WILD CARD
DIRECTOR: Simon West
CAST: Jason Statham, Michael Angarano, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Hope Davis, Milo Ventimiglia, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander, Sofia Vergara, Anne Heche
CLASSIFICATION: 16 LV
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes
RATING: **
AS JASON Statham (pictured) action flicks go, this is one of the better ones, but it is still only going to appeal to the fans. He plays Nick Wild, a former soldier now security consultant who likes gambling a little too much.
Statham puts his more violence-oriented skills to good use when friend Holly (Garcia-Lorido) is attacked by a sadistic mobster (Ventimiglia), tracking down the offender to give her chance at revenge.
At the same time his attention is diverted by a client who feels he needs protection while gambling and in this subplot with Angarano’s character, Cyrus, the crime (un)thriller veers away from the original source material – Heat from 1986, starring Burt Reynolds.
Garcia-Lorido’s dad might be Andy Garcia, but she isn’t exactly displaying the acting gene here. She is wooden and evinces no chemistry with Statham so the audience is never convinced that his Nick Wild character would go to such extremes for his ex-girlfriend – because there is no reason to believe they share any history at all.
He seems to have a warmer relationship with the woman who serves him coffee at his favourite diner, or even the woman who deals cards at the blackjack table, than with Holly.
Ultimately, this just makes the film fall apart because Nick’s motivation is suspect, so that just makes all of his actions seem rather baseless. Plus, Statham never takes off his shirt so that’s just such a bummer, too. Still, he’s got all the moves and as long as he is showing them off, the film ticks along merrily.
Statham showed in Spy that he can handle a certain amount of comedy, but the small stabs at it here are ill-placed. Director Simon West doesn’t do enough with the slight story.
The space for characterisation (which could have made this more interesting) is wasted on clichés like Ventimiglia’s character is the son of a mob boss so therefore has a predictable lack of control or spine, or Nick’s lack of ability to just say ‘no’. These characters are never explored beyond the surface, so that’s a wasted opportunity.
The editing – which cleverly starts the next scene halfway through the current one – helps to make the film feel as if it is moving at a fast clip and fight sequences are choreographed to a T, exact and perfect. This puts the well-choreographed fight scenes at odds with the slightly sleazy background which suggests the opposite of perfection.
If you liked Homefront or Parker, you will like this.