Name: The Card Counter
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: 2021-09-03T00:00:00+00:00
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe, Alexander Babara

The opening shot of The Card Counter lingers on Oscar Isaac‘s hands, shuffling a deck with meticulous precision. It’s a fitting introduction to Paul Schrader’s latest, a film that often feels like it’s trying to shuffle its way into something meaningful but ultimately falls short.

Schrader, no stranger to tales of troubled loners (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), directs Isaac as William Tell, an ex-military interrogator turned gambler haunted by his past at Abu Ghraib. The film’s premise is intriguing: a man seeking redemption through the structured chaos of card games, entangled with a young man (Tye Sheridan) seeking revenge against the same system that broke them both. Yet, despite its promising setup, The Card Counter struggles to find its footing.

What works? Isaac delivers a committed performance, embodying Tell’s quiet intensity and moral conflict. His scenes with Sheridan are the film’s emotional core, as Tell tries to steer Cirk away from a path of violence. Schrader’s signature neon-lit cinematography also shines, capturing the sleazy underbelly of casinos and motels with a grimy aesthetic that suits the film’s tone.

However, The Card Counter stumbles in its execution. The dialogue is often wooden and unnatural, as if Schrader is more interested in exploring themes of guilt and redemption than creating authentic characters. Tiffany Haddish, as La Linda, is sorely underutilized, her potential sidelined by a script that reduces her to a one-dimensional love interest. The pacing is also a issue; the film’s slow burn often tips into tedium, with Schrader’s trademark intensity feeling more laborious than engaging.

The film’s biggest misstep is its lack of originality. Schrader has tackled these themes before, and more effectively. The Card Counter feels like a retread, a lesser cousin to his earlier works. Even the film’s central metaphor—gambling as a means of control in an unpredictable world—isn’t explored with enough nuance or depth.

In the end, The Card Counter is a disappointing letdown. It’s not without its moments—Isaac’s performance, Schrader’s visual style—but these are not enough to overcome the film’s structural and narrative flaws.