A female police detective (Stefania Rocca),who works for the cyber crime unit in Rome. She receives an mysterious e-mail that the recent tourist is captured by the kidnapper. This psychopath wants to play poker on-line with the police, this crazed person rules are simple if you can beat him for three games. He promises, he will let his victim go if you can beat him. A British police officer (Liam Cunningham) comes to help the Italian police officers to catch the killer. But this murderer is so good at poker and he manages to keep the police away from finding him. Their only option is finding a young brilliant poker player (Silvio Muccino),who could save lives of the psychopath's would-be victims.

Directed by Dario Argento (Do you like Hitchcock ?, Opera, Two Evil Eyes) made an fairly intriguing suspense-thriller that was made before "Untraceable", which it has some of the same ideas. This Italian import is actually well dubbed in English, good performances by the leads, some suspense but flawed and sometimes incredibly absurd (not to mention, not everything in the story makes sense). It is one of the few Argento's movies doesn't have graphic gory violence or memorable set-pieces. Also, it is one of Argento's most straightforward films, although not one of his best works as a filmmaker.

The DVD has an good anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an decent Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The DVD has an fairly interesting commentary track by film critic Alan Jones, interview with the director, interview with Claudio Simonetti (Who worked on most Argento's films) and more. Perphas the problem with the film is the conclusion, the identity of the villain is unexpected but the suspense at the climax is played for unintentional laughs and an unbelievable ending as well. "The Card Player" does have some dark humour, the cinematography is good and it's a modest Argento movie. Fans of the director's work will enjoy this best. Written by the filmmaker and Franco Ferrini (Once Upon a Time in America, The Stendhal Syndrome, Trauma). Worth a look. (*** 1/2 out of *****).

This low budget outing from acclaimed Italian director Dario Argento is about on par with his previous movie, SLEEPLESS. It mixes familiar elements from the giallo film with some new-fangled sequences of torture that have more in common with the SAW franchise, although it's worth mentioning that this film came out a year before the first SAW movie. Essentially, it's nothing we haven't seen before, but it tells the familiar story in a slick and efficient way.

Like many movies released around the year 2000, it adds technology to the story. There's a serial killer kidnapping women in Rome, and he taunts the police by offering up the lives of his victims in games of video poker. He wins, the woman dies; he loses, he lets her live. There's little more to the plotting than that, and none of the directorial flourishes or sequences that you'd expect from a director like Argento: this is a film that could have been directed by anybody.

Still, if the story's a little too pedestrian, the cast more than make up for it. Stefania Rocca is particularly good as the tough female detective assigned to the case, and she's given excellent support by imported Irish actor Liam Cunningham (THE ESCAPIST),playing a booze-addled copper. James McAvoy lookalike Silvio Muccino is also appealing as the young gambling addict unwillingly drawn into the case.

Gorehounds will no doubt feel shortchanged by this outing as most kills are off-screen and the movie feels tame for a director of Argento's repute, although SFX man Sergio Stivaletti has fun by making up some icky dead bodies. Similarly, Claudio Simonetti's score is low key and unmemorable, a far cry from his work on such classics as SUSPIRIA. But accept this film as lesser Argento, like I did, and you might just enjoy it: as a simple suspense flick that ticks all the boxes.

In Rome, after the abduction of a British tourist, the police inspector Anna Mari (Stefania Rocca) is contacted by the criminal, who self-entitles The Card Player, challenging the police department to dispute a video poker with him where the prize would be the life of the victim. The Chief of Police refuses to participate and the victim is tortured and killed in front of an internet web cam. The British detective John Brennan (Liam Cunningham) is assigned to investigate the case and when another woman is kidnapped, they invite the addicted player Remo (Silvio Muccino) to play for the police. Anna and John lead the investigation trying to disclose who might be the serial-killer.

In a condition of fan of Dario Argento, I am completely disappointed with "The Card Player". The screenplay is silly, full of clichés and plot holes, there are some terrible support actors and I do not understand why the DVD is dubbed in terrible English, without the option of the original language. The biggest holes are: (1) the motives for the serial-killer to torture, kill, play card and provoke the police are never explained, and the only justification that the murderer gives is that he loves Anna. (2) How could be a tape of the game, if the other player selects the card to hold and to discard? How could the maniac anticipate the movements and have the timing of the opponent? Sorry, but it is impossible and not feasible. The gorgeous Stefania Rocca and Liam Cunningham have good performance, but unfortunately Dario Argento was careless and lazy with his story and script. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Jogador Misterioso" ("Mysterious Player")