Nick, who was probably predestined to be a Vegas gambler with that name, doubles as a body guard and hired muscle. The film opens with him acting like an prick in a bar and getting handed his ass by a baldy man trying to get off with a showgirl. Of course we guess the truth - Nick is taking a beating to make his client look good in true ‘Men Behaving Badly’ style.
All is not lovely in Vegas however as a girl is dumped outside a hospital, beaten and bloody. She’s a friend of Nick’s and wants revenge. Meanwhile Nick gets a job looking after software developer Benjamin off ‘Gentlemen Broncos’ and seeks advice from waitress Anne Heche. Nick finds out his friend’s assailant was a well connected mob guy who is best left alone, but after minimal convincing they head over to his suite to beat him up and steal his $50k.
They split the cash but Nick knows his card is marked. He is a terrible gambler but dreams of having a boat in Corsica and decides to try and gamble up his cash. A brief montage later he‘s up to $500k but after an episode at the cash out cage he decides to try for more and loses the lot.
With the gangsters moving in for the kill can Nick survive and live out his days in the sunny Mediterranean?
This was a decent action thriller with a cracking cast but it didn’t really go anywhere and was really just an excuse for Statham to beat people up in slow motion. He again demonstrates that his range is limited, playing Jason Statham once again. This one drives a cool car and drinks grapefruit juice so at least that’s slightly different.
Stanley Tucci showed up in one scene as a kind of mafia overlord and classed up the whole affair and it was good to see Anne Heche although she was wasted in a nothing part as a waitress. You also get George off Seinfeld in a go nowhere’ I’m available for one day only’ kind of part as a lawyer or something.
The action scenes were decent and played for laughs to some extent. The last big fight, where Nick takes on a pack of goons with only his diner cutlery set for weapons, was well done and brutally violent.
There was no deep delve into Nick’s motivation and Benjamin’s character was a total deus ex machina as he solves all Nick’s problems with a couple of lines and a magic envelope. It was decent fun however and a trim 90 minutes - just don’t expect to remember much about it in the days that follow your viewing.
Best Bit : Blackjack Montage ’W’ Rating 16/23
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