Movies - TV
The John Wick 4 Poker Scene Is Somehow More Absurd Than Casino Royale
By MICHAEL BOYLE
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for
“John Wick: Chapter 4.”
The poker scene in “Casino Royale” is one of the most intense games ever put on film, with James Bond defying the overwhelming odds — precisely 72,192-to-1 — to win the showdown with a straight flush. This sequence of the super spy winning the hand is ridiculously improbable; however, “John Wick: Chapter 4” may have just outdone Bond’s poker absurdity.
Instead of Texas Hold ’em in “Casino Royale,” Wick faces his opponents in a game of Five Card Draw, where each player gets a hand of five cards rather than only two. These rules lead to each character getting astronomically improbable hands: Wick ends up with the Dead Man’s Hand, Mr. Nobody gets a royal flush, Caine has a four-of-a-kind, and the dealer, Killa, five-of-a-kind.
While a fun scene, it also highlights the film’s central theme of the game being rigged against Wick, which is reinforced by his being dealt the Dead Man’s Hand (two aces and two eights). The game itself represents the impossibility of Wick completing his journey in one piece, and although he loses the round, his cutting of Killa’s neck with the cards is a firm rejection of the High Table’s rules.