The Player

Probably spoilers. I though that Philip Winchester was an actual soldier. I came to watch The Player following his career and I really hope he gets more recognition. The series do not disappoint. Its like a good book... I cant stop watching it. The show starts with "silly" idea of what is all about, but they sell it to you as "silly" as well. Totally bought it. A few other stories/movies/TV shows, talk about rich people's weird gambling habits. It has a brilliant kind of dark humor to it. Wesley Snipe's is fun and scary at the same time. It's sad that this show doesn't have more recognition. It has a great punch of action and GREAT acting by Winchester (who I though was British)

I enjoy action movies with a good plot but not too much rambling dialogue. I started watching Blacklist, it started out good with some mystery. But it just turned into a slow plodding tough talk diatribe! The Player has a star/ leading man that we all know can actually fight. It is excellent to see Mr. Snipes back on top. I really marvel at his character because he is a suave, dapper, well dressed business man, running an underground enterprise, which is very believable. It's believable because we all know or have heard stories of what happens to people in Vegas that are loan sharks and high rollers. Sometimes I watch just to see what Wesley is wearing because I want to purchase the suit combination he's sporting. I also wait for the fight scene when he has to regulate an unscrupulous character. It seals the deal because his fight scenes are believable, knowing he can actually fight. This is a refreshing show to a boring, repetitive sitcom theme.

Las Vegas is the gambling capital of the world so it is no surprise that this series that shows 'The Player' preventing various crimes while anonymous wealthy gamblers bet on whether he succeeds is set there. Alex Kane is the Player in question, a former intelligence officer who has been recruited to work for The House after his wife has disappeared, presumed murdered. His contacts there are 'Pit Boss' Isaiah Johnson who picks the bets and 'Dealer' Cassandra King who provides him with all the information he needs. Each episode is dedicated to one bet, although sometimes there are secondary related bets. While he is working for The House he learns that his wife is in fact alive but he has no idea where she might be or why she disappeared; Mr Johnson agrees to use the resources of The House to find her but it is by no means uncertain that her disappearance wasn't arranged to help Kane's recruitment. A few episodes in and it becomes apparent that the FBI is interested in Mr Johnson; wondering how he is connected to various ex-special forces people and suchlike (former Players) in the Las Vegas area. This series started well enough showing us Kane being recruited and introducing us to the main characters and sowing the seeds of doubt concerning what happened to Kane's wife. These episodes are centred on a 'bet of the week' where Kane stops various crimes which inevitably lead to some action; this action is pretty impressive. Philip Winchester does a solid enough job as Kane although he is somewhat overshadowed by Wesley Snipes who plays Johnson… at first I thought he was wasted in the role but as we learn more about the character, and we see that he is more than a man in a sharp suit, he gets to do more with the character and make him interesting. Other notable performances come from Charity Wakefield as Cassandra and Damon Gupton who plays Detective Cal Brown' a friend of Kane on the Las Vegas police force. The most disappointing aspect of the series is that just as it steps up a gear and gets really interesting it was cancelled leaving the viewer wondering what on Earth happens next… the last episode was really great but it certainly wasn't a great last episode. I just wish that when series like this are cancelled they would get a couple of episodes to wrap it up; even a rushed ending would be better than ending it as more questions are being raised and none are resolved. Overall a promising start and I'm sure I'd have rated it slightly higher if it had continued but it is hard to recommend a series which ends in such a frustrating manner.

then you will certainly like this. Car chases, explosions, bullets flying, hand to hand combat, damsels in distress and treachery. Fast paced action with an extra sprinkling of complex plot. One user pointed out that an over used plot device was used (SPOILER)i.e.that the wife had died. Well did she? I compare this the FF7 mainly because if The God's Eye role that the Dealer plays and the action. The acting is very good. And Wesley knocks it out of the part as an amoral, ambivalent sociopath with a personality, and he radiates danger. Far-fetched? Maybe, but so was FF7 and I enjoyed that! The protagonist, Phillip Winchester looks the part of an action hero and plays it well.