I’m not sure how I completely missed this 2014 movie
starring Jason Statham, based on a novel (HEAT) by William Goldman, with a
screenplay by Goldman. Even odder, there was already a movie based on that
novel, also with a Goldman screenplay, made in 1986 starring Burt Reynolds. I’m
sure we watched it—we watched just about everything Burt was in, back then—but I
don’t remember it. So, taking WILD CARD on its own merits (I haven’t read the
book, either), it turns out to be a decent little action film.
Statham plays Nick Wild (a name change to justify the title, I suppose), who works as a bodyguard/“chaperone” in Las Vegas. A very wealthy but innocent young man hires Nick to show him around town and protect him while he’s gambling. Meanwhile, a hooker friend of Nick’s gets raped and badly beaten up by the vicious son of a mobster, and when Nick finds out about that, he sets out to get revenge for her. He’s also trying to get his hands on enough money to retire to Corsica and sail around on the Mediterranean.
Those plot strands weave in and out in a rather meandering fashion, and that aimlessness hurts the movie. On the other hand, the dialogue is good, as you’d expect from a movie written by William Goldman, and the cast, which also includes Jason Alexander and Stanley Tucci, does a good job. Statham is always likable. There’s enough action to keep things interesting, and also as you’d expect, it’s handled well. WILD CARD is a pleasant enough way to spend some time and I enjoyed it. It’s just not very memorable.
Statham plays Nick Wild (a name change to justify the title, I suppose), who works as a bodyguard/“chaperone” in Las Vegas. A very wealthy but innocent young man hires Nick to show him around town and protect him while he’s gambling. Meanwhile, a hooker friend of Nick’s gets raped and badly beaten up by the vicious son of a mobster, and when Nick finds out about that, he sets out to get revenge for her. He’s also trying to get his hands on enough money to retire to Corsica and sail around on the Mediterranean.
Those plot strands weave in and out in a rather meandering fashion, and that aimlessness hurts the movie. On the other hand, the dialogue is good, as you’d expect from a movie written by William Goldman, and the cast, which also includes Jason Alexander and Stanley Tucci, does a good job. Statham is always likable. There’s enough action to keep things interesting, and also as you’d expect, it’s handled well. WILD CARD is a pleasant enough way to spend some time and I enjoyed it. It’s just not very memorable.
3 comments:
Recommend you read the book, James. It’s got some great action and some very funny lines, as you would expect from Goldman.
Read the book. It's a meandering mess, plot-wise, but read it anyway. Both film adaptations fix the meandering but a lot of good stuff got cut out as well. Goldman did the scripting for both movies and it makes my head hurt that he couldn't recapture the excellence of the set-piece about the hero's gambling streak from the book. The writing is truly a wonder to behold.
I thought Burt's version was better.
Post a Comment