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Travolta and a team of misfits are forced to raid a tawdry gambling den, but the stakes are disappointingly low in this ineptly made work

Here is a cheap-ass knockoff of Ocean’s Eleven starring John Travolta that makes the Soderbergh film look like something by Andrei Tarkovsky or Ingmar Bergman. High Rollers is a heart-slowing work of staggering stupidity and charmlessness, ineptly made and quite frankly dull except when its flaws become so egregious you can’t help but guffaw.

The idea is that Mason Goddard leads a rodent pack of skilled thieves and conmen. The gang is first met at the beach wedding of two of the group’s younger members, tech whiz Link and dim hunk Caras (Swen Temmel). Alas, the nuptials are interrupted when international criminal Salazar (Danny Pardo) and his henchmen swoop in and kidnap Mason’s wife Amelia. Salazar demands that Mason and his crew,...

Mason Goddard (John Travolta) returns with his ragtag crew for a casino caper that picks up where Cash Out left off—though you’d never know it if you hadn’t seen the predecessor. They sweep from a sun-baked beach wedding straight into a drone-drift cinematics sequence, chasing a digitized MacGuffin through the glittering halls of Zade Black’s Louisiana palace.

In this sequel-lite, the South’s storied gambling culture doubles as a metaphorical crucible: where chance and greed converge, the house doesn’t always win.

Travolta’s Mason, equal parts cocky philosopher and smooth operator, guides us through smoky poker rooms that feel like modern-day forums for economic desperation. His younger brother Shawn (Lukas Haas) reminds us that family ties can be as brittle as playing cards.

This film snaps between high-altitude drone shots and sudden close-ups so jarring they seem intentional—a visual wink at our own fragmented attention spans.

Stars: John Travolta, Gina Gershon, Lukas Haas, Quavo, Noel Gugliemi, Natali Yura, Danny Pardo, Demián Castro | Written by Chris Sivertson | Directed by Ives

High Rollers is the sequel to 2024’s sleeper B-movie Cash Out (which I did see but barely remember) reuniting audiences with John Travolta’s slick criminal mastermind, Mason Goddard. Directed by the enigmatic “Ives” (which I guess is Randall Emmett hiding behind a pseudonym). This casino-heist actioner aims to up the ante from its predecessor’s modest thrills, trading small-time bank jobs for the neon-lit excess of a Louisiana gambling empire. With a bigger budget (while still constrained) and a glossier sheen, High Rollers wants to be the Ocean’s Eleven of the straight-to-streaming world. With this entry it could quite possibly hit that mark. Still, on first watch it’s somewhere between a guilty pleasure and a really enjoyable watch, a film that’s sporadically entertaining but...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the new film “High Rollers,” featuring John Travolta, Luke Haas and Gina Gershon in a classic and familiar heist scenario. In select theaters (see local listings) and available for digital download on March 14th.

John Travolta is Mason, a professional thief with the requisite crew of experts … including right hand Shawn (Lucas Haas), computer expert Link (Natali Yura), communications man Georgios (Swen Temmel) and con artist Anton (Quavo). As a wedding takes place between Link and Georgios, the guest list is raided, and it includes the kidnapping of Mason’s galpal Amelia Decker (Gina Gershon) and a call from Abel Salazar (Danny Pardo). He wants the team to steal a thumb drive in exchange for Amelia’s release … but the safes that contain it are in a heavily guarded penthouse suite in New Orleans

”High Rollers” is in select theaters...

Taking a different route from past beloved movie franchises, the filmmakers behind John Travolta’s new caper sequel opted for a standalone title rather than simply Cash Out 2. The mildly entertaining initial feature hit the masses barely a year ago, and the production of High Rollers had already been completed by the time Cash Out was being promoted, as confirmed by our 2024 interview with star Lukas Haas.

Hass plays Travolta’s brother, with their latest high-stakes crime story taking them from a uniquely modern bank heist to a snazzy casino robbery this time around. It’s a breezy popcorn flick that seems to convey just one message to viewers by the end, as noted in our recent interview with another one of the stars, Swen Temmel: Never try to rob a casino. Have you seen the security intel?

Returning Players, With a Twist

The last time we saw the...

Stars: John Travolta, Kristin Davis, Lukas Haas, Natali Yura, Noel Gugliemi, Quavo, Swen Temmel | Written by Dipo Oseni, Doug Richardson | Directed by Ives

Cash Out opens with Mason Goddard and his crew stealing an outrageously expensive supercar as what he intends to be his last heist. Things don’t go as planned however as one of them, his girlfriend Amelia no less, is an undercover FBI agent. He barely escapes, and since he was already planning to retire, takes it one step further, he fakes his death and drops out of sight.

Three months later, his brother Shawn drops by trying to interest him in coming out of retirement for one more job. That doesn’t work, but when another member of the crew, Link calls he’s packing and on his way to the airport.

The next thing we know, Mason and Shawn are kidnapping a bank manager and the plan is in motion.

Stars: John Travolta, Kristin Davis, Lukas Haas, Natali Yura, Noel Gugliemi, Quavo, Swen Temmel | Written by Dipo Oseni, Doug Richardson | Directed by Ives

Cash Out opens with Mason Goddard and his crew stealing an outrageously expensive supercar as what he intends to be his last heist. Things don’t go as planned however as one of them, his girlfriend Amelia no less, is an undercover FBI agent. He barely escapes, and since he was already planning to retire, takes it one step further, he fakes his death and drops out of sight.

Three months later, his brother Shawn drops by trying to interest him in coming out of retirement for one more job. That doesn’t work, but when another member of the crew, Link calls he’s packing and on his way to the airport.

The next thing we know, Mason and Shawn are kidnapping a bank manager and the plan is in motion.

Stars: Natali Yura, Bruce Willis, Jesse Metcalfe, Kelly Greyson, Chad Michael Murray, Gabrielle Haugh, Michael Sirow, Welker White | Written by Randall Emmett, Emile Hirsch, Alan Horsnail | Directed by Josh Sternfeld

Fortress was one of the few recent Bruce Willis films that was actually good, And now the sequel, Fortress: Sniper’s Eye has arrived. But while much of the cast is the same, Josh Sternfeld replaced James Cullen Bressack as director. Bressack also did a good job with Willis’ Survive the Game which begs the question if this film will suffer for not having him on board?

Fortress: Sniper’s Eye picks up in Russia two weeks after the end of the first film. A couple of goons are torturing Sasha and filming it to send to her husband. Or at least they are until Robert walks in and beats the crap out of both of them. Then we...

"You want to talk with somebody, you talk with me!" Lionsgate Premiere has released an official trailer for a B-movie action crime thriller titled Reprisal. Don't get too excited, even with these two action stars, this movie looks like shit. Surprise, surprise. There's so many of these direct-to-the-bargain-big action being made movies recently, that it's getting kind of annoying. Why!? Why keep making them? What's the point? Who even watches these? Frank Grillo stars as a bank manager haunted by a violent incident in his past, who teams up with his ex-cop neighbor to go after the people behind it. Of course, they then mess with his family and he gets really upset. What an original idea... Ugh. Bruce Willis co-stars along with Johnathon Schaech, Olivia Culpo, Colin Egglesfield, Wass Stevens, and Natali Yura. This movie looks so bad. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Brian A. Miller's Reprisal,...