Wild Card - Great Movie

I hadn't even heard of the movie called Wild Card. But I had always been a "fan" of the actor Jason Statham, and have enjoyed the movies in which he's starred. The Transporter movies come to mind, and The Mechanic movies as well. He's even joined the Fast and Furious crew and is a regular on the Expendables franchise. He's been a great action movie star for more than a decade now, and is tops in the genre, up there with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

When I was channel surfing today, I came across a Jason Statham movie I hadn't seen yet, called Wild Card, and as I said, hadn't even heard of. So with the wife beside me, I settled down for the evening to check it out on the "On Demand" feature of my TV service.

At first it was kind of slow. I was even thinking I might not last for the duration of the movie. But it picked up a bit, and the climax of the story was such that I ended up thinking this was a movie that might even be one of my all time favorite movies. It's up there with The Transporter, to be sure, and even John Wick, which I thought was a great movie too, albeit with Keanu Reeves as the star instead of Jason Statham, but whatever.

I have had enough of the tough chick movies that have flooded Hollywood lately. Look, I am not a misogynist, I guarantee you. But watching a 5' 2" woman whose 110 pounds, like Scarlett Johansson, beat up dudes who are over 250 pounds like they are nothing more than first graders just doesn't make it for me. A tough guy like Jason Statham is totally convincing however, and is perfect for the role of a tough guy like the character Nick Wild.

But wait, there's more. Nick Wild was not a typical tough guy. He didn't go around beating everyone up in every scene throughout the movie. I was even thinking at one point that the action scenes were far and few between, thus my initial impression that I might not last the duration of the show. But the show was more than just about a tough guy. Because Nick Wild is not just a tough guy. (Although what a tough guy he turned out to be!)

In Wild Card, Nick Wild is a multifaceted personality, very complicated, with strengths and weaknesses, which will satisfy even the strictest critics who pine for multi-dimensional characters. But when it was time for Nick to spring into action, the viewer, (me in this case,) was not dissatisfied. I was thoroughly entertained, and now I have another movie to claim as an all time favorite.

Jason Statham once again cements himself onto my list of all time favorite actors. I would ask the movie gods to please make more movies like this. And I have one in mind. It's called Killer of Killers from a novel written by an author named Mark M. DeRobertis. It even comes with a sequel: Killer Eyes. Who knows. One day it might happen.