Film Review - Wild Card

Punch Drunk Love

Much like Christmas, Halloween, and public disgust towards the headliners of Glastonbury, sub-par Jason Statham action movies are kind of expected now going into the new year, with The Mechanic, Parker, Homefront, and Hummingbird, all being released within the last four or so years, with each seemingly blending in to one another so much it would be hard to tell them apart. So now in 2015, we have Wild Card. based upon William Goldman's novel Heat, with it being, much like it's predecessors, instantly forgettable, with bog-standard action scenes, but for the most part enjoyable enough to withstand ones' attention for the course of its' run-time. Hit me.

Jason Statham plays Lee Christmas, no sorry, Chev Chelios, nope, still wrong film. That's it, Nick Wild! He plays Nick Wild, a recovering gambling addict who sticks to his addiction by being chaperone to Las Vegas's rich and famous by guiding them around the different casinos, bars, strip joints, whatever, until one day he receives a phone call from an acquaintance named Holly, who claims she had been raped and attacked the previous night by Peter Petrelli himself, Milo Ventimiglia's character, Danny DeMarco. The film then decides to go a bit revenge drama, followed by Martin Scorsese's Casino, and then into full Statham style action mode, whilst incorporating the much-loved need to hit everyone in the throat from Taken. In a nutshell, it's a bit of a mess.

A mess it may be, but I can't deny I didn't enjoy it for the most part, particularly in scenes when Statham turns full ninja and takes out everyone in the room with a spork or something of similar strength. Like previous Statham efforts however, Wild Card is instantly forgettable and even worse, seems to act as an OTT advert for the "wonders of Las Vegas". Still, we have Furious 7 to look forward to. Not. 

Overall Score: 5/10