make them feel like their own. At 105 minutes, Bound gives its crime and its romance enough room without wearing either out. Watch it with someone who enjoys trying to guess what the conspirators have failed to consider.
