High Rollers
is the not-very highly anticipated sequel to the movie Cash Out that will have anyone who accidentally stumbles across it wondering how quickly they can turn it off. For those who watched the first movie, a John Travolta vehicle that at least had a semblance of emotional stakes and tension, you might get a little more out of High Rollers. However, the sequel spends no time catching us up or reminding us who any of the characters are. We’re dumped into the action, and the action doesn’t even have the courtesy to be good.
The fact that Travolta is giving the best performance in High Rollers is not a compliment, as every actor delivers their lines as if they’re being held at gunpoint and were given the script the day before. Gina Gershon subs in for Kristin Davis, who played Travolta’s love interest, Amelia, in Cash Out, not that she, or any of the women in the film, have anything to do besides wear offensively bad costumes and wigs. After some stilted stakes and poorly delivered exposition, we stagger into a half-baked heist film that pales in comparison to every other addition to the genre.
High Rollers Has No Emotional Appeal Or Interesting Action
The Result Is A Movie With Little To Offer
Set in what we are told is a luxurious casino in New Orleans, High Rollers spends time shouting at us about how rich and powerful the antagonists are. Unfortunately, this is undercut by the fact that the sets and production design look as expensive as daytime soap. It seems the movie spent its budget on a few mild explosions and costume jewelry. There are ways to work with a limited budget while staying true to the integrity of a script, but I have to assume that High Rollers was too lazy to care about either of these things.
Despite the fact that High Rollers throws in a few over-the-top lines about people being brothers and the gang’s past exploits, we get less than no sense of who the characters are or why they care about each other. It isn’t enough for this to have been established in the first film; we need to know here and now. Travolta’s Mason yelling into the phone every 20 minutes or so isn’t going to convince me that he cares about Amelia. I don’t expect an action movie to be character-driven, but I expect it to have characters.
High Rollers is proof enough that a movie is only too long if it’s bad.
One of the best parts of an action franchise is that you can enter into any of the movies without context. You can jump into any Mission: Impossible installment and easily pick up the beats, understanding that we’re rooting for Ethan. If Cash Out is looking to become a fully-fledged franchise, it isn’t going to get there by making movies like High Rollers. Despite being only an hour and 40 minutes long, it drags constantly, extending about 25 minutes of story into an excruciating length. High Rollers is proof enough that a movie is only too long if it’s bad.
While action isn’t my favorite genre, I can appreciate a good time and any movie that takes me out of reality for an hour or two. However, throughout High Rollers, I was begging to get back to reality and out of the tedious holding pattern of the film. I can get behind a high-stakes poker game and high-class intrigue, but it’s as if High Rollers was a caricature of a caricature. It mimics the beats it thinks it’s supposed to hit but undermines this by creating pointless intricacies and confusing drama.
High Rollers Is An Unfortunate Addition To The Action Genre That It’s Best To Skip
There Are Almost No Moments That Redeem High Rollers
Movies like High Rollers frustrate me. It’s one thing for a movie to try and fail to miss the mark, but High Rollers doesn’t even attempt to be anything worth watching, insulting the audience’s intelligence along the way. Even the so-called dad TV that’s taking the world by storm, like Reacher or The Night Agent, is doing something interesting and engaging with its viewership base. It seems as if High Rollers not only hates itself but also its audience. Even opportunities for references to classic heist movies or powerhouse action franchises are missed.
If High Rollers was trying to tee itself up for another installment of the franchise, it failed to do so at every turn. I suppose that Travolta is still a big enough name to spark some interest, but I would also guess that those who saw the first movie aren’t clamoring for a worse sequel. If this is the direction that filmmaking is going, I’m sincerely worried about the future of every genre, not just action. High Rollers might have had a kernel of a good idea inside it when it was first conceptualized, but that disappeared a long time ago.
High Rollers
1/10
- Release Date
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March 14, 2025
- We don’t understand any of the characters or why they care about each other
- The film’s dialogue is poor
- Even the action isn’t fun or engaging