The house always wins.
Plot: What’s it about?
They do. Next time you’re in a casino stop and take a look around. Look at all the glitz and glamour. Try to find an exit. Try to see if you can see the outside world. Difficult? It’s that way on purpose. Do a 360 degree turn and take everything in. Do it one more time. They don’t build these things with your winnings. The house always wins. It might not be that day or even that month, but eventually if you gamble enough you’ll lose. It’s a fact. There are some that can beat the odds, but those are few and far between. And it’s possible to make a living by gambling, but it’s not easy. Now a few decades ago, when you wanted to gamble you had two choices: Las Vegas or Atlantic City (and various other spots around the world). But today…like anything, it’s right there on your laptop. Key in some credit card information and you can gamble away your kid’s college fund because you thought your pair of Aces would win the pot. It’s scary, actually. With the advent of the internet, online gambling and pretty much everything available online, the sky is the limit.
Richie (Justin Timberlake) was on track to have it all. A nice job on Wall Street and a potential 7 figure salary. But the rug got pulled out from under him and he’s at Princeton trying to earn his Master’s. To make a little money on the side, he gets a commission by referring some would be gamblers to an online site. However the Dean (Bob Gunton) doesn’t think too highly of this and orders Richie to stop, else he’ll be kicked out. Feeling frustrated, Richie takes his life savings and decides to see if he can pay for his tuition by winning at poker. He fails. Feeling cheated, he discovers, much to his dismay, that he was right. He heads down to Costa Rica where he seeks out the CEO of the site, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Ivan, impressed by Richie’s tenacity and intelligence, offers him a job – one that Richie jumps at and all seems well. Of course it isn’t and Richie is soon approached by the FBI and learns that not everything is what it seems; especially in Costa Rica. Richie now has to avoid the FBI and Ivan. Will he prevail?
Runner Runner received a lot of bad press because, well, it wasn’t regarded as a very well-made movie. I didn’t exactly dislike it, but I think that it seemed a bit forced and rushed. I think that Justin Timberlake has a fine future as an actor and he’s obviously a great entertainer. Affleck, like other actors-turned-director has a bright future behind the camera and that’s evidenced as his Argo won Best Picture just last year. When watching the movie I was reminded of a favorite of mine: The Firm. The plots are a little off, but both deal with the FBI attempting to goad an eager young person who seemingly has it all, only to find out that the life of bliss wasn’t exactly that. Of course a movie like this needs a female lead and an attractive one at that, so we’ve got Gemma Arterton to ogle during the 91 minutes. If you’re looking for some good movies about gambling, check out 21, Casino, Rounders or Casino Royale. As for Runner Runner, it’s mildly entertaining, but overall I’d fold.
Video: How’s it look?
Fox has provided a good-looking Blu-ray with Runner Runner and the 2.40:1 AVC HD transfer is certainly not to be missed. The majority of the film takes place in the sun-drenched locale of Costa Rica and, as such, all of our stars seem to be basked in a thin layer of sweat. Ben Affleck seems to have a perpetual five o’clock shadow and doesn’t seem to care. Detail level, as expected, looks spot on and the color palette used is very warm and inviting. I saw some grain in some of the interior shots, but nothing to get worked up about. Contrast and black levels seemed consistent and solid.
Audio: How’s it sound?
I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of the DTS HD Master audio mix and that’s good because I really wasn’t too impressed. It wasn’t a bad mix, just not that overly active and inviting. Dialogue is crisp and rich, with Affleck’s mumble not being that hard to understand. Surrounds don’t really play that big of a part in the film and the majority of the mix is relegated to the front stage. This is about as run of the mill as I can think and I’d wanted there to be a bit more action in the mix, but it just wasn’t there. While not disappointing, I was expecting perhaps a bit more.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Fox didn’t seem to take too much pride in this Blu-ray as the extras are scant at best.
- House of Cards: The Inside Story of Online Poker – Admittedly, this is pretty interesting. It’s the literal history of online poker, its growth and how it’s been immune from any sort of law up until 2011. This served as the inspiration for the film and I was actually quite intrigued.
- Deleted Scenes – With a run time of only 90 minutes, I think a few of these could have been added back in, but it’s good to have them here.
- DVD/UltraViolet Copy
