Dario Argento is a hard director to pin down. Hes certainly a maverick and doesnt play by the rules. On the one hand, with movies like Terror At The Opera hes cemented his reputation as one of the greats of 70s and 80s horror, perfectly capturing the grotesque thrill that drives that genre. The 80s however, were over 20 years ago, and whilst Argentos exploits still earn him a cult following and even acknowledgement from Tarantino in Death Proof, his output in recent years bares the hallmarks of an old dog whos failed to learn the new tricks.
In this by-the-numbers thriller (originally released in 2004, but getting a DVD re-release by Arrow), an Italian detective (Stephania Rocca) and an Irish Interpol agent (Liam Cunningham) are on the trail of a serial kidnapper who stakes the lives of his female victims on games of video poker played against the police. If they win, the prisoner goes free, if they lose then their bloodless corpse turns up in the river the next morning.
Carrying off a sound principle such as this one shouldnt be too difficult, but The Card Player drops the ball time and time again. The key scenes, those of the actual card games themselves, fail to ramp up any kind of tension, and the awkward romance between the two central characters is neither convincing nor necessary. An asinine twist ending doesnt help matters, only being unpredictable because it makes no damn sense when you give it even a minute of thought.
The Card Player is a bold attempt by an old hand to try something new. Argento however is far too set in his ways and goes about this grimy thriller in the same way he would have approached his earlier splattery classics, an approach which leaves this no-hoper with little option but to fold.
Overall Verdict: The phrase round hole, square peg comes to mind. Approached differently, this could have been a passable killer-thriller, but slack direction and mindless plot conspire to leave it floundering.
Special Features:
Trailer
Making of documentary
Promotional featurette
Name of Reviewer: Alex Hall