Ballad of a Small Player (2025) Review

Netflix has been making plenty of original films that involve big stars and that can be a big marketing ploy for their streaming service. The next one being Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell and I watched the film today, here is my review. The premise of the film sees a gambler struggling to meet ends meet when he finds someone who might be able to help them. 

Main Character

As mentioned above Colin Farrell plays the lead character Lord Doyle and he is fantastic here. You really believe the peril that this man is in and his performance is always on edge that you can't take your eyes off of him and he is by miles the best thing in this film. 

Supporting Characters

Fala Chen plays Dao Ming and she is fine in the film. She is a good companion to Farrell and I liked how their characters build this dynamic and progress throughout the film. 

Tilda Swinton has a role in this film as Blithe and when she is on screen she is great, she just isn't used that much. The chemistry between her and Farrell is clear and is handled pretty well. 

The rest of the cast are functional but don't really offer much, even Chen and Swinton don't do that much. This is the Farrell show and that does affect the overall group of characters presented here. 

Story

The story is basically how one mans life can go downhill as quickly as possible and in terms of that it handles it pretty well as I did feel for Lord Doyle and wanted to see him get out of the rut that he is in. However, I think that is more down to Farrell's performance as the story is pretty dull and though there is an interesting twist towards the end of the film, it didn't quite hit the mark for me as much as it really could have done. 

Script

There is some decent writing here, especially when it comes down to Lord Doyle and his way of trying to get out of different situations. But the film does lack some dramatic moments and isn't funny so it doesn't go as far as it really needed. 

Style

The film is set in Macau and it looks beautiful and is a nice fresh location on film. Also the first act of the film moves at a great pace and is shot beautifully. However, the films pacing grinds to a halt and basically kills all of the momentum that the film had and made the final act feel a bit underwhelming. 

Overall

Overall, Ballad of a Small Player is an Above Average Film and that is mostly due to a great Colin Farrell performance. It is a nice film to look at but it lacks lots of substance and just needed better writing to make it stand out, so probably only worth a watch if you are a big Colin Farrell Fan. 

Rating - 6/10