21

Introduction

Dana Brunetti saw a copy of Wired magazine which featured a story of six MIT students who used their mathematical genius to count cards and make millions at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas. Without reading the article he bought the magazine, read it at home and Googled Ben Mezrich, the author and, finding a phone number in Boston, cold called him and said that he and Kevin Spacey (who had heard of the story from friends a decade earlier) were interested in making a film based on the story and wanted to buy the rights to the upcoming book. Mezrich though it was a prank call by MIT students and Googled Dana Brunetti and, finding him to be a real person, called him back and was soon on a plane to Los Angeles.

Condensing the story to focus on one student rather than six, 21 follows Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), an incredibly gifted individual with a computer-like brain for figures. Ben wants to attend Harvard Medical School but since he comes from a working class home with a single mother he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition fees. His only hope is the Richardson Scholarship and is told that he needs to make himself stand out from the other equally gifted applicants.

His normal life of working in a suit store and building a robot for a competition with his two friends is interrupted when his unorthodox maths professor, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), invites him to join a group of students who spend their weekends earning a fortune counting cards in Vegas. Ben turns him down but a visit from Jill (Kate Bosworth), the hottest girl in school, sees him join the group. Ben finds he is a natural and quickly on his way to his goal of $300,000 - he sees counting as a means to an end and once he has the money he's out.

However, he becomes addicted to the money and the Vegas lifestyle which causes him to make a costly mistake which has far reaching consequences. Thinking their system keeps them under the radar, he doesn't realise that Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) a casino enforcer is onto him.

Video

21 is a slick and glossy film, shot entirely digitally and looks superb at 1080p. The bright lights and garish colours of the Vegas casinos are beautifully presented as are the scenes of The Strip at night and the darkened rooms of the casino underbelly with no hint of noise or ghosting that affects some digitally shot films.

*The pictures contained in this review are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect the image quality of the disc.*

Audio

The English Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is nice and clear with good use of the surrounds; the sounds of the casino are always evident but never overwhelming and do a good job of bringing the atmosphere into your living room.

There are myriad soundtracks and subtitle options, including an English Audio Descriptive Track and English (and English HoH) subtitles - see the main page for the full lists.

Extra Features

The Filmmaker Commentary, with director Robert Luketic and producers Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, is a decent listen with plenty of information about the films origins, shooting and post-production. There is little dead air as the three of them are able to chat about the film and their own careers well into the end credits.

There are three featurettes running at 37 minutes in total and they probably work better played as a single piece which is handy as there is a play all feature. The Advantage Player is a short piece where the cast take you through the basics of card counting - I thought I had it figured out but they lost me quite quickly; Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal is a fairly thorough making of with plenty of behinds the scenes footage and insights into how the film was made and is complemented well by Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life which goes into the differences between filming in Boston and Las Vegas and coping with the inclement New England climate.

You can play Virtual Blackjack, which comes with a 90 second tutorial and will also have an online leaderboard - the idea is to make as much money as you can by counting cards without attracting the attention of the pit boss. The disc also is BD Live enabled but was unavailable at time of writing.

All the extra features have optional English and Dutch subtitles.

Conclusion

The story of 21 is very interesting and would probably be better suited to a docu-drama on TV but the film is well written and entertaining though slightly predictable. I haven't seen any of Jim Sturgess and was surprised to find out that he's English as his American accent convinced me and he manages to play both the nerdy intellectual and the slick gambler with equal conviction. Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth reunite two years after Superman Returns (Spacey, in his role as Producer, recommending her) and both are well cast, with Spacey a good foil for Sturgess and Bosworth providing the largely forgettable love interest.

This marks a change of direction for Robert Luketic, whose previous films (Legally Blonde, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton and Monster-in-Law) have been firmly in the rom-com genre but here he shows he has some variety and talent, constructing a very entertaining, twisty and well-paced drama.

Unlike poker in Casino Royale, this doesn't dwell on the intricacies and tension of blackjack, more on the tactics and mental effort needed to beat the house. 21 is a very light and likeable film, easy to watch and undemanding, perfect for a night in with a drink and bowl of popcorn.