Reviewed by: Chungking_Cash Date: 05/12/2008 Chow Yun-fat reprises his Ko Chun character better known as the much coveted "God of Gamblers" following a hiatus from the series' mediocre mid-cycle where forces beyond our control allowed Wong Jing to collaborate with Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat on not one but two Chow Yun-fat-free sequels. Ko's newfound tranquility in and around the walls of his beautiful French château is destroyed by a sadistic Taiwanese rival who disembowels the God of Gamblers' pregnant wife and places the fetus of his unborn son in a jar. Oh yeah, did we mention that Wong Jing returns as writer/director? If you missed the opening credits you'll surely know by now. The wife's dying wish: no gambling or revenge for 365 days, which essentially allows Wong to stuff the film's slightly bloated time frame with Wong Jing A la carte (gambling and revenge withstanding). The payoff seems tailor-made for audiences who have come to thrive on the genre-bending packaged hysteria Wong Jing is both loved and loathed for. Only the second film in the franchise to feature Chow Yun-fat "God of Gamblers Return" is known as "God of Gamblers 2" in Hong Kong and was one of the former colony's largest grossing films of the '90s easily out performing all three of its successful predecessors. Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: STSH Date: 04/04/2006 Summary: One of the very best Don't listen to these guys! In a sub-genre I love (HK Gambling Competition flicks), this one is at the very top. Wong Jing's specialty is giving his audience what they want and, in this one, he gives them nearly all of it and by the bucketload. Chow Yun Fat, in a tailor-made role he was born to play, has never been better as the cool and sneering champion gambler who gave it all up, only to be goaded back (by one of the most detestable villains you're ever likely to see) when an upstart wants to prove he's the best by knocking off Chow. Remainder of the large and stellar cast is uniformly excellent. The tragic Ng Sin Lin (who loves only the GOG, despite never having seen his face). The knockout (in every sense) performance of that great quickener of male pulses, ChingMy Yau - the scene where she fights her way into the villain's casino was worth the price of admission alone, and left me gasping. The kung fu kid, for whom Chow becomes a substitute father, and is an excellent martial artist in his own right. Tsui Kam Kong, as the bald and serious police chief turned GOG hanger-on, is simply hilarious. And of course Tony Leung, as the shyster who poses as GOG, so that Chow does not break the promise given to his dead wife (murdered in an astonishingly gory manner, even for a HK film !). True, the story is all over the place. France, HK, Taiwan, back to HK. But it all flows smoothly together, and Jing whips it along with such flair and dazzling pace that one is neither bored nor lost. Warning : be prepared for a truly horrifying opening scene. A few quibbles : The opening scene in Paris shows Chow and brother shooting clay pigeons, hearing trouble at the house, drop their guns and charge off. Then they get new guns to kill off the bad guys. A few other bits of the plot don't quite mesh. But these are trifles indeed. A fantastic and engaging two-hour rollercoaster. Definitely not to be missed. Reviewer Score: 10

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 01/05/2006 Summary: Heartily recommended! Tze Miu was discovered by the wonderfully prolific Wong Jing, the man responsible for such diverse films as "City Hunter", "The $60 Million Man", and "Holy Weapon". Wong cast the young actor in a supporting role with the superstar Chow Yun-Fat in the 1994 film, "God of Gamblers Return". In this sequel to the hugely successful "God of Gamblers", Chow Yun-Fat returns as the title character. Four years have passed and there are many pretenders to the name Do San. Along with Chow, the cast features Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Wu Chien-Lien (Ng Sin-Lin), Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching, and Tsui Kam-Kong. Tze portrays the son of a big time Taiwanese gambling boss who is killed by Chow's rival and mortal enemy. In his dying breath, the father asks Chow to safeguard his son. Tze manages to steal the show from the world famous Chow as the two embark on an improbable escape to Taiwan while being chased by government soldiers and rival killers. The two actors develop a nice rapport that is clearly evident on screen. The young actor seems at ease in his small supporting role. Nicely written and directed by Wong Jing, I heartily recommend this movie. Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: Arshadnm6 Date: 04/13/2005 Summary: A Chow Yun Fat comeback, with displeasing consequences and too much wackiness!!...... Chow Yun Fat makes his return appearance as the Legendary ‘Ko Chun’ (God of Gamblers) in another one of Wong Jing directed pictures, humorously named ‘God of Gamblers: Returns’. Taking place a few years after the first part, Ko Chun is happily residing in ‘France’ with his Pregnant Wife (Cheung Man, staring earlier in movies like ‘Magic Crystal’ and ‘Swordsman’), but no-sooner, the bunch of usual evil bad guys, led by the notorious ‘Wu King Guo’, show up. They kill his wife violently and leave the fetus (of their unborn child) in a Jar (Wong Jing as usual going over-the-top just to make his point) and challenge Ko Chun to show up in Taiwan for a Deadly Game of Gambling. Ko Chun also has to promise his wife, at her last dying breath, not to gamble for a year and neither to reveal his true identity as the ‘God of Gamblers’. The whole point being that he can come to terms, with everything that has happened and focus on what needs to be done (obviously something Wong Jing conjured up in his spare-time). Nevertheless Ko Chun heads of to Taiwan, slowly bidding his time so that he can take his just revenge, and meets up with ‘Blacky Ko Sau-Leung’, playing a half-decent righteous triad in Taiwan, with connections that go as far as ‘Wu King Guo’, in fact they are in the same gang. Ko Chun also meets up with ‘Black Ko’s’ stronger, voluptuous older daughter, ‘Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching’ and at first they don’t get on too well, following with ‘Chingmy Yau’ departure, for more important business in Taiwan. During a Boat Party, hosted by Blacky Ko, all his family is rubbed off, except Kung Fu kid ‘Xie Miao’ (from other memorable roles in movies like ‘New Legend of Shaolin’ and ‘My Father is a Hero’) whom is saved by Ko Chun. After a few misadventures in a Chinese controlled Police Station, they end up in a hotel run by two con-artists, namely ‘Wu Chien-Lien’ and ‘Tony Leung Ka-Fai’ (from other previous roles in ‘Island of Fire’ and ‘Dragon Inn’). They evidently try to hustle Ko Chun and Xie Miao, only for it to back-fire in their faces, unknown to the fact they are dealing with the ‘God of Gamblers’. Due to turn of unfortunate events they have to smuggle themselves to Taiwan as refuges with the Chinese Police Force hot on their trail. Eventually Ko Chun reveals his true identity and seeks to take out his revenge on ‘Wu King Guo’ taking on his challenge in a Gambling Game, where winner-takes-all. In comparison to the first, the sequel isn’t novel or surprising, and most of the jokes are not as hilarious as Wong Jing might have intended them to be. Also the whole effect of character development is weak at best, where ‘Chingmy Yau’, ‘Wu Chien-Lien’ and ‘Tony Leung’ take a back-seat role to ‘Chow Yun Fat’ with little introduction. Even the young ‘Xie Miao’ can’t compete against Chow, where most of the time he is over-shadowed continuously. Overall the movie seems cheap and cheesy, with three quarters of the cast playing wacky roles most of the time, without giving them a chance to act properly. Thankfully Chow Yun Fat does carry most of the picture, and there is some mild love-development between ‘Wu Chien-Lien’ and ‘Chow’, although ends up in misery, thanks to Wong Jing, whom can’t but help kill of the heroin in the most obvious ways. All in all this is comedy movie with plenty of fun antics to keep the viewer at least interested if not overjoyed with laughter. A good sequel from Wong Jing, but not the best of it’s kind. Overall Rating: 7.3/10 Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 02/27/2005 "God of Gamblers' Return" kicks the original GoG's ass up down and sideways. [8/10]

Reviewed by: Kyashan Date: 03/15/2003 Summary: Always great Chow Yun Fat I just watched this movie and I found a very beautiful action movie. The plot of story is nice, in the complex is very good and every fan of Chow Yun Fat must watch it. I liked very much. Ranting 9/10 Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 02/25/2002 Summary: Decent successor 5 years after the box office success of GOD OF GAMBLERS, and after many name only-successors, imitators, spoofs and spin-offs, Wong Jing decided to make the first 'true' sequel. i.e. the only one to actually feature the God Of Gamblers (Chow Yun Fat). The sequel follows much the same formula as the original - a mixture of action, comedy, melodrama and those stylised gambling sequences where each bet would be enough to end world poverty, and the gamblers rarely get less than a picture card. In GOGR though, these elements are all cranked up to 11. Subtlety is straight out of the window, and characterisation is minimal. In this respect, the movie is weaker than the original. It doesn't have the same depth & roundedness. It does have an all-star cast, however. Tsui Kam Kong nearly steals the show in one of his finer performances, and wonder-kid Tze Mui comes even closer (wonder where he is these days?). Chingmy Yau has her best role since NAKED KILLER, whilst Wu Chien Lien has one of her worst. Leung Kar Fai gives a good performance, but not his best, and Blackie Ko has a small but adorable role to play too. Like the original, this movie starts with some action - here we have a very nicely choreographed assault on Ko Chun's Paris mansion, with Charles Heung and Chow Yun Fat defending it in the best John Woo style. All the action has a pretty unpleasant result in the end - Cheung Man suffers even worse here than in the original. There was no particular need to be so nasty, but this is not a movie that depends much on subtlety. There's another similar action sequence towards the end that's even more A BETTER TOMORROW 2 than the opener... both sequences are very well choreographed and filmed, pretty much up to Woo's standards in fact. After the action we get a fairly extended departure into comedy again, and this time round the comedy is firmly into the realms of slapstick - not as human as the original, and sometimes a little incongrous (when it crops up in the middle of an action scene for instance). There isn't as much actual gambling in GOGReturns, but the requisite big match at the end is suitably dramatic and stylishly filmed. The stakes this time are even bigger, and the gambling even more cunning and sophisticated. I think Wong Jing knew that it would be hard to recapture the essence of the original movie, and chose instead to just paint everything bigger and brighter and try to dazzle the audience. It works quite well in this respect, though the good characterisation of the first movie is missed a little. All in all, it's certainly good popcorn fodder - though less likely to stick in the memory after viewing.

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 01/12/2002 Summary: Okay, but poor compared to original. After loads of rip offs, this is the official sequel, back with Chow Yun Fat. It takes to story off from where the previous ended. This is not a comedy though, it's a serious movie. A few comedy scenes I suppose, but more of an adventure escaping from various people who is after Chow Yun Fat, TOny Leung and Chingmy Yau. Worth seeing if you liked the original, but do not expect anything great, as far as a sequel, I agree with most other people on this, it's pretty poor. Rating (out of 5): 3 (This rating is based on the year & genre, so don't think it's based as a comparison on new releases etc.) Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: danton Date: 01/03/2002 After a few sequels without CYF, this one marks his return to the franchise. It also features an all-star cast that includes Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Elvis Tsui, Cheung Man, Wu Chien Lien and Chingmy Yau. The whole cast seemed to have a lot of fun hamming it up, some of the gambling scnes (especially Chingmy dealing cards kung-fu style) are eye-popping, and overall, I enjoyed this one tremendously. Almost better than the original.

Reviewed by: zarrsadus Date: 05/27/2001 Summary: Poor sequel but still enjoyable Reading what others have wrote, it seems like 50/50 between liking it more than the original or not. Personally I'm with the crowd that thinks the original God of Gamblers was the best. The gambling was very minimal, however the action was good and very good acting by both Chow Yun Fat and Tony Leung. These redeemable factors make it still a good movie even if it wasn't as good as the original. 8 out of 10. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: alienlord Date: 05/03/2001 This movie was pathetic. From the gruesome scenes in the first 20 minutes, to the awful performance by Yau. The story line is weak, and the action fairly routine, surprisingly popular in HK. * and a half/4 Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 02/19/2001 Summary: Good i think this is slightly better than the original, because i couldn't stand the middle part of the first one!! The action here is a lot better and so is the comedy!! Tony Leung was great in this movie and makes many funny scenes!! WAtch him pretend to BE the MAN!! Not a masterpiece but a great ending!! 7.75/10 Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 09/23/2000 Summary: MY GOD! I think this is pretty much yet... Just look at the total $ it got from theatre shows! $52 million HK +++! (that's about $500 U.S. in a month if you convert the currency and times it by 80, since that's about how many people there are in U.S. than that of HK) I think this holds the record, or does it?

Reviewed by: jfierro Date: 12/21/1999 It was great. I liked it more than the original. Wong Jing proves once again that he is one few directors in the world who can successfully combine farcical humor and gripping action sequences. The plot flies all over the place, but that is a minor concern as the audience is whisked on a non-stop series of twists and turns. Leung Ka-Fai, wonder-kid Tze Miu, Tsui Kam-Kong, Law Kar-Ying, and Charles Heung highlight a fantastic supporting cast that end up stealing just about every scene they're in.

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/21/1999 Very poor sequel... with no plot what-so-ever, just a bunch of scenes strung together... none the less it won big at the HK box office. (4/10) [Reviewed by Andrej Blazeka]

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 Chow Yun-Fat returns as a charming poker player, formerly theacclaimed God of Gamblers, who is enjoying the quiet life until a challenger kills his wife and begins to target his friends. Can revenge be far behind? [Reviewed by Rim Films Catalog]

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 It was okay, but not as good as the first GOG. The action scenes were not well-choreographed. Chingmy Yau was particularly stunning and sexy. Yau's performance reminded me of her secret agent character she played in Jackie Chan's "City Hunter". The movie went overboard on the slapstick, cheesed out on the action, and lacked the emotional impact in the dramatic scenes. Most disappointing to me, however, was the lack of warmth that really made the first GOG one of my favorites. [Reviewed by Anonymous]