God of Gamblers' Return

1994
6.7| 2h4m| en
Details

Chow returns to play Ko Chun, a skilled gambler who now lives in retirement in France. Wu Xingguo plays an evil gangster who forces Ko out of retirement by killing his pregnant wife. Ko is forced to team up with a variety of other people to win out in the end. Wu Chien-lien plays Chow's romantic interest, Chingmy Yau plays a Taiwanese femme fatale, and Tony Leung provides much of the laughs.

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Reviews

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
BA_Harrison The good news is that, in director Wong Jing's sequel to his 1989 hit God of Gamblers, Chow Yun Fat does not revert to a childlike state, meaning that viewers don't have to repeat the ordeal of seeing the usually cool star behaving like a drooling retard; the bad news is that, despite more action this time around, the film is just as bad as the first one, relying far too heavily on puerile comedy and dumb magical mumbo-jumbo for its own good.Chow returns as Ko Chun, now retired from gambling and living in France with his pregnant wife; but when wicked criminal/gambler Chao Siu Chi (Hsing-kuo Wu) comes looking for Ko, desperate to prove himself as the number one gambler in the world, Ko's idyllic world comes tumbling down like a house of cards (see what I did there?). Chao Siu Chi kills Ko's wife and unborn child, leaving a very unhappy God of Gamblers swearing revenge.The film starts well enough, with lots of ballistic action as the heavily armed baddies storm Ko's home (although there is a disappointing lack of bloody squibs this time around), followed by a surprisingly nasty demise for our hero's wife (she has her unborn child pulled from her womb). Another early scene on a yacht, where Ko defends a Taiwanese gangster and his family from Chau's men, is also well staged. From this point on, though, it's all downhill…Ko is landed with an irritating child side-kick and, pursued by the police, and stumbles from one terrible comedic situation to the next for what seems like an eternity. After lots of cringe-worthy gags, a spot of political humour (that went right over my head) and some awful nonsense involving a secret agent called Eagle, Ko arrives in Taiwan where he eventually faces Chao Siu Chi in a casino for a supposedly thrilling climax that takes quite a bit of swallowing (the whole thing with the hair attached to the card—WTF?).4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for the brief shot of Ko's unborn child in a specimen jar (surprisingly nasty) and the welcome presence of Chingamy Yau as Hoi Tong, the sexy, kick-ass daughter of the Taiwanese crime boss.
Paul Magne Haakonsen I will have to say that this sequel is a step down from the original first movie. Why? Well simply because they put too much stupid comedy in it, which really worked as an anchor and dragged the movie down.Sure it was good to see Chow Yun-Fat reprising the Ko Chun character, and he did act well enough. Unfortunately he wasn't joined by Andy Lau, which would have been a great addition to the movie having him reprising his character as well. Instead Chow Yun-Fat is joined by Tony Leung Ka Fai and Chingmy Yau on the screen.Storywise, then "The Return of the God of Gamblers" wasn't as enjoyable as the first movie. There were some really great moments in the movie, sure, but in overall it was just not as good as the first movie. And I repeat myself again here, but the implemented attempts at bringing comedy into this movie was so poor that it made the movie suffer instead of improving it.Don't get me wrong, "The Return of the God of Gamblers" isn't a bad movie, but personally I didn't think too much of it, especially not compared to the first "God of Gamblers" movie. They have strayed a bit too far into the comedy genre for my personal liking.
DJ Inferno For die hard-fans like me of great star Eastern Chow Yun Fat this film is a little disappointment, although it was the second most successful movie that ever ran in Hong Kong´s cinema! (But commercial success doesn´t say anything about the qualities of a movie, just in view of the greatest blockbuster ever..!) Okay, the gunfights and the chases are a light version of John Woo´s action sequences, but I don´t matter, however a really big annoyance is the forced wittyness. Normally I can stand Asian humor without any problems, but this time the permanent pesky jokes massively strained my nerves! Another minus point is, that real exciting moments are rare in this film! I liked Chingmy Yau´s ("Naked Killer") Kung Fu-roulette and the final poker-duel is an amazing psychological showdown. Unfortunately, the rest of the film does not deliver, because it´s a quite undecided genre-twist between action and comedy! Well-directed and endowed with a fine cinematography, "The Return of the God of Gamblers" is not as great as it could be!!!
johnfliu Chow was witty, funny and cool as cucumber. His whole charisma shows in this film. Under the jovial mask hides the God of Gambler. Force is just the means to an end, wits is the ultimate deciding factor.