High Rollers review by Bobby Blakey
John Travolta is one of those actors that has fallen into the mostly straight to home release films lately. In 2024 he teamed up with Midnight in the Switchgrass director Randall Emmett aka Ives for the heist film Cash Out co-starring Kristen Davis, Quavo, Lucas Haas, Noel Gugliemi, and Natali Yura. Now they are getting the gang back together for the follow-up High Rollers this time with Gina Gershon replacing Kristen Davis. Could this be a heist series worth revisiting or will it fail to get away with the loot?
High Rollers follows Master thief Mason who is living the criminal’s dream: island-hopping with his crew and the love of his life, Decker, while floating on a sea of stolen cash. But his dream is shattered when his nemesis, the ruthless Salazar, kidnaps Decker and forces Mason and his crew to attempt a near-impossible casino heist in exchange for her return. Hedged in by Salazar’s equally ruthless rivals, and with the FBI on his tail, Mason gambles everything in pursuit of both the big score and the ultimate jackpot: Decker’s life.
I love a good heist flick, but the first film, Cash Out just wasn’t all that great so didn’t give me high hopes for this seemingly unnecessary follow-up. I think the promos are not a good focus as it doesn’t even mention that it is a sequel and the story that its telling is not a standalone, but the events are all due to the events of the first film so if you haven’t seen it, you might get lost on some things. That is not to say that it’s all that complicated but works as one long story as opposed to a one off.
I think Travolta is great in the right part and his bald bearded vibe works for him. We know he can do action when the right thing is showcased in great flicks Broken Arrow and Face-Off as well as the underappreciated From Paris With
Love. Sadly, he never really fits the same style in this series but it’s not without trying. He tries to bring the suave intellectual approach that is right for the character but is hindered by bad dialogue and overall uninspiring script.
The story does an ok job creating a good heist with some fun twists even if you can see them a mile away. It’s just wrapped around the bad dialogue and pacing that is all over the place at times. It never finds its way out of being something more than average at best. I was keeping the hope alive that maybe there would be something fun and worthwhile to the genre, but it is not only average and forgettable, but one that could probably be skipped altogether.
Decide for yourself and check out High Rollers when it hits theaters, digital and On Deman on March 14th from Saban Films. BE sure to also checkout Cash Out available now before taking your chances on the follow up for the full story experience.