Wild Card: Not a winning hand

March 07, 2015 04:47 pm | Updated 05:04 pm IST

Wild Card

Wild Card

It does sound a little preposterous to complain that an action film starring ‘The Stath’ lacks structural coherence and a narrative arc. Still, there’s a certain expectation when you know that the scriptwriter of Wild Card is William Goldman — the man behind such legendary scripts as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride and All the President’s Men.

Difficult then to explain the lopsided, episodic nature of Wild Card that jumps between storylines and characters with more restlessness and less panache than its martial arts hero.

Name: Wild Card Director: Simon West Cast: Jason Statham, Michael Angarano, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Hope Davis, Milo Ventimiglia, Stanley Tucci Producer: Wunderbar Films Storyline: Jason Statham plays a security consultant chasing bad guys and an impossible dream in Las Vegas.

The movie is set in a stutteringly interesting noir underworld peopled by quirky characters such as bad guy Baby (Stanley Tucci), svelte blackjack dealer Cassandra (Hope Davis) and a coffee-pouring waitress (Anne Heche).

One story thread centres on Nick’s friend Holly (Dominik Garcia-Lorido), a lady of the night who is brutally raped by a sadistic gangster (Milo Ventimiglia) with powerful family connections. Another story deals with nerdy youngster Cyrus (Michael Angarano) who follows Nick around to learn how to “kill the fear that lives inside”, a line uttered with a curious lack of irony.

Finally, there’s Nick himself, who dreams of yachts and golden getaways. This dream will never materialise for Nick, a gambling addict who is doomed to live in Vegas, always chasing the bigger bet, the better win.

As the taciturn antihero, The Stath is a terrific screen presence, but emoting isn’t his strongest suit. He’s at ease in Wild Card when using sundry objects — ranging from credit cards to spoons — to rip jugulars and dispatch his enemies. But when it comes to conveying the hopelessness of a trapped gambling addict, he invokes irritation rather than sympathy.

In part, this is also because the movie’s pacing is soggy and the bits linking various episodes were either never written, or were lost in translation. Wild Card is like three mismatched suits that just don’t add up to a winning hand.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.