God of Gamblers’ Return
1994, NR, 134 min.
Directed by Jing Wong, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Wu Hsin-Kuo, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Chingmy Yau.

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.

This article appears in January 19 • 2001.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.