Review of Poker Night (2014) by Rob H — 25 Feb 2018

Poker Night starts off with a bang and doesn't let up. It follows a somewhat frantic pace, but, by way of crafty storytelling, manages to be much more than just another mindless hack 'n' slash film. In fact, labelling Poker Night a hack 'n' slash film at all, is doing it a disservice. There is far too much thought and creativity put into the story, for that.

Flashbacks are a central focus in Poker Night and they're cleverly utilized. Each veteran cop who partakes in poker night, takes the viewer on a journey back in time, imparting wisdom.

That directly pertains to protagonist, Beau Mirchoff's survival. What's interesting is that Mirchoff acts out each cop's flashback, rather than the cops themselves. It's a unique approach that I really enjoyed.

Poker Night does an outstanding job of visual storytelling and it's cinematography suits the story perfectly. The score is equally impressive.

The cast is solid, with strong performances around the table, no pun intended. I especially liked Michael Eklund as the psychotic serial killer. When unmasked, his eyes were perfect for the job. Very sick stuff.

Arguably, Poker Night's greatest strength is how it merges several genres (thriller, horror, suspense, action, comedy) into one, while avoiding the whole "jack of all trades, master of none" moniker. It takes a well thought out story to accomplish this and shouldn't be overlooked.

For instance, I was completely shocked in several scenes and burst out laughing in several others. Especially the killer's "family life" flashback, where he was still wearing his killing mask. I felt like a manic lunatic watching it myself. Good stuff.

In closing, Poker Night is not the greatest individual thriller, horror, suspense, action or comedy movie of all time. What it is, is one of the only movies I can think of, that combines all of these genres into one film. That alone makes it unique and well worth you 105 minutes.

It's fragmented yet seamless, it's tricky, it's unpredictable, it's stylish, it's clever.

And most of all, it absolutely deserves a higher score than 44%. Throw in a big name actor and the score probably doubles. Again, stupid but true.

Definitely recommended.