Review: Wild Card

Jason Statham stars as Nick Wild, a Vegas problem solver and problem gambler whose aid is requested by a friend (Dominik García-Lorido), after she is brutalised and raped by a slick jerk gangster (Milo Ventimiglia, natch). Most of his work seems to be of the violent variety, and here his rather efficient, but brutal methods of seeking retribution for Garcia-Lorido only humiliate and anger Ventimiglia into wanting revenge. As a side issue, Wild also helps out a rich, wimpy tech geek (Michael Angarano) who wants to be brave like Wild. Meanwhile, Wild (who dreams of getting enough money to leave Vegas for Corsica) wins and predictably loses a lot of money at the Craps table, as he is addicted to gambling...or addicted to losing. Or something. Max Casella plays a guy who hires Wild to lose a fight with him to make him look tough to Sofia Vergara. Anne Heche plays a diner waitress (or maybe is one, now. Who knows?), Hope Davis (doing a lot with practically nothing) plays a friendly casino employee, and Stanley Tucci turns up all-too briefly as a powerful mob boss known to Wild. Jason Alexander plays a lawyer whom Wild does some kind of work for too (I was a bit hazy on the details of that relationship).

 

Based on a William Goldman novel, this story didn’t go over terribly well in 1986 when Goldman adapted the novel into a screenplay for the Burt Reynolds film “Heat”. This 2015 film from director Simon West (the terrifically silly “Con Air”, the solid ensemble “The Expendables 2”, the fine remake of “The Mechanic”) allows veteran screenwriter Goldman, who has written some quality screenplays (“Harper”, “No Way to Treat a Lady”, “All the President’s Men”, “Misery”), to have another crack, and this one’s certainly not much chop. Maybe the story’s just not that good? Miscast as a Jason Statham vehicle, there’s hardly any action, and more fatally, there’s hardly any movie. You keep waiting for it to go somewhere, and then it ends. Statham beats up some goons and wins/loses lots of money gambling. And talks to wormy Michael Angarano for a bit. Yep, that’s really all there is, and boy is it all hopelessly low-key.

 

Meanwhile, the rather large supporting cast also leaves you somewhat perplexed. Not only is the naturally wormy Michael Angarano poorly cast in a role that is apparently meant to be sympathetic (you keep waiting for him to shiv someone in the back, and because that isn’t the intention, it’s distracting), but the film leaves the likes of Anne Heche, Sofia Vergara, and Max Casella hanging in miniscule roles. I certainly hope Jason Alexander was well-paid for his cameo. Vergara is only seen in the opening scene of the film before disappearing. What the hell? We do get a bit more of Hope Davis and Stanley Tucci, and they are the bright spots of the film, particularly the latter. I could’ve done with a lot less Dominik Garcia-Lorido, who is incredibly wooden in one of the more prominent roles in the film. As for Statham, he’s Statham, and I’m growing quite accustomed/resigned to that. He’s fine, the film sucks.

 

For a film that comes with action choreography by Corey Yuen (which I believe he also provided for Statham’s much better initial action hit “The Transporter”), there’s not much of it. Statham disposes of the baddies far too swiftly even when the action does come. Very disappointing on that front, and it leaves lead villain Milo Ventimiglia (predictably cast as a slick woman-basher) looking rather toothless to be honest, through no fault of his performance. He’s effectively thuggish and cowardly at the appropriate turns, if becoming a bit typecast these days (“Gotham”, anyone?).

 

It’s a slick-looking film and the soundtrack full of familiar songs is cool, but seeing Statham occasionally beating up thugs to ‘White Christmas’ can only get a film so far. Something just didn’t seem right here at a screenplay level to me. It felt severely truncated or edited, as it runs less than 90 minutes. Yet as a film, it also felt like it was moving at a snail’s pace. I would’ve removed Angarano’s character entirely, and beefed up the main story. Unless Statham’s gambling issues were the main story here? Who the hell knows, it felt like two different stories of little significance fighting for (not enough) screen time. Can you even call it an action film?

 

I can tolerate Statham’s films more than many others seem too, but this is flimsy, lousy, and sluggish. Not what I expected from West and Goldman, though Statham has been in worse (He has worked with Uwe Boll after all!). Perhaps it’s been bugging Goldman since the 80s that the Burt Reynolds flick didn’t work out so well and he wanted another go at it. However, if he’s not satisfied with this one (and I certainly wasn’t), please just give it up. You’ve tried, you failed. Twice. Move on.

 

Rating: C-