Gu zhu yi zhi

Were this not based on a true story, then I'd have thought you couldn't have made it up! A rather stroppy but brilliant programmer is passed over for promotion and so storms off in a huff. Like a great many clever men, "Pan Sheng" (Yixing Zhang) is a bit thick when it comes to the practical things in life and after a short plane journey finds himself attached to the lively and charismatic "Cai" (Sunny Sun) who is clearly too good to be true. A bus trip ensues and then "Pan" - and the other passengers - are promptly all but imprisoned working in a scam factory where betting odds are controlled and manipulated, where pretty girls are forced to host gaming tables and all essentially work to facilitate a complex fleecing operation that capitalises on the vulnerabilities of people at home who are successfully sucked into a fraud that nets the criminals millions of dollars and causes no end of collateral damage to those who find themselves addicted. "Pan" and former model, turned croupier, "Liang Anna" (Gina Chen Jin) try to concoct a way of escaping; of passing information to the outside summoning help - but their new guardians are savvy to just about every ploy they try. Interestingly, there is a glimmer of hope offered to all of them by their boss "Lu" (Chuan-jun Wang). He does allow them the prospect of buying their freedom - make enough money and off you go? Really? Hmmm. I did find the story fascinating - the use of some of the brightest minds to cleverly massage the data for an industry that is largely unregulated on a transnational basis is breathtaking. These guys basically print their own money as efficiently as if they had their own mint. Zhang does ok, even if he's a bit lightweight; it's Gina Jin who delivers the goods as an actor as the plot heads towards an admittedly rather unpredictable denoument. Sadly, there's far too much dialogue and the film drags it's feet all too often. A stronger, more effective, lead actor and half an hour less of preamble and waffle and Ao Shen could have given us a powerful indictment of human greed - on both sides of the computer screen. It's still watchable, though.

No more Bets is a great well written thiller with great twists and surprises and a great cast and a very different type of performance from Lay from EXo fame The movie was very tence and make great use of its budget and locations and the movie highlights real life issues and gives use viewers a real insight of China and Cambodia .

The movie is a box office success and it's very well deserved and I expect many more thillers in the future to capture this type of tone and atmosphere within the movie as it was great 2 hour movie and it really has a interesting payoff for all characters invloed for the movie.

This movie was both educational and entertaining to me. Everyone thinks they can avoid getting scammed but what they underestimate is how thorough and well-planned some fraudulent schemes can be, how they're adept at manipulating your feelings and getting you to spend more of your money to reach that high of winning. The first part of the movie had good momentum and it felt like the stakes were high, but after that the pacing of the story slowed down for more plot development before quickly wrapping up. Overall I thought the movie was good because it was able to hold my attention, and it had a satisfactory ending too.

The film's content is well-suited to the current times. Although not overly detailed, viewers can easily envision the structure of such organizations. Moreover, the film highlights some of the deceptive tactics employed by these gambling establishments.

This film serves as a stark warning, particularly given the prevalence of gambling advertisements on illegal websites, which may desensitize viewers to the severity of the issue.

While the first part effectively introduces the main characters and builds towards a compelling climax, the latter part feels rushed, and the relationships between characters lack sufficient depth.

First of all, the movie was amazing, it will keep you on your toes the whole time you're watching, it will keep you on the edge of your seat. I also want to add, I watched it multiple times. I may be bias because I am a big fan of Zhang Yixing, but he delivered his character well. Spoiler alert: this movie is not for the faint of heart, the whole time I'm watching my heart was beating loud for every scene that arrives. It does not feel good to see the characters get hurt but that's how it shows how great of an actors and actresses they are. I felt their pain and I even cried during and after the movie. The movie intends to educate us about cyber fraud which really changed my perspective on people who get scammed. It is an eye opening, mind-boggling, extremely interesting movie.