Addiction to Losing
The Gambler
I know that I have probably talked about this before, but I
think that Hollywood needs to stop producing remakes of ‘classic’ movies. They
are adored for a reason and remaking them just takes away from what made them
great in the first place. Of course my rants aren’t going to stop Hollywood
from doing what they do, so I am left here reviewing them for you good readers.
Sometimes I am surprised by how well a remake can be like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I know I am going to hear grief for
that, but I liked the direction the film took and the dirty farm-like tone the
movie had. In 2014, Paramount Pictures took
a chance on another 1970’s film that starred James Caan (The Godfather)
simply titled The Gambler.
Literature professor Jim
Bennett (Mark Wahlberg Lone Survivor) is a very intelligent man,
except when it comes to his money. You see Bennett has bit of a gambling
problem. Bennett’s problem is that he doesn’t know how to walk away. Bennett
owes a prominent Korean ‘businessman’ $240,000 and has 7 days to come up with
the money or bad things will happen. To solve his problems, Bennett keeps
borrowing money from various loan sharks all the while racking up more and more
debt. Bennett only has a week to solve his problem or he won’t be teaching for
very much longer.
It must be a running theme in Hollywood right now to produce
movies that could be great, but lack the extra humpf to make them better. The Gambler is another great example of
this. While this movie isn’t bad, it just never becomes great. Wahlberg’s
performance is good, along with John
Goodman’s (Roseanne) supporting
effort. Just felt like there was something missing the whole film to push it
over the edge into memorable.
This film is a good character study of Jim Bennett and his
view of a black and white world. Bennett is either all in or all out and there
is nothing in between for him. Wahlberg does a magnificent job encompassing
that part of Bennett. Wahlberg shows the lack of self-pity that most indebted
gamblers are and accepts the consequences of what he has done. Wahlberg also
does a great job of carrying a weight of self-contempt throughout the film.
Wahlberg never tries to make Bennett into a hero or likable because he knows
that he is a jerk and lowly addicted gambler. Besides Wahlberg, Goodman’s Frank has amazing presence in the film.
This isn’t due to Goodman’s size, but because of how Goodman carries himself
within the film. Goodman masterfully steals every scene that he is in by
exuding power and confidence.
Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the
Planet of the Apes) takes on the directorial duties for this remake. Wyatt
gives a great tone to the film by giving the film an amazing mixture of modern
film and 1970’s crime aura to the movie. Though I haven’t seen the original, I
can tell that Wyatt wanted to keep at least the essence of the 70’s original.
Wyatt also makes sure that the audience is focused on Bennett throughout the
entire film. Wyatt makes sure that Wahlberg is the centralized figure in almost
every shot. By doing so, the audience can experience this psychological journey
with Bennett.
Throughout this review and all as I was watching the movie,
I could never put my finger on how Wyatt and Wahlberg could have made this film
better. Maybe could have spent a little more time with Bennett’s background and
why he views the world so harshly or maybe expanded the scenes with the love
interest to give Bennett a little more humanity. Not sure, but I do know that
there was just a small thing missing to make this film awesome. I do however
recommend the film to anyone who is a Wahlberg fan or anyone who likes great
acting.
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