Customer Reviews

The Card Player

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

How can anyone say that their an Argento fan and no like this movie. I was actually surprised at how good this is. Dario strays from the norm with this one but unlike others have said it is still recognizable as an Argento film especially in the scene when the killer shows up at the main character's house...in the dark. That whole scene was very Argento. Also the music is an electronic score because of the internet theme and Dario wanted to have a connection between those. It's actually pretty good but not his best. Don't listen to these other reviews, just get it, you shouldn't be dissapointed. That one guy doesn't know what he's talking about with the whole not revealing the killer thing, he must have watched a different movie than I did!!

All in all a good movie from Argento but not his best. I think some people will like the change in style on this movie because it shows that Argento can do a movie way from his usual style and pull it off.

***** to off set the 2 star reviews

Next for Dario: 3rd chapter in the three mother's trilogy!

I'm very surprised to see some of the positive reviews this has gotten and I feel it's a duty to offer an honestly negative counterpoint for anyone considering spending money on this who might have high expectations based on Dario Argento's reputation (though I expect some uncritical fans will consider this sort of thing sacrilege and hit the not helpful button immediately). Argento's best work from the 70s in both the giallo and the supernatural horror genres is truly some of my favorite filmmaking of all time, which makes the undeniable decline in quality of his work since Opera all the more painful. I actually, despite their failings, do like certain things about Stendahl Syndrome and Sleepless (and the subsequent Do You Like Hitchcock?); the Card Player, however, just falls short in too many different ways to ignore and make any excuses for.

There are very few striking visual flourishes here, almost none of the amazing camerawork and staging that mark Argento's classics; the look of the film is strangely generic and undistinctive, without the strong personality and drive Argento used to convey through his material. The violence here lacks the truly inspired perverse qualities that characterize many of the classic murders and extreme outbursts driving earlier films. The acting by the female lead is compromised by her obviously limited abilities with English, which extends to other members of the cast; the dialogue is not particularly well written but far worse when rendered badly by non-native speakers (though the guy who I think is actually English doesn't actually fare much better). There are numerous scenes throughout that are even poorly staged and ineptly exected and only two that strike me as genuinely suspenseful in any way; where other Argento films have a hypnotic dreamlike rhythm, this film just feels clumsy and meandering. The ending is weak and the cumulative impact of the film on the viewer is about none at all. As a police procedural by anybody, this does not compare favorably with other much better films in a fairly crowded field; if anything, it feels like a made for TV production or an extended R-rated episode of a routine cop show.

Like many people, I keep hoping for a return to form from Dario (Terza Madre anyone?). With almost every project, rumors fly that this one is the one. Well, the Card Player definitely was not it. If you are a fan of Argento's past work, better to skip this completely.

I love horror movies...just can't get enough of them, so when The Card Player became available on dvd, and being a Dario Argento film I had to add it to my collection.

It was not as much of a horror, but a thriller. There was much more implied horror/gore, than visual effects.

The movie is about a serial killer who taunts the police by an on-line poker game, known only as "the card player"...you lose the game the victim dies, pure and simple.

There are some twists to the plot and a couple of gore effects but these are few and far between.

If you are looking for the blood and gore of horror you will fall short in this movie. If you are looking for a thriller in the Hitchcock flare then I would highly recommend viewing this one.

For the die hard Argento fans you really should add this one to your collection if not rent or borrow from someone.

"Argento outdoes himself! A very tense thriller...highly recommended!"-DVD TImes

I love old school horror movies, so I'm obviously a big fan of Dario Argento. They simply don't make horror movies the way they used to, and Argento has been faithful to this credo. Remember when rated R movies earned their rating, unlike the bubblegum-edited R-rated movies of today? Sadly, the "Card Player" is barely watchable, and it shows us Argento being "experimental" (to his standards) by showing us a laughable script, even more ridiculous acting, and a soundtrack that is mind-blowingly bad. The premise is the oh-so-chilling concept of online poker where the killer disposes of someone if the cops lose (the killer plays online with the police). Of course, the cops lose in the beginning and the people die: not that you would know other than their screaming and wailing. That's pretty much it in terms of plot. The acting is atrocious, but this is forgivable as thespianism has never been a strong point of Argento's films. Which leads me to the music. WOW, is this bad. Argento claims in an interview on this DVD that he wanted "techno" music in the score. Sorry, Mr. Argento, but as a techno music fan I can confidently say this is most definitely NOT techno. This is a Britney Spears trance nightmare hosted at the MTV music awards. Nothing takes away the suspense of being hand-cuffed to a train track than having to hear Italo-disco blaring away in the background. This doesn't make a movie "modern", it simply makes it annoying and just like every other run-of-the-mill schlock flick.
We come to expect quality from Argento and, admittedly, I have expectations when I sit down to watch one of his films. Perhaps this is unfair. The "Card Player" has none of the things that Argento fans love to see. Where is the blood and gore? Is this not an Argento film? Where are the fascinating color arrangements and other-worldly dialogue we're accustomed to? I don't depend on having to see blood sprays in order to be scared, but come on, is this not why we love Argento and his movies? I completely appreciate Argento wanting a change of pace and to try something new, but I hope this is just a phase. He didn't gain his popularity for editing himself and certainly didn't garner our respect for inexcusable flops like the "Card Player".

The movie started off ok and has a good premise to work with, but my wife's comments sum this movie up perfectly. "I feel like I walked out of the room and came back to a completely crappy movie." I agree with some of the other comments made as well. Some of the oddball characters tend to distract from the movie even when it is still worth watching. The ending and everything leading up to the ending was horrible. There just came a turning point while watching this movie that there was no way it could save itself.

I also agree with the sound factor. The entire cast seems to mumble through lines and the sound needs to be turned up during conversations, and then immediately turned back down when the music kicks in, etc.

I love horror/thriller movies. I even love cheesy B movies. This movie fails to fall in to either category for me.

Definately not one of Argento's best films unfortunately. I was very excited to get this movie today on its first day of release because I am a big Argento fan but I think he strays away from everything that made him so good in the first place. It was all to predictable. He has some really absurd characters like the coroner and the computer genius trying to catch the killer. The characters speak really bad english and the sound is terrible. You have to concetrate to listen because of this or you might miss something. And the Goblin sountrack is nothing like the one in Dawn of the Dead or Demons. All in all I think it is a bad effort. I feel he needs to get back to his roots like in his other classic movies Demons, Suspiria and Tenebre.

I just saw this movie the other night together with my girlfriend and needless to say we both agreed that it was just lame! I mean this movie started off really good when the police including the sexy main character come to find out about this psycho playing on-line poker with beautiful women's lives! Anyway the first game went where the main cop chick is trying to play the game only to get interrupted by some obnoxious police chief telling her not to believe the killer's serious which caused them to be out of time and in turn the poor victim gets killed! The next game they get someone at the police force whom they believe to be the perfect candidate to play and unfortunately he tries and doesn't even come close thus another victim sadly dies! In the midst of it all the beautiful/sexy main character gets partnered with and predictably falls in love with the sharp straight-laced Irish detective. And to my chagrin their love scene was not at all steamy or erotic cause there's ABSOLUTELY NO NUDITY! Anyhoo when they search around and question people they run into a super lucky poker player named Remo(played by that young guy from Trauma.Whom surprisingly hasn't aged much)Needless to say whe Remo wins 3 hands and saves the chiefs beautiful daughter(played by Dario's lovely daughter Fiore) the movie starts to get exciting! Unfortunately you will soon see that only the first 72 minutes of the movie are worth watching! The point at which it starts to get really stupid and go considerably DOWNHILL is Remo goes to a bar I guess to celebrate and runs into this smokin' HOTTIE of a waitress. Anyway he tries to seduce her and everytime he tries that and follows her around she behaves very childish and idiotic by giggling and running around like a 5 year old!!!(HOW REGRESSIVE!) And as if that wasn't bad enough she show great reluctance to give Remo this cryptic and vague message from the Card Player himself! After that somewhere from afar the killer shoots and kills the annoying Hottie! And even worse then that the killer somehow takes to dragging Remo accross the water from a boat! Even as Remo tries to escape he still gets snagged by some big hook. The details of Remo's death are never really explained!! The scenes with the Irish cop investigating around for the murders whereabouts were too long and plodding! And even worse than that is when he finally finds his hideout "The Card Player" isn't there and when he opens the door it's booby-trapped with a board and spikes which to my chagrin kills him! For some reason when the main character finally finds out who the killer is not only was he played by an excruciatingly bad actor but to truly make matters worse he ends up being all of a sudden really stupid! I mean who in there right mind would chain themself (along with somebody else)to a train track! Especially knowing that a train is on its way! The banter between the killer and the main character is painstakingly corny!! And how moronic is it that not only does the killer not even notice when the main character has found the key and freed herself but brags about having a spare all along, tries to use it at the last minute and still gets hit by the train?! How Corny and Stupid is this?!!! Needless to say this ending is better suited to be used as a blooper reel 'cause Me and my girlfriend "COULDN"T STOP LAUGHING IN HYSTERICS AT THE STUPID MURDERER! If you didn't think the ending to the movie couldn't possibly get any worse GUESS WHAT?!! IT DOES! 'CAUSE when our sexy cop main character's cell phone rings she gets some message about being pregnant!! 2 Problems with that: First of all I don't remember there ever being a sene at any time where she goes to the doctor, and Second I hated that she smiles about this news considering she neither thinks about her busy life,nor does she shed a tear led alone seem to care about the father being DEAD!!! VERY CALLOUS!! Other than that all I can say is I didn't understand why the killer kept on putting seeds inside of his victims, There were too many flat and undeveloped characters, and I can't be alone in this when I say that this movie is just a cheap RIP-OFF of FEARDOTCOM!

This movie is a cut above the average thriller (pun intended). But it is not memorable and doesn't give anyone a real reason to watch it over and above filling a few idle hours.

I'm not sure who the audience for this film would be. I haven't seen other Argento films, but I gather he has a reputation as a director of Grimm's Fairy Tales-like gore fests, and this film is not in that genre. It is closer to being a modern police procedural. So I don't think died-in-the-wool Argento fans would like it.

It makes a bid to attract poker players. Throughout the story, it tries to insist on the theme that - poker is like life. But that certainly inflates the significance of poker, at least poker as played on a poker slot machine or a video screen. There isn't much you can do by way of reading your opponents' "tells" - there isn't much psychology of any kind that you can exercise with a programmed video game. So the police department's urgent recourse to the services of a young man who has made a reputation winning at video poker - doesn't seem necessary. His protestations that it "really is all luck" should be taken seriously. There is no mystical skill he can bring to bear. Any police detective remotely familiar with what hand beats what hand could logically have done as well pitted against the poker-playing fiend.
To understand the final sequence, you do need to know a slightly more obscure point about poker hand hierarchy. But this isn't the same as convincing us that skill at video poker is the ultimate skill that will allow good to defeat evil.

Finally, people who enjoy watching movies set in unusual locales might be drawn to this film. And some of the action does take place in parts of Rome that are off-the-tourist-track. But there aren't enough of these views into Rome's byways to warrant watching the whole film.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOLIER
Also, the film feels rather loosely cobbled together. The DVD commentary does in fact reveal that Argento had three separate endings and three separate villains in mind. And the issue of which to choose was resolved at the last moment based on what would be visually most arresting and most filmable given Rome's traffic conditions - rather than on anything integral to the storyline.
END OF SPOILER - END OF SPOILER

The two lead actors do have interesting, intelligent faces, and they win our sympathies.
What's more, there are some truly taut scenes here, as when the heroine bends down to peer intently into a reflecting globe on her coffee-table - to catch glints of what is going on behind her. There's also a memorably eerie scene that unfolds as the camera follows one of the detectives down a garden lane, with unnaturally innocent-looking seed pods drifting languidly all around him.

For the most part though, there is no compelling reason to watch this film. I wouldn't fold if I found myself holding it on an otherwise empty night. But I certainly wouldn't raise. I guess the coasting term of "checking" it out is about right for how to play this film.

Well I finally tried to watch this 2004 giallo from Argento despite the negative reactions I had read. This is quite a different hand from the Italian director. Although not completely horrible, it is quite a step back from Deep Red or Bird with the Crystal Plummage. Lacking in his trademark camera angles, creepy music, or vicious scenes with high impact brutality, this is actually difficult to recognize as being Dario's work.

The idea of a murder mystery centered around a card game is interesting and could have some potential if developed properly. Poker is a psychological game of wits that relies on the ability to read other people. Victim's lives would be the ultimate stakes, and the police ante up and try to outplay this psychopath.

Problem is, the game is video poker?!? It's outcome is much more oriented around luck. That eliminates most of the mental aspects. So much for outsmarting the bad guys.
We get to see the games unfold, and the helpless victim is shown via the webcam. I expected to see some gruesome torture and mutilation scenes, but surprisingly those are all absent. Bummer.
Even the music here is below Dario par. It's more of a cruddy techno sound with a synthesizer, to go with the computer vibe. Different, but hardly creepy or conducive in bringing chills.
The acting was okay, but the cast didn't seem comfortable with the English language. This movie has some pretty good production values, but no vivid color schemes like we've come to expect. Everything is sorta bland.

I was also really disappointed by the ending, which dragged down this mediocre film another notch. Overall, this was a quite a letdown from the Argento's norm. Passable.

THE CARD PLAYER
[Il Cartaio]

(Italy - 2003)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital

Detectives in Rome search for a serial killer who forces officers to play online poker games to determine the fate of his/her victims.

A step backwards for Dario Argento following the artistic and commercial success of SLEEPLESS (2000), THE CARD PLAYER represents a deliberate return to the harsh modernism of THE STENDHAL SYNDROME (1995), reconfigured to encompass the ultra-contemporary phenomenon of the Internet. Stefania Rocca and Liam Cunningham are the detectives charged with finding the killer, who mocks them with his/her technological savvy until they hire a street punk (Silvio Muccino) whose own technical skills afford them some degree of leeway, however briefly. There's very little on screen violence, though Argento indulges some unpleasant forensic detail as Cunningham examines various corpses (stunningly realized by effects artist Sergio Stivaletti) for clues to the killer's identity, and the set-pieces are largely routine, except for a startling sequence (recalling a similar scene in OPERA) in which Rocca is stalked through her darkened apartment by the lurking maniac, and Cunningham's stroll through a beautiful garden which may - or may not - belong to the killer, photographed with dream-like precision by cinematographer Benoît Debie.

Most of the actors speak English throughout, but some of the performances are compromised by post-synch dubbing: Rocca comes off as a little stiff, and crucial supporting players like Claudio Santamaria (as the fellow detective who harbors romantic feelings for Rocca) and Antonio Cantafora (the police chief whose daughter - played by Fiore Argento - becomes a potential victim) are poorly served by the English dubbing. Only Cunningham emerges with any degree of authority, largely because he uses his own voice throughout. Sadly, despite an eventful screenplay - co-written by Argento and exploitation veteran Franco Ferrini - the movie doesn't really amount to very much, with indifferent plot developments and half-hearted set-pieces. In fact, the entire production is undermined by its central conceit, which involves static confrontations between killer and police via the Internet, and the climactic showdown between Rocca and the killer is further compromised by having Rocca's fate decided on the outcome of yet ANOTHER online poker game!

Perversely, the film is much more satisfying than "Stendhal" (the Argento movie it most resembles), but the director has fallen victim to his own success: The technical innovations he pioneered throughout the 1970's and 80's have now been incorporated into mainstream features, pitting him in direct competition with filmmakers whose own work is inspired by Argento's cinematic legacy. SLEEPLESS proved he could rise above such challenges, but THE CARD PLAYER is a step in the wrong direction.