If you take away the muscles, comedy, action sequences, babes, and stripped it all down to the bare bones, you get a more than genuine turnover for lead top billed actor, Mark Wahlberg. Who captivates his brightest here in Rupert Wyatt’s gritty 2014 remake of the same name from a few decades ago. Unlike that movie this update takes a proactive stance at gambling addiction, depicting someone who loses thousands upon thousands at a mediocre game of Russian roulette, but when given many opportunities to subside, the man never stops giving in to his overzealous, yet abusive tendencies.

The Gambler is more than just about ‘gambling’ I sincerely hope that is not ALL you walk away from when viewing this movie. Wyatt’s vision turns into a lucrative state of the human mind (ideally) and mainly depicts a tale of woes and lies, amid manic depression our lead character faces. Filled to the core with F-bombs to propel the flick into it’s well earned R rated territory. There is no heavy violence, strong sex scenes, or torture. Gambler is strictly a story about passion, and cruelty to one self. So if you think this movie is just about ‘gambling’ you are, i’m afraid, sorely mistaken.

Wahlberg plays a repressed novelists turned college english professor, Jim Bennet. The man who can walk up to a blackjack table – be up $2.1 million – and still bet it all. You can show him a 16 and he will still hit, because he knows that five is coming his way, but luck isn’t always foolproof, and that’s how Bennet likes to live his life, on the edge. Bennett likes to find a thrill in the moment, betting $80k only to lose it all instantly. His lifestyle choices are slowly beginning to be costly, as his ‘financial backers’ are becoming tireless with his wishful thinking. The movie follows Bennet in his quest to find solace in life or if suicide could be the most poetic aspect for his future.

Director Rupert Wyatt (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes) shares many common backgrounds and unique parallels that glisten from his other films. The film’s tone is paced adequately and instead does not go over the top – and takes moment for moment, which makes the film more ‘edge of your seat worthy’. The Gambler is by no means an action film (at least that is not what I think). Wyatt’s eager attention to detail could make the most prestigious directors in Hollywood proud. The scenes in which Wahlberg is standing at a casino table, with the men, who want nothing more than to kill him, standing right behind him. This plays like an episode of Fear Factor, cards flip over in slow motion, with each card landing is like a thud to our chest. Not since “Rounders” had I been so keen to a simple game of cards.

The edge does have to stop somewhere, and when Bennet steps into the real world, the film surrcombs to normalcy. We are introduce to some middling characters (unlikeable), and thats when the grasp of reality sets in. I wasn’t ready to fold just yet – but some of these scenes are dry, with no tone. The pace doesn’t get affected, running a soothing, yet refreshing 105 mins,it stays consistent. Nevertheless Wahlberg hits almost every note substantially, albeit, spouting philosophical jargon, that never quite adds up. Written by WillIam Mohan (the Departed) does a flawless job at executing aspects of the casino, and real world. Although it feels as though Bennet’s more intrusive motives seem to be impenetrable.

The film gains some much needed levity when the gangsters start becoming part of the picture. This is added almost instantly by the screen presence of John Goodmen. Goodmen commands every scene without hesitant. Dropping swear words like you’re hearing them for the first time, it drips with utter, and sheer terror. He also comes across a person that, frankly, I don’t want to mess with. Goodmen and Wahlberg easily play off each other, and every meeting was more intense than the last. The Wire’s Michael Kenneth Williams infuses a terrifying antagonists – as one of Bennett’s investors.

Finally, the material transcends over time, and the ambiguous ending adds much compensation to the story of Jim Bennett, and being in tuned with yourself. The aggressive romance and backlash faced with his mother (Jessica Lange) and love interest (Brie Larson) is eerily potent. Even if the film struggles to explain itself moronically, and the film’s metaphors can never really conjure the right accord. “The Gambler” shows that aside from high stakes gambling there is one thing so much more important, and I feel as though this was concluded by the film’s end credits, and that is; life.

B+   

Directed By: Rupert Wyatt

Rated: R

Runtime: 105 mins

Release Date: December 25th 2014

Studio: Paramount Pictures

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