Aposta Maldita

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.

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!

After many sequels and spin-offs, this is the one true sequel to the original God of Gamblers, returning Chow-Yun Fat as the gambling master Ko Chun. This time, after living a seemingly quiet life, a new nemesis has murdered his family and he has vowed to seek revenge on those who did him and his family harm, while concealing his God of Gamblers identity for one year.

As a sequel, I think this film does not compare to the intrigue, charm, humor and drama as found in the original movie, as the action scenes were, in my opinion, overkill, and the characters weren't as memorable - even though some respected actors such as Tony Leung-Ka Fai and Chingmy Yau have starring roles.

The kid in the movie was a little annoying and the gambling scenes in the movie were over-hyped. There are some intense and suspenseful moments, especially when Ko Chun finally takes on his nemesis. There are also some funny moments from Leung-Ka Fai, but overall, it's not one of the more intriguing gambling movies.

Grade C-

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.

"The Return of God Of Gamblers" is one of the few sequels that manages to be better than the original film. Chow Yun-Fat returns as Ko Chun or "The God Of Gamblers" in a more action-packed film. This movie has plenty John Woo-style actionscenes that will please any old fan of Hongkong-actionfilms, and the acting and story is also good. As in all actionfilms from Hongkong, the theme is brotherhood, friendship, betrayal and vengeance. A superb movie that surpasses the original movie in every way, but be sure to watch the original "God Of Gamblers" before you see this. 9/10