Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Theo Robertson You can see this having some potential with a premise of " Psychological thriller where a serial killer plays mind games with cops on the internet involving card games " . It's a relatively idea to pitch and the internet and home computers were really taking off round about the time this film was produced . I do remember being connected to the net in March 2001 and coming across " The Official Gary Glitter website " and finding something called a guestbook that seemed to contain threats of violence and other mayhem quite often by people with extreme right wing affiliations . In amongst fits of laughter that made me resemble someone having an epileptic fit I decided to send my own kind regards to Glitter and hoped he and all his fans received a good slap in the face with a stanley knife . I then found a link on the website celled " Contact the webmaster " and thinking a " webmaster " might be a sort of internet police thing controlling what is put up on the interweb I then wrote off to them saying something along the lines that Glitter was a convicted paedo and needed executing while the Glitter website needed closed down instantly . It might sound ridiculous now but I thought that's what a webmaster was . I was shocked to discover a couple of hours later that the website was still going and that the guestbook now contained my name and email address along with a message along the lines of " Hey lay off Gary you Nazi freaks . Gary's the best and you know it " that was accredited to me " I also noticed there was a few messages in my email inbox from people I'd no knowledge of and gave up reading them after the first couple were less than complimentary to put it mildly . I then had to undergo the indignity of going on to a Neo-Nazi website and posting an open letter on the forum saying I didn't write that message on the GG website and could people stop sending me death threats . To be fair I did get a nice email from one of them saying he never made any threats to me and he thought I was a good guy because I wanted Gary Glitter to be tortured to death . I couldn't agree more I'm obviously digressing a little bit but THE CARD PLAYER plays hard and fast where the internet is concerned . Someone is using several servers and that's why the cops can't get a trace ? Yeah sure it is . I'm sure if they bothered they could trace he source very easily but I guess because it's a film where some suspension of disbelief is needed . Unfortunately some entertainment is needed also and we really don't get much . Being an Argento film you're expecting a bit more in the way of horror stakes and we don't get them and nor do we get much in the way of thriller element . It's very talkative and that's maybe the problem . Irish actor Liam Cunningham ( Somewhat surprisingly cast ) is god enough in his role but that's probably because he's using his own voice where as I'm fairly certain the Italians are speaking in their own language and they've been re-dubbed in post production . This means we're unrealistic or inappropriate inflexion every time they open their mouths and when you've got a film that revolves around people talking , talking and talking the film has to work on both the dialogue and the way the cast deliver it and in that way alone THE CARD PLAYER is something of a failure

Andy Kowalski "The story..well forget the stories..the stories make no sense at all..." (Carpenter)No doubt, Argento- lines are indeed not worth a hideous thought but I always tempt to mingle them endlessly with my own kind of criminal detective skills. I guess solely the storybook- catholic would watch a porn fer the the sake of having a blast with them dialog's alone, you'll get the picture...here I am, witnessing that not even the heavily armed films - under Argento's direction - have their Moments:***The serial killer and the police lady enchained to the rails, playing cards that virtually flip in slow- mo, the train in the background, nighttime.. with Simonetti's taking strangely over their heart- beat = BRILLIANT***...this is so damn fabulous and made in an artistic way of a kind...it'll stick in my head no matter how much I was smiling over them stories where all the neighbors seem guilty and no crime is seen too heinous...it will be simply overlooked (and adds a bit of charm, no less) by the way it's presented...Blatantly fascinating.I should add...it's in fact not a dynamite strike overall...nothing to get too excited but not a disappointment either...it is Argento trying to do Hitchcock but what we'll get is Van Gogh.

Paul Andrews The Card Player is set in Rome in Italy where an English tourist has been kidnapped, detective Anna Mari (Stefania Rocca) receives an e-mail from the kidnapper who calls himself the 'Card Player' in which he challenges the police to a game of online poker for the woman's life. If he winds the woman dies, if the police win she goes free. At first the police refuse to play but soon discover that the Crad Player isn't joking as they kill the woman & dump her body. English interpol agent detective John Brennan (Liam Cunningham) is brought in to work with Anna & track the killer down, however the killer strikes again & this time the police are forced to play the game of poker but with a persons life at stake the pressure is on...This Italian production called Il Cartaio in it's native country was co-written, produced & directed by cult filmmaker Dario Argento, this was Argento's seventeenth film & is maybe the worst one he has ever made & I would probably say it's the worst film from Argento that I have actually seen. There are several things that I disliked about The Crad Player, for a start if you are going into this after having only watched Argento's stylish horror thrillers from the 70's & 80's then you will struggle to believe the same guy wrote & directed this as it's just so un-Argento like. There are no elaborate set-pieces, there's no bizarre psychological motives or supernatural angle or even any real suspense or tension. The Card Player feels like an overlong made for telly crime drama full of plot holes, the big twist which I saw coming is quite literally impossible when you think about it. There is no way on Earth that the killer could have prerecorded the killings & the game of virtual poker, there's no way the killer would have known how long the police would take to make their moves or what cards they held or that they were going to refuse to play the first game but then play the second. It's impossible unless the killer had a time machine or could see into the future. Also at the start of the first poker game Anna & the killer talk to each over the internet in a chat-room, again how could the killer have done this if it was all prerecorded & they were somewhere else? Then there's the killers identity & motives, the killers identity doesn't make much difference as we never really know anything about them until they are revealed as the killer & it could have literally been anyone. Then when confronted at the end no motive is given for their actions, sure there's some nonsense about them loving Anna but so what? Why kill people & play online poker because of it? What were they hoping to achieve? What was the point? Then there's the head shaking moment at the end where the killer has Anna just where they want her handcuffed to a train track yet for some bizarre reason they then decide to handcuff themselves next to her & play a nice game of poker as a train approaches. Talk about stupid. Would a cold, calm, logical killer (who can see into the future) really handcuff themselves to a railway track with a train fast approaching? They would in The Card Player...At over 100 minutes this drags too, although there's a warmer central relationship between the two main character's than usual for an Argento film there's no heart here. One character is killed off unexpectedly but that's the only twist that works, otherwise The Card Player is fairly routine & without the usual Argento set-pieces & dazzling camera-work there's very little here to recommend. The gore is tame, there are a couple of dead decomposing bodies & someone gets impaled on some spikes but other than that nothing. I also found the online poker game really annoying, there's this crappy animation that it goes through every time someone changes a card or wins or whatever & that too drags the pace down as we see the same basic boring animated playing card graphic for the twentieth time.Filmed in Rome in Italy with a supposed budget of about two millions Euros this looks surprisingly flat & forgettable. The acting isn't that good either, a lot of the Italian actor's are speaking their lines in English & they just sound odd at times.The Crad Player is a film that I didn't like, unless someone had told me I would never have known Argento was behind this. I still say it's the worst film from him that I have seen & I've seen most of his output. Not good.

Lucien Lessard A female police detective (Stefania Rocca), who works for the cyber crime unit in Rome. She receives an mysterious e-mail that the recent tourist is captured by the kidnapper. This psychopath wants to play poker on-line with the police, this crazed person rules are simple if you can beat him for three games. He promises, he will let his victim go if you can beat him. A British police officer (Liam Cunningham) comes to help the Italian police officers to catch the killer. But this murderer is so good at poker and he manages to keep the police away from finding him. Their only option is finding a young brilliant poker player (Silvio Muccino), who could save lives of the psychopath's would-be victims.Directed by Dario Argento (Do you like Hitchcock ?, Opera, Two Evil Eyes) made an fairly intriguing suspense-thriller that was made before "Untraceable", which it has some of the same ideas. This Italian import is actually well dubbed in English, good performances by the leads, some suspense but flawed and sometimes incredibly absurd (not to mention, not everything in the story makes sense). It is one of the few Argento's movies doesn't have graphic gory violence or memorable set-pieces. Also, it is one of Argento's most straightforward films, although not one of his best works as a filmmaker.The DVD has an good anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an decent Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The DVD has an fairly interesting commentary track by film critic Alan Jones, interview with the director, interview with Claudio Simonetti (Who worked on most Argento's films) and more. Perphas the problem with the film is the conclusion, the identity of the villain is unexpected but the suspense at the climax is played for unintentional laughs and an unbelievable ending as well. "The Card Player" does have some dark humour, the cinematography is good and it's a modest Argento movie. Fans of the director's work will enjoy this best. Written by the filmmaker and Franco Ferrini (Once Upon a Time in America, The Stendhal Syndrome, Trauma). Worth a look. (*** 1/2 out of *****).