Wild Card is about Nick Wild (Jason Statham), a sometimes-bodyguard-for-hire making his living in the seamy underworld that is Las Vegas. He possesses a vast range of skills and connections, and he uses them to help those who are willing to pay him a fair price. On his off time, he dreams of just leaving the city behind and spending the rest of his days sailing in Corsica. And when an old friend asks for his help in getting revenge on a mobster, Wild quickly finds that he can no longer afford to put off those plans. He risks everything as he tries to find a way out.
This movie is the second time William Goldman has tried bringing his novel Heat to the screen. And in terms of narrative beats, little has changed in the nearly three decades since the last version hit theaters. There was certainly room for improvement on that part, the story still as aimless and sloppy as it was in 1986. The movie is only enlivened in portions where its star, the inimitable Jason Statham, is allowed to display his powerful ability to making hurting people look good on screen.
This is the kind of story that might only work as a novel. It isn’t so much a movie as it is a collection of chapters. The narrative is basically just a series of little vignettes that are loosely connected at best. The film struggles to gain any real momentum, as characters disappear and situations are forgotten. That isn’t to say that there isn’t any value to these vignettes; on the contrary, some of them are really interesting. But put together in this lackadaisical structure, the film is unable to build to anything greater than the sum of the parts.
Things perk up in the action sequences. Legend of Hong Kong cinema Corey Yuen is on hand to direct the action sequences. He has collaborated with Jason Statham several times before, and the results have always been pretty explosive. The two create elegant expressions of violence, with an economy of movement that only serves to highlight just how painful everything is. Simon West’s direction is competent and in bursts even kind of appealing, but the film is just much less interesting when people’s faces are being bashed in.
Jason Statham is all right in this role, though he can certainly do better at this point. This character is in his wheelhouse, and it doesn’t ask much from him. Statham is the kind of actor that rises to the occasion. This film doesn’t present much of an occasion at all. Because of the way the film is structure, there are plenty of characters that only show up for a couple of scenes. The film uses this as an opportunity to bring in some recognizable names to play bit parts. Anne Heche and Hope Davis pop up in roles that could have been filled by anybody. Stanley Tucci does leave an impression, however, in a funny scene that has him playing the most powerful guy in the room.
Wild Card has these occasional bursts of inspiration. It finds a really fascinating way to depict what it’s like to have a gambling addiction, to lose yourself to your vice even when every signal is telling you to walk away. It offers tantalizing bits of flavor in the depiction of the Las Vegas that most people don’t get to see. And of course, there are the fights, which are just a whole lot of fun. But in the end, it doesn’t amount to a whole lot. The narrative is just too fragmented, and these moments lose their power as they disappear into the mire of story.
My Rating:
