Today’s quick review: Wild Card. Nick Wild (Jason Statham), a Las Vegas bodyguard, reluctantly agrees to help his friend Holly (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) get revenge on Danny DeMarco (Milo Ventimiglia), the son of a powerful mobster, for raping her. In the aftermath, Nick prepares to leave town before DeMarco’s associates can find him. But before he goes, he stops to gamble his savings so he can make enough money to retire.
Wild Card is an action movie starring Jason Statham. Nick Wild is a hardened fighter who puts his skills to use protecting rich clients in Vegas. The movie follows Nick as he does a favor for a friend that angers the wrong people, forcing him to make good on his long-standing plan to leave Vegas. Although Wild Card has a few standout action scenes, but the bulk of the movie is spent on a flimsy plot without much driving it.
Wild Card misplays its hand. The plot is disjointed, lurching from one incident to another without focus or direction. The individual segments are interesting enough, but they are poorly motivated and keep the movie from building up any real momentum. Wild Card suffers from similar problems with its characters, introducing a large cast that the movie barely spends time with. The result is a grab bag of ideas that don’t come together as a whole.
Still, Wild Card has a few highlights. The action scenes are few and far between, but they are expertly choreographed and stylishly presented. Nick Wild is an indomitable hand-to-hand fighter, and seeing him open up on DeMarco’s thugs is cathartic. Wild Card also tries to build up a little world for Nick. His love-hate relationship with Vegas and network of local contacts could have been the foundation for a more robust story.
As it stands, Wild Card will hold modest value for action fans and little value for anyone else. Wild Card packs in a lot of style into a couple of fights, and a handful of interesting scenes give it some substance. However, the movie falls short as a complete story, a tangle of underdeveloped plot threads that are never given the time to mature. Steer clear unless you are willing to overlook the movie’s shortcomings.
For a Jason Statham action movie with more impact, try The Transporter, Safe, or The Expendables. For a more personal story about a listless man trapped in Las Vegas, try Leaving Las Vegas. For a crime drama with some of the same sense of misadventure, try the Sylvester Stallone remake of Get Carter. For a Statham movie with similar flaws but more ambitious ideas, try Revolver.
[5.6 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2231253/). I give it a 6.0 for a weak story with bursts of stylish action.