Directed stylishly by Johnny To, this film is not really a sequel to the original Casino Raiders. In fact, it has more in common with To's big hit from the same year, A Moment of Romance - Andy Lau and Wu Chien Lien are paired off once again as the romantic leads, and they spend a lot of time riding a motorcycle.

Unlike the original Casino Raiders, which very much felt like an 80s HK movie, complete with cheap synth soundtrack and all, this effort is very slick, with great lighting and cinematography and an interesting music soundtrack that effectively helps create atmosphere and distract the viewer from the fact that the story itself is actually rather weak.

Andy plays a gambler who is running a small illegal gambling operation on a boat in HK harbor together with his wheelchair-bound uncle and his girlfriend, played by Wu Chien Lien in an uncharacteristically feisty manner (the performance is dubbed). Soon bad guy Kelvin Wong arrives on the scene. He's after one of two jade stones that can summon the power of the God of Gamblers. It's never quite explained where these stones come from or what they can actually do. In fact, this whole subplot never really amounts to much, other than providing the motivation for the eventual murder of Andy's uncle (who has hidden the stone just in time). Anyway, the uncle's other student arrives (Wang Chieh) for the funeral, and him and Andy start thinking about avenging their sifu. Up to here the movie was kind of drifting along, nice to look at but otherwise not very engaging. But in the second half, the pace tightens considerably, and we now have some well-staged action sequences, as well as some rather bloody encounters that leave both our heroes crippled. And then there's the fate of Wu Chien Lien - fans of the actress may find what she has to go through here rather disturbing, but it does set up an emotionally charged final showdown between the good guys (or what's left of them) and bad guy Kelvin Wong at another highstakes card game.

The end comes with more violent deaths, making this truly one of the darker gambling movies. Overall, a pretty silly, highly melodramatic story, but well worth watching nonetheless. Recommended.