This is probably the first film in our Underground series that is pretty old and honestly not an independent film whatsoever. It’s actually one of the more popular films in Hong Kong back in the day. So what motivated us to do this review? Well, we believe that the Underground series shouldn’t be limited to independent films nor recent films at the least. We want to include those classics or maybe even not-that-so-classic films that some people from the more recent generations might not know. Hopefully, this can make us expound more on our range of movies reviews that we can publish and share for everyone else. So now, let us move on to the more important part of this post, the review itself.The film starts off introducing John Kho, the best gambler the world has ever known and probably will ever see. He is so good that he was even named, as the movie title implies, the God of Gamblers. He has agreed to play for a Japanese businessman out to avenge his father’s death which was caused by the Singapore Sling. His father killed himself when the Singapore Sling cheated him. Unfortunately and ironically for Mr. Kho, he became unlucky and fell off a cliff because of a trap. He hit his head many times during his fall and this caused him to have partial amnesia. The movie complicates itself more when Mr. Kho, now in an almost childlike state and obsessed with chocolates, keeps his godly powers and abused by his new found friends.
The film for us was actually quite good. It being almost a 20 year old film was a factor but its age didn’t actually affect it in a super negative light. What we could say about this one is probably the super quirky and super weird storyline could actually be its main draw. It’s so unbelievable and so improbable that we actually enjoyed the film. Beyond the actual light humour contained in it, the film’s wacky storyline kept it really interesting. Chow Yun Fat was really impressive in this one. This just shows how versatile of an actor he was. This is a must watch for Chow Yun Fat fans for sure! The only negative thing we actually felt is the B-movie feel to the film. Since it was made in the 80’s and it does not help that it was made in Asia, some people may be ticked off with the very bad editing used. But honestly for us, we felt it added more value to the nostalgic feel to the movie.
Rating: 3 and a half stars
Why you should watch it:
-seeing Chow Yun Fat in this film just shows how talented he really is as an actor
-it’s really funny
-the story itself was quirky and yet, we believe, its what kept the movie really interesting.
Why you shouldn’t watch it:
-it’s really over-the-top and unbelievable.
-some people might not like the B-movie feel to it.
Posted on 8/14/08 10:11AM