God of Gamblers 3 - The Early Stage (1996)
Reviewed by: hktopten on 1999-12-21
Repeat after me: Leon Lai would never be Chow Yun Fat and I hate Leon. Having said that, you could experience how I felt when I watch this blasphemy and followup to one of my favorite films of all time, God of Gamblers' Return. Anyway, bad stuff out of the way first: Wong Jing is so out of ideas he is ripping off TV, as Anita Yuen Wing Yi's character is almost a complete rip off of Carol Do Do Cheng Yiu Ling's character in TVB's Once Upon A Time In Shanghai. I am glad though to see the entire sequence of the mentionally incapaciated Ko Chun was edited out (sequeneces in which Leon jerks Tsui Kam Kong and Cheung Tat Ming around) to avoid repeating God of Gamlers 1. The character designs are great, but only a few of them are actually fleshed out (Kudoes to Jordan Chan Siu Chun's portrayal of Lung Ng and Chung King Fai as the god father). Francis Ng Chun Yu and Gigi Leung Wing Kei's roles are ineffective (mostly due to the lacking script) Anita Yuen Wing Yi holds her own as Miss Seven, and believe it or not, Leon actually does a decent job under the circumstances. Cheung Tat Ming does his usual schtick as the comic factor. Unlike God of Gamblers or its excellent sequel, the fun factor is almost nonexistent. Nevertheless, it is ok if you are bored or just want to watch it for the sake of completeness.