The Card Counter (2021) User Reviews

A flat movie with very little going for it

[jtindahouse · 5/10 · 20 September 2021]

Whenever I see "such and such presents" on the cover of a movie I think to myself oh no, this movie obviously isn't very strong and they need to attach a good filmmaker's name to it to try and trick people into thinking it's good. I hoped that wouldn't be the case with 'The Card Counter' but it absolutely was. This movie was a bit of a mess.

There are a lot of scenes where the lead character narrates different casino games and explains how best to win them. There is the odd interesting one like the card counting explanation, however most of them are embarrassing to listen to when you know a thing or two about casino games. They are both over-dramatised and over-simplified at the same time.

The film itself is just bizarre. Characters find connections without the film doing anything to sell them to us. We are just supposed to accept them. It's really odd. Also for a large portion of the film we have no idea what the point is. Things just kind of drift along and you wonder why you are even watching this. Then at the end it tries to make up for all that lost time, but again it is just so out of place, unearned and unusual that it has no effect on you at all.

I wanted to like this film, I really did. The premise sounded so good in the synopsis. I assure you though, the promise of "cinematic intensity" is not lived up to for one minute. This is one of the least intense films I've ever witnessed. I'll generously give this a 5/10. Not one I'd recommend.

Worth a watch, not much more

[nathanwilliams-42233 · 5/10 · 11 September 2021]

Whilst the final act is engaging, the journey to get there is slow, at times to the point of tedium. The story takes us from casino to casino, never truly giving a sense of where we'll end up, not really giving us a reason to care.

The dialogue has moments of humanity, but more often than not it felt heavy-handed, as if the film was written by a first-year film student attempting to prove their genius to their peers. Isaac's performance is good, given his main direction was probably along the lines of "don't give away your emotions, but remember that your past hurts." Sheridan is given very little to work with in terms of bringing his character to life, although one scene in particular allows his character a moment of relatability. Haddish brought the most lively performance of the main cast, but her characterization is probably the weakest. Defoe isn't on the screen long enough that his performance would pull the film one way or another.

I'm firmly on the fence about the visual style of the film. There are times where the angles used in conversation highlight the fact that you're hearing dialogue written for a movie, and not experiencing a conversation between people. Additionally, there are many shots that linger for what feels like an eternity, without the emotional weight or stunning beauty that usually demands that kind of visual style, leaving you wondering when the film will be allowed to resume. This includes some of the transitions between scenes.

Finally, the audio in this film has some strange moments, including phasing between mics, varying levels in the dialogue within a scene (if often sounds like switching between two mic positions or different takes), or ADR that doesn't quite match what you're seeing on the screen.

All told, The Card Counter sets out to tell a story of redemption and reckoning with your past. It manages to do so, but isn't particularly compelling along the way.

I liked it but wanted to REALLY LIKE IT

[kboi · 5/10 · 17 September 2021]

I so wanted to like this movie. And I did up to a point. The gambling topic and casinos are always an interesting topic to me. Seeing the Martin Scorsese name associated with it, I expected greatness. The movie had an interesting look to it. It did move slowly at times as the main character (William) was a moody, thinker type the entire film. That character trait did add drama to the story because you just didn't know whether he was sane, insane, a good guy, or bad guy. As the storyline progressed, we started seeing the dark, hidden past that haunted him. Where it fell apart for me was the final 15 or so minutes. Time and distance realities seemed to go into fantasyland and the viewer was expected to just accept the unbelievable in order to get to the movie finale. For a serious drama, I found that unacceptable. This movie can be considered a deep thinker movie and I can see some people truly liking the ending. I just felt disappointed and was hoping for a better climax to what was an interesting lead up to it.

(BTW: Blackjack card counting, assuming no devices are used to do it, is not illegal or cheating in the U. S. as someone alluded to in their review. Casinos don't like it because it can hurt their profit margin and if they suspect a person is doing it to their financial success, they can ban them from their privately-owned business property. It would be difficult to prove someone actually is doing it anyway).

Decent Gambling Life Portrayal - The Card Counter

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 3 April 2022]

I thought this film was going to be about a blackjack player, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was more of a Texas Hold'em experience. The film was directed by the talented Paul Schrader and stars Oscar Issac as the gambler. It also features Willem Dafoe in a cameo. The Dafoe character is very shallow, and we have no idea about how he became the person he was. However, the character exploration of William is much better. Two other characters are also featured; Tiffany Hadish as La Linda, the romantic interest for William, and. Tye Sheridan as Cirk (as in jerk). Too much Abu Gharib torture crap and not enough pyscho-poker. At times, vaguely reminiscent of Taxi Driver due to the driven personalities of the similar protagonists, but Taxi Driver far more effective. A decent take on the miserable, lonely, depressing, and meaningless existence of gamblers, and how casinos are not exciting and fun places to be; they are quite the opposite. Family is far more important.

Grim, compelling and not mainstream

[amesmonde · 21 January 2022]

William Tell is a gambler and former serviceman released from prison who sets out to reform a young man seeking help to execute a plan for revenge on a military colonel.

Writer/director Paul Schrader offers a immersive arthouse, character driven drama. It avoids all the glitzy settings, putting the underbelly of gambling on display from the point of view of a flawed, troubled, gifted card-counter with no abode on display.

Oscar Isaac delivers a multilayered method acting performance and commands the screen. Tiffany Haddish does a great turn at acting. Notable is edgy Tye Sheridan. Willem Dafoe screen time is limited but impactful and essential. Robert Levon Been music is completely fitting, like the on location feel adding atmosphere and credence.

Isaac's voice over is utilised well and welcomed like Schrader's haunting telling dream sequences. It's not mainstream viewing and this may be a godsend for some in a flooded market of mediocre, it's not the greatest film ever made but it's gripping and well made in its own right.

Overall, its grim, compelling and has a lot to say about the society, the military and revenge without spoon feeding it to the viewer.

All the suspense and buildup that leads nowhere

[michaelyue · 6/10 · 11 September 2021]

Too depressing without getting anywhere. Using music and all the scenes to create the dark and ruthless vibe, without actually letting the emotions to go places. 95% of the time it's too plain for my taste. It does discuss some deeper issue, like torturing, interrogating, revenge, PTSD, etc. It has a real tragic ending. Not a bad movie, not far from being good. Just the plot way too empty.

An interesting premise, but man, was the execution poor

[Spiderboy810 · 4/10 · 15 September 2021]

I was in the movie theater a few weeks ago and saw a poster for this movie which I had never heard of before. It had Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Willam Dafoe, and was produced by Martin Scorsese, how had I not heard of it? Then, a few minutes later, I saw the trailer. It looked interesting, showing an army veteran going into gambling while dealing with his past. It seemed like it would be pretty good.

Key word there is "seemed"

This movie started off pretty well, with Oscar Issac's character playing blackjack while, in typical Scorsese fashion, narrating to us how counting cards works. However, it's only downhill from there. The movie seems to have an identity crisis, with two different plots that never seem to mesh together well. Not to mention the fact that either plot really isn't that interesting. The card playing scenes are the best parts of the movie, but it takes forever to get to them.

(Side Tangent: You gotta love how this movie's about someone who learned how to cheat at blackjack, and then spends the whole movie playing poker. Like, it's literally the title of the movie, how do you mess this up? Tangent over.)

One of the few good things about this movie is the performances. While the script is pretty meh, the cast does the best they can with it, and they do well. I mean, they're basically reading nothing, but at least they read it well.

"The Card Counter" had promise, but almost instantly fell on its face. The slow pacing, the bland story, and the general lack of any real substance to anything happening makes it a rather forgettable movie. There isn't much to gain from watching this, so don't feel bad if you miss it. There's much better things to watch right now.

Wow

[gianmarcoronconi · 9/10 · 1 September 2023]

This is not really a review, it should be taken more as a collection of impressions of the film.

Incredibly underrated film that amazed me beyond belief thanks to its perfectly blended plots and subplots that create a beautiful dark atmosphere full of anxieties and uncertainties. In general the film is really well done and the acting is wonderful and this helps perfectly in the characterization of these very complex and multifaceted characters. Having said that, however, it must be said that the film is very underrated because its value as a thriller is great and even just the poker games cause incredible anxiety.

Bleak, well-acted, but only moderately effective character study

[bastille-852-731547 · 7/10 · 11 September 2021]

Paul Schrader's new film is, to no surprise, another dark and meditative character study that seeks to analyze complex questions relating to vengeance and morality. Oscar Isaac gives a strong leading performance in the film, and his lead role was the primary reason I was interested in seeing this. I wasn't sure whether this would be that distinct and authentic a film or a more generic one, but the very strong reviews out of Venice convinced me to see it. The film's performances are generally strong and its aesthetics are potent, but its narrative doesn't hold up quite as well as one would hope.

The film's plot centers on William Tell (Isaac,) a former military interrogator who served 8.5 years in a military prison. He has an obsessive interest in poker, and plays in various tournaments while aspiring to go to the World Series of Poker. After crossing paths with a financially troubled young man (Tye Sheridan,) a plot of revenge on a former commanding officer at Abu Grahib (Williem Dafoe) comes into formation. Isaac's character acting is disciplined and methodical, while clearly conveying the character's emotional torments, erratic tendencies, and interpersonal challenges. Tye Sheridan's performance is strong and thorough as well, and does a good job articulating a genuine sense of grit. Tiffany Haddish plays a friend of Tell who often accompanies him to various poker tournaments, but her character is unfortunately not as well-utilized within the story as she could be. I love Williem Dafoe as an actor, but unfortunately he is underutilized here as well. The film's aesthetics are characteristic of Schrader and, to a lesser degree, Scorsese (who produced the movie,) but that makes them no less strong--color contrasts, rock music, wide shots in both scale and scope, and an overarching sense of grittiness. Despite these strong qualities, the film's plot unfortunately ends up becoming more predictable and uneven as it goes on, and ends up muddling its worldview and messages on morality--or the severe lack of it. The character development in the film is not always especially interesting or authentic compared to other Schrader films. Yet the acting here makes the film a decent examination of a troubled man's past and present that spans from its opening to the very powerful final shot. 7/10.

Boring and weird

[FeastMode · 3/10 · 7 February 2022]

This movie is so slow. It requires tons of patience. And on top of that, so many parts are weird. Like why two guys who don't know each other would go on a cross-country trip together. Or why we need an unnecessary and awkward romance side plot. Or why Tiffany Haddish keeps getting roles.

My only positives are Oscar Isaac's performance and the directing/cinematography in a bunch of cool shots. (1 viewing, 2/6/2022)

Well done, but....

[Stewball · 7/10 · 11 September 2021]

Well done and engaging, but audiences are less tolerant than critics of the intricate but empty and obscure ending--which shows in the chasm between the critics vs. Audience ratings. More often than not I fall in with the critics, but in this case, I think it's a case of defending art for art's sake. It may be unfair to go so far as to put it in the Jackson Pollock "drip" pile, but it's in the same barn. Yeah, it's better than the truckloads of horror/rom-com schlock being shoveled out our cinema's projectors, but it's a change of pace, and others might see something I didn't--but I doubt it.

Dark character study of doomed soul who's tortured past seems to follow him.

[blanbrn · 6/10 · 12 September 2021]

Director Paul Schrader seems to use a little bit of "Taxi Driver" as an influence with his latest dark character study drama film "The Card Counter". The story follows William(in a good performance from Oscar Isaac) as an ex military interrogator who after his prison release puts one of his learned skills and vices to good use. That happens to be he now travels as a poker and card player competing in world series games all around the country. However his life is still haunted by past memories and his old military boss Gordo(the great Willem Dafoe) plays a part and a connection and a return to a downfall is meant for William. Along the way William has a sidekick and partner in La Linda(the sexy Tiffany Haddish and I loved the scene in which she sports that sexy black bra in bed with Oscar!) a sexy and professional street smart gal who provided some sexy eye candy scenes, and she even bonded and gets intimate between the sheets with William as she guides his winning table ways. Overall film is nothing great still it entertains with drama as one is trying to escape a dark past still it shows life is all about luck and a gamble even when love and doom is both present.

Beautifully shot, excellent performances, and a story that will stick with you after it ends.

[msbreviews · 7/10 · 15 December 2021]

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free thoughts, please follow my blog to read my full review :)

"The Card Counter is a protagonist-driven narrative focused on a hauntingly captivating redemption arc intensely elevated by an exceptional lead performance from Oscar Isaac. The actor ends his remarkable year interpreting a complex, mysterious character with who viewers must connect in order to truly enjoy Paul Schrader's layered storytelling.

From the effective flashbacks and rich narration to the unexpected final plot developments, the writer-director tackles guilt and moral responsibility in a somewhat convoluted manner with a few pacing issues.

Despite a rather expository first act too centered on gambling information, this is a must-watch movie of the upcoming awards season. Beautifully shot, excellent performances, and a story that will stick with you after it ends."

Rating: B+

Terrible disappointment considering the talent involved.

[RivereyesGR · 4/10 · 17 September 2021]

As a die-hard Schrader-Scorsese-BRMC fan, I was over the moon when this was announced and the trailer had me super hyped.

It starts off really well and then devolves into an incoherent mess of such epic proportions that I kept watching thinking to myself 'There's no way Schrader dropped the ball like that, there's probably some clever twist or reveal that's coming any minute now and all of this disconnected, disjointed excuse of a plot will somehow make perfect sense!'

Nope. Never happened.

If nothing else, it kept getting worse. A sad waste of talent for everyone involved. As others have mentioned, the poker hands were the most intense sequences filmed for this, but hey, fun fact, absolutely zero card counting involved except for a short three minute intro sequence.

This one just never took off.

The Card Driver

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 6 January 2022]

Yes Paul Schrader (not Martin Scorses who is billed quite big on the posters, even though he's just a producer) is and forever will be known for his script to Taxi Driver. And I reckon if you liked the dirty and quite mean outlook, he has on the world ... and his pacing when it comes to characters ... his weirdness writing them and how they behave ... irrationally at times or often, depending on how you look at it. Well there is a certain style you have to dig, to get with it.

Of course having someone like Oscar Isaac in the lead ... well it helps a lot! The man is amazing! If anything can be taken away from this, how stoic, yet fully commited emotionally his character is. Now that doesn't mean you'll understand or actually go along with his decisions. Especially when it comes to a kid he meets in a chance encounter. Quite a coincidence you say? Yes ... why does he act around him the way he does? Why does he help him? Even if not in the way the boy wants him to help? And does he know deep down, that the help might not conclude the way he imagines it will? There are a lot of things that are left up to the imagination of the viewers (pun intended and including a scene towards the end ... with the end result visible, but not explicitely shown) ... a tough movie to watch on many levels, but those who will love this, will really love it! Paul Schrader is never an easy watch ... you should know this by now.

Great cast overall by the way, but I was a bit taken back by Tiffany Haddish. I really dig her style and humor a lot. She seemed quite out of place for many reasons at first though. Her dialog felt more than wooden ... she did seem to struggle or at least it did feel like she wasn't convincing enough in more than a few occasions and with more than just a few lines she had to do. Of course when it came for her to be funny and sassy ... well needless to say she delivered and then some. Don't expect any nude delivery from her though - even though it's a Paul Schrader movie. She's a big name now. Not critisizing, good for her actually.

As Flat as an Opened Bottle of Year-Old Beer

[dwknuj · 3/10 · 12 September 2021]

I respect Paul Schaeder. I respect him so much that I bought my movie ticket based on the strength of his name. I loved him as a director in Cat People, American Gigolo, Hardcore. And Blue Collar. I loved his writing in Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder, Mishima, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ. Seeing The Card Counter reminded me that those past glories were long ago. I wanted to like it but, try as I may, I couldn't find much to praise. The narrative flow and rhythm just wasn't there. I couldn't empathize with the protagonists (young and old) and we didn't see enough of the antagonist to feel much of anything.

To paraphrase a far better film, the 1954 On the Waterfront, 'It coulda had class. It coulda been a contender. It coulda been something, instead of a bum, which is what it was, let's face it.'

stop the hate

[ecolorado-56870 · 7/10 · 20 September 2021]

While i admit it's far from perfect i can't get it out of my head.

It upsets me to see all the hate the movie has gotten for being "slow" "directionless" or "boring" when it was brought to us by paul schrader and martin scorsese.

There is direction just not in the form most enjoy

idk tho. I am just a 20 yr old in my parents basement.

Rings false on almost every detail...

[tccandler · 2/10 · 16 September 2021]

Having lived half of my life in poker rooms, I can assuredly tell you that "The Card Counter" rings false on almost every detail. Nothing about this morose character study has any authenticity. It also features one of the most woefully inept performances in the 5000+ films that I have seen -- a stiff embarrassment of a turn from Tiffany Haddish. Oscar Isaac tries to hold all the disparate pieces together... However, director Paul Shrader misjudges every frame of this dismal film.

One of the best films and performances of the year. Schrader and Isaac at their best.

[JohnDeSando · 10 September 2021]

"I never imagined myself as someone suited to incarceration." William Tell (Oscar Isaac)

Having written Taxi Driver and directed First reformed, Paul Schrader knows something about deeply-troubled souls, especially haunted taxi drivers and small-town cops. Now add card counting loner.

In The Card Counter, former army interrogator Bill has turned card champion while relishing his 8 ½ years in Fort Leavenworth for, it would seem, brutality at Abu Ghraib as a grunt guard. "Relished" because of the control prison afforded him, where he learned his card-playing trade. Nothing has helped him, however, to expiate his sins and redeem himself until he meets young Cirk (Tye Sheridan) and La Linda (Tiffany Haddish).

Experience the most accomplished cinematic anti-hero of the year-Bill roams the landscape of mid-west casinos, forgettable and banal, peopled by losers and wannabes looking for a romantic hit, even as the house controls their fortunes like a wizard pulling the strings of fate and laughing at his victims' impotence. Except for always-in-control Bill, whose days of interrogation control, taught to him by a sadistic major Gordo (mustachioed Willem Dafoe, inscrutably eccentric and scary), and who bets small and wins small to avoid being ejected for what he is, an accomplished card counter haunted by the ghosts of his tortured and torturing past.

The exposition is slow, more distributed than immediate disclosure. This pace lets the audience sink into Bill's world of gambling and isolation as he reveals in voiceover his thoughts about the lives he ruined and the officers like the major who escaped punishment. While Isaac steadily plays Bill with a smoldering intensity, the future begins to loom large while he and Cirk plan a reconciliation for Cirk and his mother, a consummation with La Linda, and a Dantean end for the major. In the first lies the seeds of Bill's redemption while in the last lies the revengeful legacy of an Abu Ghraib that just won't go away.

Shrader's shots are either long, to establish the emptiness of the casinos, or rapidly roaming to heighten the horror of scary Abu Ghraib, frequently tracking the anti-hero in his measured quest to control and win. As a knight errant, he meets his lady in La Linda, whose place in this man's world as a master of a stable of players is never fully realized, so obsessed is Schrader with his saturnine sociopath. In that regard, Isaac gives one of the year's most nuanced performances in the tradition of the lost but deadly Travis Bickel in Taxi Driver. Isaac is one of his generation's best actors, like Tom Hardy, whom you might forget except for the memorable characters he plays like William Tell. And Schrader does tell as powerfully as he ever did.

Just don't expect to learn how to play better poker, for The Card Counter is all about people-if you're good at the game, it's because you can look past the cards into the soul of your opponent. Paul Schrader is just such a soul-searching writer/director. BTW-Martin Scorsese is a producer and presents the opening title card--no surprise there.

Talent

[omarcantbestopped · 7/10 · 25 September 2021]

I didn't like the entire ending of the movie and if the concept was just about Counting Cards and playing Poker would have been a better, fun, entertaining movie... The entire time he resembled a poker player.

But what an incredible talent Oscar Isaac is becoming. He seriously carries the movie and lit up the screen...his acting skills are outstanding.

Close but no cigar

[tris-miles · 6/10 · 10 November 2021]

Isaacs is convincing, the story, less so. It's dark, but not dark enough. Emotional and yet aloof. It doesn't sink in as deep as it's intended to, and yet cuts deep enough to make some kind of mark. Shallow and yet just about enough depth to swim in.

Is it Kirk with a C? Or The Card Counter with an F?

[schoolfa · 2/10 · 14 September 2021]

Honestly shockingly boring. Literally the most memorable part of the movie was the "Kirk with a C" line. The only time the audience in the theatre laughed or made noise. Movie is not memorable, no one in the group who watched it can remember the movie title. It's been called "The Card Collector, The Gambler" etc... In all seriousness though, the one plus is the social commentary on the torture in Iraq. Which is why the movie gets a 2 not a 1. Also Haddish's tone doesn't fit the movie at all. Every time she speaks it almost sounds like she's being dubbed into the film after the fact. Her voice is almost in a comedic or playful tone, which is quite jarring when she's responding to the dark tone of all the other characters and Oscar's serious lines... And it's not for comedic relief, all her speech regardless of context sounds like that in the film. Unfitting.

This does not deserve a 6 by any means.

[fede4488 · 8/10 · 22 January 2022]

I swear people these days can't stand anything that isn't fast paced, action filled movies. Did you all think this was going to be Ocean's Eleven or that Kevin Spacey Vegas movie?

Classic & wellmade SlowBurn

[shahbazapr · 7/10 · 27 February 2022]

Charting the post prison life of an ex Army "Abu Ghraib" fall guy: the film moves slowly and cautiously into it's rythm, and does well with it's subject matter. We see poker, we see torture, we see wrong and attempts at salvation.

This film is about the heart and soul of America in many ways; it presents a slow, tacit narrative held together well by Oscar Isaak, and the support. There is an intensity that kept me fairly engaged - my rating stands: good movie, could have used a little more color in the DOP department, but otherwise a good find!

Directionless

[alex-vaewsorn · 3/10 · 12 September 2021]

Isaac is great, Sheridan and Dafoe are good. Haddish is someone out of place here unfortunately. Directionless movies. Well written but goes down in flames on screen. Now if only it going down in flames was exciting... which it isn't.