Movie review: The Card Counter
THE CARD COUNTER (M18)
Oscar Isaac is truly having his moment this year.
He slayed in both the HBO drama Scenes From A Marriage and sci-fi epic Dune, but is let down by this frustratingly tepid revenge-redemption film from writer-director Paul Schrader.
Isaac plays a military interrogator-turned-gambler haunted by the ghosts of his past decisions while he drifts from casino to casino, working the blackjack and poker circuit.
Even a turning point encounter with an ex-colleague's troubled son (Tye Sheridan) and his former boss (Willem Dafoe) that's supposed to set things in motion do little to lift the painfully dreary proceedings.
Characters are even spouting unwittingly prescient dialogue, like "Where is this going?" and "This is going nowhere", which is what you may be asking yourself regularly throughout the movie.
Not even Isaac's charisma or an out-of-nowhere romance between him and Tiffany Haddish can save the storytelling and pacing from flatlining.
The Card Counter builds up to the big confrontation, but then it happens off-screen.
It is so anticlimactic, you walk away feeling like you are the one who got played.- JEANMARIE TAN
Score : 2/5
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