I Watch Films: Wild Card (2015)

 

Wild Card (2015)

Nick Wild (Jason Statham) is a Las Vegas security consultant, discovered being beaten up by a man who is arrogantly chatting up a woman. It’s revealed he was paid for this by the man to impress the woman. He’s then hired as a chaperone (bodyguard) by Cyrus Kennick for that night.

He gets a message from a friend and goes to visit a woman named Holly, an escort. She had been beaten and raped by three men the night before and wanted to find out who they were so she could take legal action. Nick advises against this but investigates. He learns the men are Danny DeMarco (Milo Ventimiglia), a gangster, and two of his button men. He confronts him in his hotel room but Danny turns nasty and Nick overpowers them, calling Holly to join him. She threatens to castrate Danny, then decides to just take the money ($50,000) and leave. She splits the money with Nick and leaves town.

With $25,000 Nick takes Cyrus out, initially having a moderately boring time until Nick starts winning. He wins $500,000, his target to leave and spend the next five years on a boat in Europe. But when he goes to cash in he thinks again; after five years what then, he’ll be back where he started. So he bets more and loses it all.

Cyrus opens up about why he hired Nick; Cyrus is a self-made millionaire but feels inadequate. He wants Nick to teach him to be brave. Nick refuses, then DeMarco’s men attack and he fights his way free.

Nick is brought to see Baby (Stanley Tucci) a high ranking criminal in the Las Vegas underworld. (Baby has been brought up by other characters during the film as someone who they want to avoid annoying). DeMarco accuses Nick of breaking into his hotel room, killing his two henchmen (actually done by DeMarco to cover up his shame), pistol-whipping DeMarco and stealing his money. He wants Baby to do something about this. Baby considers this – Nick has a gambling addiction as has been shown by the film – and asks for Nick’s side of the story. Nick responds with his version of the story, which he suggests can be proved as DeMarco has a cut on his penis. DeMarco refuses to undress to disprove the theory so Baby lets Nick go.

Nick and Cyrus go to a diner where Cyrus offers Nick $500,000 and a ticket to Corsica in thanks for what he’s learned. Nick turns it down, only for DeMarco and yet more thugs to arrive. Cyrus distracts them, having learned courage, and Nick is able to ambush his enemies in the parking lot, improvising using kitchen utensils.

The film refuses to show much of the surface glamour of Las Vegas. The nicest place is DeMarco’s hotel suite, where only terrible things happen. Nick takes Cyrus to a low-ceilinged, intimate-feeling casino, one where the tables are in little bays and alcoves (making, of course, for an interesting tactical situation when the fight breaks out). The interview with Baby is in an area set up in an underground car park/ loading dock. It’s something of a mess, the pacing odd, the violence unrestrained, Nick’s gambling addiction an almost spiritual experience. His ultimate objective is nonsense of course, as all Las Vegas dreams are, but Cyrus’s are even more so, and in the end he helps him achieve them. Confusing as an action film, and not in an especially interesting way.

Watch This: Crime, violence and gambling all unusually framed
Don’t Watch This: Doesn’t make sense and keeps drawing attention to that