The Card Counter - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Card Counter



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Paul Schrader. Wow, I haven’t seen a movie from him since 2016’s Dog Eat Dog. Let me set up this review by saying that Paul Schrader is going to be divisive, there’s just not way around it. Like Wes Anderson, or David Lynch, or other oddball directors, you either go with his atmospheric character studies, or you end up hating his films. The man has distinct talent, but not every film he does is a hit I must admit. I went into The Card Counter completely blind on purpose, as I didn’t watch the trailer, and just briefly skimmed the press release description of the film, and I ended up very pleasantly surprised. The movie is a fascinating character study with an intense atmosphere and a unique cast that really gives incredible performances. The only problem with the film is that it runs out of steam in the final act and has a hard time wrapping things up.

With a name like The Card Counter you might assume we’re going into a scam/heist gambling movie. Something like 21 or Ocean’s 11 where a group of people are trying to scam a casino. The thing is, the name of the movie and Oscar Isaac’s character BEING a card counter are about the only time you even hear the term being used. It’s just a nom de plum by which our titular character is known as, end of story. The story starts out simply enough. William Tell (Oscar Isaac) is a professional card counter after learning the skill in prison. He goes from casino to casino across the country plying his trade, never winning too big to attract the ire of the casino managers, but enough to make a comfortable living. However, running into a young boy named Cirk (Tye Sheridan) changes the direction of his life a bit.

It turns out that “William” was once an advanced interrogator for the infamous Iraq war Abu Ghraib prison debacle under president Bush where it was found that we were torturing people in ways that was against our legal and ethical code. The soldiers got punished for their crimes, but like how it is in real life, those behind the soldiers vanished into the night or got off with a slap on the wrist. William spent years torturing people there under the command of Major John Gordo (Willem Dafoe) before being court marshaled and spending 8.5 years in Leavenworth (and of course Major Gordo got off scott free due to being an “independent contract” not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Military). Cirk turns out to be the son of one of the other interrogators at Abu Ghraib during that time span, and is out for revenge for what Gordo did to his father, and what he turned his father into.

Seeing an opportunity to do some good for once, William Tell takes Cirk with him on his gambling road trip, teaching the kid some gambling techniques, but more importantly trying to get to the kids heart. Hopefully he can get the kid to see the light of day and end his mission of vengeance against a man who most likely deserves punishment in hopes of saving the kid’s life from being eaten up like his has.

The story is very much a dark character study. The narrative itself is almost not needed. Sure we get a 3 arc story with the vengeance plot, but the Schraders real focus is putting THE focus on Cirk and William. Both men have had their lives destroyed by someone else, and you can just see the incredible emotions going on under William’s face, even though he barely bats an eyelash the whole movie. Oscar Isaac gives one of the best performances of his career here, and while Tye Sheridan is a solid enough actor, you’re just raptly staring at Oscar Isaac and his dull and plodding narration in utter fascination. Also the atmosphere is just intense, so hypnotic, and just VISCERAL that even when we were just staring at other poker players playing cards I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.

You can wax eloquent about how this is a character study and how it’s an anti-war film extolling the pain and suffering of what service members go through, but I will fully admit that Schrader kind of lost me in the final act. Things start happening so fast that by the time Will and Gordo face off in the final moments of the film, you realize that the absolutely fantastic first 2/3rds of the movie are slightly wasted. I really wanted to love this film, but ended up only really liking it due to that third act stumbling.




Rating:

Rated R for some disturbing violence, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality




Video:

The Card Counter was shot using Arri Alexa cameras and finished with a 4K master, leaving the 1.66:1 framed film (yeah, not a common aspect ratio in today’s cinematic world) looking quite stunning on Blu-ray. The visual aesthetics are very muted and drained of color, leaving only cool grays and some amber overtones in the casinos. The desaturated colors do show some pop every once and a while, but this is a very monochromatic experience that mimics the grim nature of the film’s story line. Fine details are excellent, and outside of some minor banding in the darkest of scenes (or against a completely gray wall) this is a stunning looking Blu-ray from a technical perspective.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track isn’t flashy or showy at all, but a very moody and atmospheric mix that really adds texture to the film. The score is haunting and almost oppressive, filtering into every crevice and crack of the movie. Bass is tight and punchy for when needed, but also knows how to be soft and enticing, adding low end weight to a scene without calling attention to itself. The surrounds are used amply due to the noisy nature of casinos, but also know when to fade into the background during the copious dialog centric scenes. Dialog is crisp and clean, straight up front and so perfectly balanced with the mix that I can’t really say anything negative about this mix except that it’s not a super exciting kinetic action track.









Extras:

• A High-Stakes World - Featurette
• Original trailer

Final Score: ​

Not everyone is going to like The Card Counter. It’s a movie that thrives off of watching characters and studying what they do rather than enjoying a typical narrative. In fact, the narrative can simply be an afterthought as it is nothing but the framework for watching Will and Cirk interact and deal with the suffering they’ve endured, and that simply is not going to appeal to everyone. I really enjoyed most of the movie, and even the ending had some satisfying moments, but Paul Schrader seemed to run out of steam and have a hard time tying all of the emotional themes together at the end. Something which he unfortunately has a habit of doing. The Blu-ray itself showcases solid video and audio, but only 1 single extra of any worth. Rental in my opinion.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe
Directed by: Paul Schrader
Written by: Paul Schrader
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: R
Runtime: 111 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 14th, 2021

Recommendation: Rental