Dou san 2

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.

Chow Yun Fat has 2 modes in his movies: super-cool & super-goofy. These 2 modes are often signalled by his hairstyle: the slicked-back hair (e.g., "The Killer") and the scruffy hair (e.g., "City on Fire.")

This movie is fun because it incorporates both modes, and the movie itself also veers from tragic to super-silly - and it works. There are things in this movie that are so wacky that you have to see it to believe it.

The gambling scenes in this movie, especially the earlier ones, are staged more like sporting events, and are the most entertaining gambling you'll ever see in a movie. Again, if you're hung up on realism, you'll find it preposterous.

But if you're prepared to loosen up and enjoy a fun movie, you won't be disappointed.

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.

RETURN OF THE GOD OF GAMBLERS is another knockabout comedy from Wong Jing and a sequel to his earlier hit starring Chow Yun-fat. I did find that film a bit of a chore to sit through at times, with the whole amnesia sub-plot eating up too much of the running time and the gambling limited to the final moments; the spin offs, particularly those starring Stephen Chow, were much more interesting. This belated sequel, one of Yun-fat's last movies before he upped sticks to America, is slightly worse than the first one, mainly because, as before, most of its not about gambling. Instead we get long stretches of typical Hong Kong comedy and, truth be told, it's not very funny. Tony Leung is wasted as a kind of idiot sidekick, Chingmy Lau looks great but has little to do, and a couple of knock-off John Woo-style shoot-outs add very little to the experience. Forgettable!

As one of the most recognised and coolest actors around, Chow Yun Fat is a master at facial expression, and his presence in such herioc bloodshed films as "A better tomorrow" and the magnificent "Hard Boiled" make him great to watch.

In this film, Chow plays the god of gamblers, a sort of card shark who has retired to France with his wife and child to be. Unfortuently a master gambler wants to play Chow in a life-or-death match, and forces him into gambling with him by killing his wife and child to be.

Chow goes after the wannabe-god of gamblers with help from various sources and with lots of guns, charm and sophistication that you expect from Chow.

Saying goodbye to Hong Kong audiences, Chow gives a masterful performance, espcially in the glossy, expensive gambling ending with a masterful twist that gets you thinking back over the course of the film.

Unfortuently the film relies too heavily on Chow and the John Woo, two-gun action and not enough on the other characters. Although there is plenty of comedy to get through the scenes, they feel slow and unmoving.

Fortuently towards the end, the characters are welcomed and respected. But the action scenes lack the depth of a John Woo feature nor the danger of Ringo Lam films.

Without comparing this film to other movies by other movie directors, this film is quite a good film, but an average movie is nothing more than an average movie.

Don't buy the DVD version, as this version, although in widescreen, has very few features.

Overall: 5/10.