There hasn’t been this many twists in a film since Inception, and in Poker Night they all work. The edgy little DVD has the ‘full house’ of twisted thrillers, good acting, creative directing, a good production crew and affecting cinematography. The cast will look familiar to you as they’ve been in several films and roles on some of the most popular television shows. If you like crime films that involve serial killers, then you can bet this one will win the pot.
Rookie detective trainee Stan Jeter (Beau Mirchoff) has been invited by his mentor Det. Mike Calabrese (Ron Perlman) to the inner sanctum of his precincts best detectives, a poker game night. Here he gets to meet retired Detective AJ Bernard (Giancarlo Esposito), Detective Floyd Maxwell (Titus Welliver), Det. Davis (Corey Large) and Det. Cunningham (Ron Eldard), all who have been honored for their work on the force.
They start the first hand of poker and Floyd fills him in that he cannot win, only the best players can win, and a rookie has never won a hand of poker on poker night. Each of the men will in turn offer one rule of advice to Stan as they deal out a round. As they hand out the advice the movie plays out providing insight in how Stan will solve one of the most heinous crimes that ever hit the city, or will he?
Director and writer Greg Francis pulls a lot of tricks on his audience from the opening scene to the very last minute. He makes his film compelling showing the main perpetrator (played by Michael Eklund) kidnapping young girls throughout the film. The serial killer is monstrous with a leather bound mask, quick to defend himself and stealth when it comes to escaping. Francis has each of the men at the poker table involved in trying to catch the criminal keeping his audience guessing which one, how, and if at all.
The actors are terrific in their roles, each as good as the next. The winner here however is the rookie Stan played by Mircoff, because he gets to play opposite the best in the business. Mircoff hones his character showing the challenges he has to go through to meet the expectations of the best detectives in the business. Many may know him as he has been around for some time playing the role of Matty McKibben in 66 episodes of the TV series “Awkward”. Here he shows he’s a pro giving a clutch performance in one of the best plot twist movies in a decade.
Poker Night has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains graphic violence, profanity, sexual situations and smoking. The audience for this DVD should be males 17 and over who like high style crime action with a lot of chances to figure it out.
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Ron Perlman, Giancarlo Esposito, Beau Mirchoff, Titus Welliver, Michael Eklund, Ron Eldard, Corey Large
Director and Writer: Greg Francis
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, contains graphic violence, profanity, sexual situations
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror
Running Time: 1 hr. 44 min
Video Release Date: June 10, 2015
Original Film Release Date: November 20, 2014
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen “Letterbox” Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: XLrator Media
