"The Card Player" is a by-the-numbers exercise in film-making. It manages to incorporate a good handful of modern thriller clichés while failing to bring anything new to the genre. Also, the finale of the film is a disappointment and rather crudely staged.

The soundtrack by Claudio Simonetti is one of the film's strong points, although I believe this is another "love-it or hate-it" element of the film which has split viewer opinion. Sure, it isn't as strong as "Deep Red" but I found the music hit the spot and added to the atmosphere.

As a movie experience, it's not a complete disappointment. The performances are strong, particularly from the female lead played by Stefania Rocca, and there are a few moments of genuine tension. Although not suffering from boredom, the film never really had me on the edge of my seat. There are some great touches, such as the operatic medical examiner (Luis Molteni from Argento's "Phantom"), but the film lacked the usual Argento perverse psycho-sexual darkness.

There's been a lot of discussion about Argento finishing his Three Mother's trilogy. Based on my experience of "The Card Player", I feel that many die-hard Argento fans may find any future projects to be disappointing. At the end of the day, Dario has a lot to live up to and perhaps expectations can be unreasonably high. However, it's great to see giallo films still being made by the old master and perhaps he still has some surprises in store for us. Despite my reservation about The Card Player, I'm hoping there will be many more future films from Argento....