High Rollers

If you want a reason to gouge your eyes out, watch this movie. Horrible plot and corny acting. A horrible soap opera. Literally would rather sit on a plane with a screaming baby puking next to me. I am questioning how someone could make this horrible of a movie. Staring at a wall is more entertaining. I would rather drink toilet water than watch this movie. Waste of time and money. I think a kindergarten musical would be a better use of time. I strongly advise that you avoid watching this movie again all costs. An experience I wish I could forget. How could this movie be so horrible within the decent cast? I don't know.

We are living in a very bad time where most movies being released are crap and they copy off of every action movie from the old days. We haven't gotten a great heist movie since Ambulance (2022), I highly recommend you watch that movie if you are into heist thrillers. Don't watch High Rollers thinking it will be as great as the 2001 classic Ocean's Eleven, you will be disappointed.

These Hollywood actors were once the biggest stars and they put lots of effort into their films, Travolta and Bruce Willis were big names in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. But today in the 2020s after the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the actors we know and love are all tired and they put zero effort into making movies.

Sad time we live in and I don't feel it will get better, this is why I'm so nostalgic. I miss the days when we constantly got a great movie and people went to DVD rental stores to pick up blockbusters. My overall rating of High Rollers is 3 stars, they tried but failed.

High Rollers is a sequel to Cash Out. Director Randall Emmett probably shot both movies back to back even though there is one significant cast change.

Master thief Mason Goddard (John Travolta) finds out his girlfriend Amelia (Gina Gershon) has been kidnapped by criminal warlord Salazar (Danny Pardo.)

In order to get her back, Mason and his crew has pull a heist on a casino. Although There is no guarantee that Salazar would keep his side of the deal.

As well as planning a daring robbery, Mason needs to deal with the FBI who are tracking him as well.

High Rollers is a straight to streaming view. Low budget but it looks glossy. It has a patchy story, horribly cliched. Travolta gives a committed performance, like an actor who is doing this hoping a better movie is offered to him next.

I feel like Travolta's peak was Pulp Fiction, after that he just keeps pumping out forgettable movies every year. This is probably the worst, this Part1 to this movie Cash Out was nothing special and this PArt 2 or sequel is laughable, acting was so unwatchable, everything felt like they were just following a script, nothing flowed or made the movie interesting. Travolta could be a good actor that his peers would respect if the right script was given to him, these heist, action type movies that he keeps getting involved as a 75 year old are not for him. At least he stopped wearing wigs and toupees in these movies but he needs to change the types of movies he accepts.

High Rollers falls apart on nearly every level. The plot is incoherent, riddled with logic gaps, and full of characters who behave in ways that make no sense. Dialogue is stiff and unnatural, leaving emotional moments feeling forced or laughable.

Visually, the film is uninspired. The camera work is flat, the pacing drags, and the editing feels clumsy - scenes either overstay their welcome or end abruptly. Add to that a mismatched, overbearing soundtrack and awkward sound design, and the result is a movie that never finds its rhythm.

But perhaps the biggest letdown? John Travolta. I had hoped to remember him for his legendary role in Pulp Fiction, not for this hollow performance in High Rollers. Watching him stumble through this mess is disheartening - like seeing a former champion trip over his shoelaces in the first round.

Honestly, after sitting through this film, I'm pretty sure I'll be having nightmares - not from the plot, but from how excruciatingly bad it all was.

Final verdict: High Rollers is a painful watch. Unless you're a glutton for cinematic punishment, avoid it. Your time - and your memory of John Travolta - deserves better.