The Card Player (aka Il Cartaio) is a Surprisingly Effective Cop Thriller
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The Card Player definitely has one of the stranger serial killer quirks you'll see, but if there's one guy who can tell a story of a video poker-playing serial killer, it's Dario Argento.
Written by James "Crypticpsych" Lasome
January 7, 2011
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Release: January 2, 2004 (Italy)
Directed by: Dario Argento
Written by: Dario Argento (screenplay and story), Jay Benedict (dialogue), Franco Ferrini (screenplay and story), Phoebe Scholfield (dialogue)
Starring:
Stefania Rocca as Anna Mari
Liam Cunningham as John Brennan
Silvio Muccino as Remo
Adalberto Maria Merli as Police Commissioner
Det. Anna Mari (Rocca) is hard at work on the case of a missing British woman when she receives a strange email. A mystery man claims that he has the missing girl and wants to put her up as the "prize" in a game of video poker. If the police win 3 games, she lives; if they lose 3 games, she dies (with the killer injuring his victim in some way with each loss). When the Commissioner (Merli) refuses to allow them to play, the killer proves as good as his word. Now, he's got new victims and wants to play again. It's up to Mari, an Interpol detective named Brennan (Cunningham), and a video poker pro named Remo (Muccino) to save them and hunt down the killer before they become targets themselves.
Before Dario Argento ever made a supernatural story, á la The Three Mothers Trilogy, he made his mark in the horror/thriller field in the giallo subgenre. Giallos are primarily pulpy crime thrillers known for their 
bloodshed, sex, and black-gloved killers. After he made Suspiria and Inferno he would return to that subgenre on and off, and The Card Player is a textbook example of it. Its killer is, of course, black-gloved. The gore is mostly not seen in the killings themselves (though the victims screaming while bound and gagged certainly is unsettling) but instead in the autopsies and corpse recoveries. As for the sex, Det. Mari does seem to have an unusual amount of sexual tension with almost everyone, culminating in her strangely sudden relationship with Brennan that, admittedly, verges on the absurd.
Musically, Argento opts for his usual Claudio Simonetti score. However, this time Simonetti seems to favor music that sounds a little more electronic and "cyber" than his typical Goblin stylings. This makes sense given the film centers on a killer that uses webcams, an internet game, and email as his main tools. Cinematically, Argento does a variety of "voyeur"-esque shots in The Card Player. Some shots of dialogue are from outside of the buildings where the scenes take place. Other shots seem to be from the 
perspective of someone watching the characters from afar. In addition, he must be commended for milking legitimate dread and tension out of scenes in which people do nothing but play video poker on a computer. Granted, the film never reaches the same kind of crazed visuals as a Suspiria or even a Mother of Tears… but then, it's not really supposed to. This is a b-movie cop thriller, not a story about witchcraft or alchemy. Seen in that light, the cinematic style is perfectly appropriate.
Speaking of The Card Player's b-movie sensibilities, if there's one place this is READILY apparent, it's in the broad main characters. Dets. Mari and Brennan are both the stereotypical "cop with baggage", Mari's relating to her dad and Brennan's relating to his tendency to go overboard on cases. The Commissioner is the same type of boss you'd expect to see, refusing to negotiate with the killer at first and reluctant to bring in outside help unless he absolutely has to. Remo is pretty much just your standard nerdy gamer, lacking in social skills. However, it should be 
pointed out that all of these characters are still well-acted and likeable and that Mari manages to expand her character somewhat from the base stereotype by incorporating elements of an ass-kicking slasher "final girl" (particularly in an intense apartment scene). Also, Argento does add a few characters that seem to be entirely his own. For instance, there is no explanation that adequately describes the weird, dancing morgue worker who shows Mari and Brennan one of the bodies.
I guess my big problem is that I love The Card Player, and apparently I'm not supposed to. If you do a quick Google search, you'll find many critics have called this an average movie with very few of Argento's stylistic touches. They call it a disappointment and a step down from his other work. I'll freely admit that a couple of things do bother me (like just how much sexual tension Det. Mari seems to have with the ENTIRE male�cast). Really, though, this film gave me everything I wanted: a thrilling cop movie with just a touch of Argento weirdness and spice to make it unique. It doesn't need to be an "Argento" movie, it needs to be a giallo that Dario had to have directed, a task it meets and surpasses.
The Card Player is an overlooked Argento gem that deserves its fair shake. It's well-acted, brilliantly shot, and surprisingly intense. Stylistically, it's no Suspiria, but it does serve as a reminder that he can still make giallos just as well as he used to if given the chance.
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