Which is weird because William Goldman wrote both scripts. But Wild Card clicks, where Heat just laid there. The upgrade in the cast makes a huge difference, but more than that, imagine if every screenwriter got a chance to redo his scripts from 30 years before. I bet we'd see some serious improvement in a bunch of Grade B movies.
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I wouldn't say this was a cast upgrade - Reynolds was a huger name at the time of "Heat" than Statham was when they made this film. Or at least comparable.
I do think this film made better use of its talent. Much as I loved the novel, it took me a good long while before I realized I was seeing it on film again. I just thought I was watching a low key Statham drama with some typical Statham action.
I suspect that was a big part of it. They tried to make Burt Reynolds into "The Mex" in "Heat." In "Wild Card," they made "The Mex" into "Nick Wild," a typical Jason Statham persona.
It would be like re-making "Heat," with more wisecracking and fourth-wall breaking, like the "Cannonball Run" films, just to fit Burt Reynolds's on-screen persona (though that would've also failed horribly).