Zhi zun wu shang

Even in HongKong, the city of copycats, Jing Wong is infamous for his shameless way of movie making. While other HK directors are imitating Hollywood movies, he copied other HK directors' movies. 'Casino Raiders' is one of them. If you watch it carefully, you will find that this is so similar to John Woo's 'A Better Tomorrow'. (Like Chow Yun Fat in 'ABT', Andy Lau got lost his everythig for his best buddy!)

Fortunately, this one is a good movie. The running time is a little bit too long. But the title song and performance is good and the twist in the last scene is splendid!. If you really want to Jing Wong's movie (or gambling movie), 'Casino Radiers' and 'God of Gamblers' is a safe bet.

¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú/¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú

Wong Jing's original and forerunner to the successful "HK Casino" film franchise is an excellent example of how skilfully the genre can be presented.

Crab (Andy Lau) is a smooth professional gambler, although "con man" might be more accurate to describe some of his sleazy and deceptive means by which he tricks his rich victims out of huge amounts of money. Although it must be said, he never steals from the innocent, but only slimy business tyrants. His friend and gambling partner, Law (Alan Tam) is arguably the more careless of the two. They are called in to assist a Casino owning friend of theirs who has lost a lot of money to some cheating Japanese Yakuza, and so their investigation into the suspected men ensues. Needless to say, this attracts unwanted attention and eventually leads them into trouble with the Yakuza. When Law's girlfriend, Tong (Idy Chan) is kidnapped by the Yakuza in exchange for Crab, a punishment for stealing back some money in a gamble, Crab goes straight after the kidnappers...

Without giving the whole film away, little else can really be said, but the film does contain a great deal of plot twists and interesting developments.

Alan Tam is probably the best lead here, and gives an emotionally deep and interesting performance. Andy Lau is not nearly as great as he was in "Casino Raiders II", the unrelated sequel, but still gives a solid depiction of the morally uncertain 'Crab' Chan.

In all, very rich noir-visuals and stylishly subdued direction from Wong Jing and Jimmy Heung make this a strong high-point of the HK Casino-Noir genre.

Casino Raiders (1989) is another gambling action/drama from the writer-director dynamo Wong Jing. Andy Lau and Alan Tam co-star as two buddies who work for a casino keeping an eye out for cheats and other shady characters. After exposing a group that's been ripping off their place of business, the boss sends them to the United States to help out it's sister casino in Lake Tahoe. It's their that Andy Lau finds romance but uncovers a dangerous plot that'll affect his and Alam Tam's lives forever.

Another film from the gambling genre that Wong Jing help popularize after the unlikely success of God of Gamblers. This big budgeted epic takes place in three countries and features the notorious Heung brothers (Charles as a casino owner and Jimmy behind the camera as a co-writer,producer and co-director). Andy Lau and Aln Tam act their butts off whilst Wong Jing makes another enjoyable picture. This film does what it sets out to do. Entertains, and it sure does, If you liked God of Gamblers then you'll enjoy this gritty and violent opus.

Followed by an unlikely sequel.

Recommended.

With a movie starring 2 top HK movie stars: Alan Tam and Andy Lau, you know that you are in a real treat.

The movie is simple, 2 best friends, both are gamblers. One decides to leave and join the good side, but old enemies won't let go of the past. Eventually, he has to face his enemy once again, in a final showdown at the casino table.

Good performance from both leading actors, who share pretty much equal screen time. The female leads also complement the movie very nicely, though their characters lack the depth.

Though movie tries to be logical, but there are logical holes, such as Lon's boss willing to make such a big bet on Lon's recommendation alone - that is pretty unbelievable. But one must suppress logic in watching a movie like this.

A 6/10 on my book

CASINO RAIDERS is a Wong Jing comedy starring Andy Lau and Alan Tam as a pair of gamblers and swindlers who head off to America to help a casino owner tackle some mafia players who've been scamming the system. This obscure production came on out on the fly after the success of GOD OF GAMBLERS, but it's an oddball production which shows all the signs of having been rushed. For a Wong Jing film it's not particularly funny, while the heavy-handed drama doesn't make it much of a fun watch. The actors are dependable but the film lacks energy and excitement and only really gets good at the big game climax. Until that point, it's strictly average.