House of Cards: A Review

I’m always behind the times in gizmos, gadgets, and what’s up in movies, television and such. My latest venture is into the world of Netflix. There is far more there than I want to watch, or that I will ever watch. And so, more likely than not, I will miss-state, or miss-use a term here and there. but I will try not to be too klutzy in my inexperience.

Apparently, House of Cards is a made for Netflix serial covering an entire season of shows, 13 episodes in all. But it is possible to watch the entire series in a few days. I have seen 8 episodes. I am so impressed that I felt the urge to tell you what you probably already know. But that is the price you must pay for my procrastination about things that flourish within the world of entertainment.

House of Cards is about politics, and more particularly, it is about dirty politics. It has many actors who know their craft well, but none as well as does Kevin Spacey. This guy is good. He is the glue that holds it all together. He not only has the leading role, but he is also the narrator who deftly turns to the camera periodically to tell us what we missed, or how different scenes are tied together. He does so smoothly, deftly, and then he returns to the task at hand with aplomb and barely a wink. His wife played by Robin Wright gives a stellar performance who is on cue in every scene in which she appears.

Kevin Spacey is Mr. Cool, the consummate actor, perhaps the best male actor around today. He’s a multi-talented guy who can sing, dance, act, impersonate, and tell a story all with great skills. I don’t know what else a leading man can bring to the Big Screen with the hope, if not the expectation, of making an exceptional movie into a classic. He uses all those skills with style and panache in House of Cards, a made-for-television $100 hundred million dollar extravaganza that will survive as an American standard long after we are all gone.  He plays the House Majority Whip who controls just about everything and everyone in that capacity.  He's a persuader, a controller, and a black mailing SOB who gets almost everything he wants, everytime.

Politics is nothing if not about sex, money, payoffs, dirty dealing, and ambition. House of Cards has it all—in spades. But it does not venture too long into any of those areas lest it degrade into a lesser genre. When is comes to sex, my attention was glued on the ladies, and these ladies deliver. There are some smoking scenes between Spacey and Kate Mare, who plays an easy-on-the-eyes burgeoning news reporter, that exceed television and movie limits, but without venturing into the realm of porn. Most of the four-letter words that we all know are tossed around with gusto, but every one seems to be exactly where it should be without using them excessively.

And then there is Spacey. He makes the story work, he keeps the interest level at a high quotient, and he has a hand in making all his fellow actors look like pros. The story is well-written, filmed expertly, directed as only a seasoned pro (David Fincher) could tie it together in a manner that demands your attention--and keeps it.

On a five star scale, this series hits that level fast—and stays there.