IMDb plot summary: Redemption is the long game in Paul Schrader's THE CARD COUNTER. Told with Schrader's trademark cinematic intensity, the revenge thriller tells the story of an ex-military interrogator turned gambler haunted by the ghosts of his past.
Directed by Paul Schrader. Starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, and Tye Sheridan.
This film has two separate movies in it -- a poker heist movie and a movie about military trauma -- and they don't blend as well as I hoped they might, instead just sort of awkwardly ping-ponging back and forth. Isaac, unsurprisingly, does a great job here, conveying the same type of controlled mystery he brings to so many of his parts. But the relationships between characters unfold in confusing ways that hold the audience at arm's length, so when the film's final resolution comes around, I can't tell where the movie's trying to go anymore -- and that wouldn't necessarily be a problem, except by that point I don't care. It's a disappointing watch that never fully feels like it gets off the ground.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Card Counter < Hustle & Flow
The Card Counter < Our Idiot Brother
The Card Counter > Drive Me Crazy
The Card Counter > Hush (1998)
The Card Counter < Syrup
The Card Counter > Superman Returns
The Card Counter > Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?
The Card Counter > The Rainmaker
The Card Counter < Tallulah
The Card Counter < Wuthering Heights
The Card Counter < Swiss Family Robinson
The Card Counter < Make Mine Music
Final spot: #2735 out of 3483, or 21%.
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