It would be
nice to say that Jason Statham unleashes his wild side in Wild Card but
actually this film finds him on relatively restrained form compared to stuff like The
Transporter and Crank films.
From a William
Goldman script based on his own novel, Wild Card begins with a woman being
ditched outside a hospital bloodied and battered. It's up to Las Vegas security
consultant Nick Wild (Statham) to find the men responsible. Roughed up beyond recognition
by a fighter and his bodyguards, the woman is Holly and as soon as she is out
of hospital, she contacts Nick as he is the only person in Vegas who is able to
help her with his particular set of skills.
Offering up
some graphic detail of her rape and humiliation, Wild Card should leave
audiences chomping at the bit for Statham to unleash the pain on her
tormentors. Unfortunately
Dominik García-Lorido is completely unconvincing as a victim
of such a horrendous ordeal and the script cares little for the trauma she has endured and much
more about how Statham will respond. When he sarcastically utters 'this is the
highlight of my career', you suspect no acting was required.
Boxer Danny
DeMarco is the vicious thug hiding up in his swanky Vegas suite. It takes
almost 40 minutes for Statham to confront him and show off what he can do and when the action comes,
it’s swift and brutal. With a total of just three fight scenes in the entire
film, it is likely that even those that are after a simple Statham beat-em-up
will be left disappointed by this one.
When
revenge is served and Wild goes on a gambling binge, like in the recent The
Gambler, it’s incredibly difficult to sympathise with someone who keeps raising
the stakes and risking throwing away obscene amounts of money. Nick has a soft
spot for Blackjack and just can't walk away from the tables, even when he's
half a million up. It’s a typical plot device that will leave many screaming
with frustration at the screen.
Despite a
cool soundtrack and last minute appearance from a coolly sinister Stanley
Tucci, overall Wild Card could have dealt a considerably better hand.
Here is the trailer:
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