"Gambit: Playing for Keeps" is an American 20-minute live action short film from 2020, so this one is still under five years old, which makes it neither really new nor old, but maybe the five-year mark got crossed already depending on when you get here to read this review of mine. The director and one of the two writers as well is Jensen Noen, who has worked mostly on music video in recent years and man has he worked on many there. I mean many successful filmmakers have launched their career with music videos, so we will see if it is a good omen for Noen too, but then again he made this film already before his recent music video directorial efforts. The cast is not super big, but still alright quantity-wise for a film of this duration. Roughly what you could expect. The protagonist is a superhero character called Gambit, fitting name given the massive card game inclusion in this movie. Gambit is portrayed by a Canadian actor named Nick Bateman, not related to Jason apparently, and you may have seen the man alongside Rutger Hauer in Hobo with a Shotgun. The most famous cast member we have here is Eric Roberts though, who is of course an established Hollywood actor, and he plays the main antagonist. I find it kinda nice if people like him (maybe not a big name, but still really well-known) accept a role if they see an interesting script and project and give it a chance, even if it is just a fan film. You don't see that too often, but Roberts' inclusion certainly helped the promotion of the film and quality prevails. For a short film, it is maybe overall a 4/5 even, but for a film in general I give 3 stars out of 5.
You already see with the explosion at the very beginning that the film would be heading in an interesting direction. It was also a bit funny when I guessed first that the main character cared more about a car being undamaged than about the health of a female character and she looks annoyed because of it, but turns out she is one of the villains anyway and maybe the real reason why she was not amused was because the hero did not show any sigs of fear at all. The way she could open these fire portals was pretty cool though, also looks-wise. Must have been a burning scent in the air all the time. The movie had to offer a lot there, also very short moments like when we see a dangerous card hit a laptop and what it does to it. The ending could not have been any happier really. A few moments earlier, it seems as if the bad guy would indeed get away and perhaps a sequel might follow at some point, but the way he is killed is almost more of an epilogue with what happens before. Or it is not 100% sure that he dies, so they keep the option of a sequel possible. It does not seem unlikely, maybe even a full feature if we look at the fact that this film has scored millions of views I the between three and four years now since lead actor Bateman uploaded it on Youtube. I would probably watch a sequel and I would surely not be the only one.
I am sure they could come up with interesting characters again like those folks at the table there including the guy with the massive scar in his face, the former Senator of the United States, the one who loves torturing and the African warlord. The latter has barely been seen and also I think we don't see him getting killed by Gambit. I wonder if they were scared of criticism because of the man's color, so they kept him out of the action pretty after his introduction and some occasional table shots before the violent escalation. If so, then big boo and thumbs-down to the makers. Political agenda should be kept out as political correctness is getting enough already in the way of creativity on so many occasions. Not only movies. Anyway, after this general statement, let's get back to the film at hand. I liked the torturer maybe the most from the quartet of henchmen I just mentioned, even if seeing the guy with the scar in his face stand there with a massive hole in his torso was another moment where the film delivered great visuals and effects. I would still prefer to watch a film that focuses on the torturer maybe before the events of the card game day. That is all now. I give the outcome here a thumbs-up. I am usually pretty strict with fan movies, but this one here won me over for the most part and I don't see many flaws. Maybe Rogue was a bit uninteresting and too unharmed for what they did to her. Or that I did not like the title character too much, which comes down to personal preference of course. But I have to dig deep there as you maybe recognize. So I recommend the watch and say that you should also go see it. Most likely, you are not gonna regret it.
You already see with the explosion at the very beginning that the film would be heading in an interesting direction. It was also a bit funny when I guessed first that the main character cared more about a car being undamaged than about the health of a female character and she looks annoyed because of it, but turns out she is one of the villains anyway and maybe the real reason why she was not amused was because the hero did not show any sigs of fear at all. The way she could open these fire portals was pretty cool though, also looks-wise. Must have been a burning scent in the air all the time. The movie had to offer a lot there, also very short moments like when we see a dangerous card hit a laptop and what it does to it. The ending could not have been any happier really. A few moments earlier, it seems as if the bad guy would indeed get away and perhaps a sequel might follow at some point, but the way he is killed is almost more of an epilogue with what happens before. Or it is not 100% sure that he dies, so they keep the option of a sequel possible. It does not seem unlikely, maybe even a full feature if we look at the fact that this film has scored millions of views I the between three and four years now since lead actor Bateman uploaded it on Youtube. I would probably watch a sequel and I would surely not be the only one.
I am sure they could come up with interesting characters again like those folks at the table there including the guy with the massive scar in his face, the former Senator of the United States, the one who loves torturing and the African warlord. The latter has barely been seen and also I think we don't see him getting killed by Gambit. I wonder if they were scared of criticism because of the man's color, so they kept him out of the action pretty after his introduction and some occasional table shots before the violent escalation. If so, then big boo and thumbs-down to the makers. Political agenda should be kept out as political correctness is getting enough already in the way of creativity on so many occasions. Not only movies. Anyway, after this general statement, let's get back to the film at hand. I liked the torturer maybe the most from the quartet of henchmen I just mentioned, even if seeing the guy with the scar in his face stand there with a massive hole in his torso was another moment where the film delivered great visuals and effects. I would still prefer to watch a film that focuses on the torturer maybe before the events of the card game day. That is all now. I give the outcome here a thumbs-up. I am usually pretty strict with fan movies, but this one here won me over for the most part and I don't see many flaws. Maybe Rogue was a bit uninteresting and too unharmed for what they did to her. Or that I did not like the title character too much, which comes down to personal preference of course. But I have to dig deep there as you maybe recognize. So I recommend the watch and say that you should also go see it. Most likely, you are not gonna regret it.
