Wild Card Review
By David Kempler
Statham is Statham
On the way home after seeing "Wild Card", Jason Statham's latest watch-me-beat-up-twenty-people-at-a-time film, the only thing that I could remember was that Statham beat up a lot of people.
I may not be the most absorbent person in the world, but my brain is still somewhat functional. Aside from Statham's "The Transporter", which was a lot of fun, the rest have been along the same lines as "Wild Card". Yet, while I watch all of them, I enjoy them, at least in bursts. They just have the tendency to leave my brain very quickly.
Statham's Nick Wild (yes, that's the character's name) is a compulsive gambler and a drunk. He lives in Las Vegas, a logical place for a compulsive gambling drunk. He's also for hire as a bodyguard. When a friend of his who is a call girl gets beaten and left for dead, Wild sets out to get the guy. The guy, of course, has hordes of men to help him, but we know from the outset that they are tremendously outnumbered by Nick, even though they all have all sorts of artillery, while poor Nick has only his fists and feet. The poor guys have no idea what they have gotten into.
When Nick isn't kicking ass, he can usually be found around the casino, gambling, drinking, and wondering what to do with the rest of his life. He's a little bit down, but he perks up whenever men start attacking him, and he never has to wait very long for the attacks. That's the entire story. Choreographed dance-like battles interspersed with moments of Nick reflecting on life.
There's really not much more to say. If you like Statham films, you'll be totally satisfied. If you don't, you won't. I happen to be a fan of Statham, so I had a good time even if "Wild Card" is not the equivalent of a strong blackjack hand.
