Traders

from the technical or artistic angle by no mean it is amazing. there's nothing remarkable, no treat for the senses.

however the subject is disturbing making the film interesting enough & leaving an impression on the mind (mine at least).

it's a dive in the world of losers with no hero in it but a wide bunch of losers accepting their condition & running to their death (one way or another).

what is missing beside that psycho-sociological study (through the Vernon character mainly but not only) is a spiritual/philosophical angle to make it truly deep & multi-layered with more subtle character development, better narration & dialogues (i would have liked to see/hear poetry or sarcasm or irony or real funny quotes -they tried but they fail IMO like at the co-worker funeral... something more).

in other words, what is missing is a Stanley Kubrick or a Shane Carruth (re-)writing it & directing it.

conclusion : worth watching but shame it's not the masterpiece it could well have been with more work & perfectionism in the writing & directing.

the generous 7 is because it does leave this lasting impression (unlike 99% of Hollywood productions forgotten 10 minutes after it's over)

I was pleasantly surprised by this film, which is if you want a plot summary for i'm sure you can just go to IMDb or Wikipedia. I checked it out because I saw John Bradley was in it and i'm a big GOT fan. Alas in this film Bradley plays Vernon, an out of work want to be entrepreneur who concocts the idea of "trading" in which two people put all of their net worth into a bag, and challenge each other to a fight to the death in which the winner nets both bags. Vernon is very Samwell Tarylish in his neurotic-ness and the lead character, Harry, played by Killian Scott acted out his character arc brilliantly as out of work and hopeless man in the beginning to wealthy terminator by the films end. As the movie ran shortly under 90 minutes it felt like a long episode of an anthology series as opposed to an actual film, but nevertheless it was quite enjoyable and I suggest giving it a look.

Somebody, in previous review, mentioned that the plot was straight as an arrow, but I have to disagree with that. I had no idea what will happen in the end, and it had plenty of twists, especially in the second half of the movie. New characters were introduced and disposed off, but each one of them had a particular part to fulfill.

John Bradley was in his character, close to the one of his in Games of Thrones. Killian Scott, I thought, did a good job, especially at the end.

The whole concept is refreshing and interesting. And I would recommend to watch the movie. 8 out of 10. Enjoy.

At first, the Movie "Traders" seemed to have a unique story to be told. After watching it, I left the theater very disappointed with how the plot didn't have any teeth. The idea that you could bet your life against another person and winner take all seemed interesting almost provocative. However, the simplistic way that it was done was boring and unimaginative. The script lacked depth and imagination with how the story played out. There wasn't any hook to keep you interested in what happened next because the plot was too shallow and obvious. The acting wasn't bad but the characters were one dimensional and underdeveloped. I highly recommend that you don't waste your time with this one.

Darkly comic but leaning more towards dark. I was impressed with the script and the acting here. This was a notch above the average B Horror Fare. I feel sufficiently genre-versed to make that call.