God of Gamblers' Return
1994, NR, 134 min. Directed by Jing Wong. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Wu Hsin-Kuo, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Chingmy Yau.
REVIEWED By Marjorie Baumgarten, Thu., Jan. 25, 2001
This 1994 Hong Kong action/comedy amalgam is one of several sequels to Wong's original God of Gamblers, which chronicled the otherworldly card-trickery of Chow's Ko Chun. This sequel finds Ko Chun denying his gambling genes (in a deathbed promise to his murdered wife). But a challenge from his archnemesis, the dirty ratfink Devil of Gamblers, shoves Ko Chun back on the card circuit. The plot's a little thin, and the mood veers maniacally from slapstick to melodrama to good ole-fashioned ass-whuppin' ... but that's probably what makes Hong Kong hokum so great.
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God of Gamblers' Return, Jing Wong, Chow Yun-Fat, Wu Hsin-Kuo, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Chingmy Yau