God of Gamblers (1989)

Excellent adaptation.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Chow Yun Fat is one of the coolest actors to have ever come out of Hong Kong cinema, his roles in films like The Seventh Curse, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, City on Fire, and Tiger on the Beat establishing the actor as the Chinese equivalent of Clint Eastwood, Cary Grant, Harrison Ford, Charles Bronson, and Robert De Niro all rolled into one. God of Gamblers looks set to continue this tradition, introducing Chow as Ko Chun, a suave, sophisticated gambler who has a seemingly supernatural ability to beat the odds, much to the chagrin of various underworld types.All seems set for another Chow classic until writer/director Wong Jing decides to try out a little role reversal with his star, staging an accident that turns his super-smooth character into an irritating childish simpleton, a combination of Forrest Gump, Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder and Dustin Hoffman's character from Rain Man (a film that Wong Jing seems to have taken just a little 'inspiration' from); at this point God of Gamblers becomes a far less enjoyable affair, the sight of one of Hong Kong's most iconic actors bawling like a child and continuously stuffing chocolate in his mouth not nearly as much fun as him cutting a swathe through Triad baddies with guns a-blazing.A wonderfully staged and extremely violent shootout between a confused Ko Chun and a gang of criminals briefly reminds fans of what they are missing, but it's the only decent scene in this otherwise rather boring and not-in-the-least-bit-funny caper. The only other thing about the film worthy of any praise is the lovely Joey Wong, who plays Jane, girlfriend of Little Knife (Andy Lau), the small-time hustler who takes advantage of the mentally challenged Chow: Wong wears some iffy late-'80s fashion but still manages to look fabulous throughout.Rather incredibly, this film was a massive hit on its home turf, spawning several sequels, and seems to have a pretty strong worldwide following judging by its high IMDb rating; I don't get the appeal, but then I never understood what was so great about Forrest Gump either—I guess imbeciles just aren't my thing.4.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 5 for the (implied) necrophilia scene, which at least caught me off-guard.

I am a massive fan of East Asian cinema. Having watched over 1,400 such films and having heard of God of Gamblers and reading the IMDb reviews, I was expecting an enjoyable film. In addition, I was excited to see Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau play off of each other.After the opening sequence the viewer will recognize that this film explores wildly unrealistic outcomes for the benefit of entertainment value – and it works for about 20 minutes. At that point this viewer was thoroughly hooked.Afterwards, my enjoyment was severely crippled when Chow's character loses his memory and starts acting like a brainless halfwit. Seriously, he acts like a mentally retarded 5-year-old who likes chocolate. Now don't misunderstand me – I love chocolate too, but to see Chow Yun Fat munching on cocoa bars while acting the imbecile does not qualify as cinematic entertainment. Five minutes after this plot development was introduced, I was praying that Chow would snap out of it very quickly.I apparently should have known better. This stupid plot line drags on for 75 friggin' minutes and single-handedly destroys the entire film. It should not be surprising that the screenplay was written by Jing Wong, who gave us the utterly overrated piece of crap-infested garbage known as Kung Fu Mahjong (2005) and other subpar efforts like Moving Targets (2004), My Schoolmate the Barbarian (2001), The Duel (2000), Naked Killer (1992), as well as other superlative pieces of trash like Naked Weapon (2002) and Her Name Is Cat (1998). His only good script was Casino Raiders (1989), but then again, even a broken clock is right twice a day.The fact is simply that Jing couldn't come up with good material, so he made Chow Yun Fat a certifiable lunatic who does lots of stupid things that have no comedic value whatsoever. It's much easier than coming up with a clever screenplay.I'm truly perplexed at the raving reviews of God of Gamblers here. Does everyone really enjoy seeing Chow Yun Fat act like an annoying retard for 75 minutes? It's simply unbearable.

This movie once again demonstrates Hong Kong cinema at its best. At the helm of the movie, Chow Yun Fat demonstrates magnificent acting skills as he is able to act in all types of characters, from being a man trapped in a child-like state, to ultimately being the "God of Gamblers". Andy Lau also gives a very note-worthy performance, as Chow Yun Fats sidekick (even though this is a much younger Andy Lau). The movie itself was pretty good, although I would have preferred if the movie was entirely serious instead of putting comic relief in the middle. Regardless buy this movie, it is a must for people who enjoy Hong Kong cinema!!

...but the subtitles on the DVD I rented were totally unreadable. They are burned directly into the film (unlike properly formatted DVD subtitles), and sit much too low on the screen, resulting in the English being cropped off. The VHS version might be better. Be warned!