Aposta Maldita

(1994) God of Gamblers' Return (In Chinese with English subtitles) ACTION/ COMEDY

Written and directed by Wong Jing wanted to make some money and he knows how to do it, by making this nonsensical 2nd or 4th whatever you call it! Whatever what was shown on this film had already been shown before on other films whether it's action or comedy and was better! This was a total waste of time that despite doing really well at the box office making it the highest grossing movie of that year in Hong Kong, star Chow Yun Fat disapproved of Wong Jing's direction this time one reason that is apparent was that in the first film suave Chow Yun Fat always wore a suit and tie and in this one I don't remember him wearing one at all! The gags are not funny because of a lack of credibility where the jokes are forced as well as the action sequences meaning that director Wong Jing didn't put too much thought into this film and just wanted to make a fast buck! You can watch this for curiosity sake, if you like what you saw from the first three movies.

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!

A high budget sequel to the original, bringing glossy action and locations as well as gambling, chocolate, a gorgeous heroine and occasional slapstick comedy.

The scene when Dagger attempts to seduce a woman who believes him to be the God of Gamblers is alone hilarious.

With a romantic subplot, great action set-pieces and more stylishly filmed gambling, this film ups the ante on the first in the series, bringing in more magic, treachery and gunfights, with a welcome return from the ever-cool Dragon and a more sinister villain than last time.

Do you play the gamble?

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.

"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