Explosive
Summary
God of Gamblers is Chow Yun-fat at his iconic best and rarely has he been cooler; the first half is a little slow in parts but the second half more than makes up for it. 88 Films have done the usual fantastic job of remastering the film and there are enough special features to keep you entertained. If you’re a fan of this film then this is a must-have.
Plot: Ko Chun is the greatest high-roller in the world, king of the casino and as cool as only an in-his-prime Chow Yun-fat (Hard Boiled; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) can be. But that’s before a nasty head injury renders him mentally disabled.
After being befriended by unscrupulous hustler ‘Knife’ (golden-throated Canto-Pop king Andy Lau), it is discovered that, despite his other impairments, Ko’s unerring instincts for gambling remain intact. Knife thinks he’s on to a sure thing but Ko still has enemies and they haven’t forgotten him…
Review: There are few people cooler than Chow Yun-fat in his prime and God of Gamblers has him at his swaggering best. The film isn’t as action packed as say Hard Boiled or The Killer but it certainly has its moments especially in the superior second half.
The best parts of the movie feature Chow as Ko Chun the said God of Gamblers of the title; but for me, once he loses his memory of who he is and is manipulated by Andy Lau’s Knife it does lose a bit of its spark. Chow gives an excellent performance however, when he is Ko Chun he is ice cool with a slightly smug demeanor but when he is “Chocolate” he genuinely feels like someone totally different.
Andy Lau’s character Knife is for the most part an asshole who only really finds redemption by the end but that’s why it’s called a character arc, I guess.
The action highlight is when “Chocolate” remembers who he is, picks up the two guns and starts blasting away in slow motion at his assailants which is easily the best scene of the film. As a side note this scene also has some quality squibs the likes of which we rarely see today.
Keep your eyes open for a small role from Kickboxer star Dennis Chan as Doctor Toneg Wong; I totally forgot he was in this movie until I recently watched my new 88 Films Blu-ray.
Speaking of which, the film has been nicely remastered in terms of picture and audio as well as a plethora of special features which you can see below:
SPECIAL FEATURES
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray™ presentation
- Original Cantonese Mono with English Subtitles & SDH
- Alternate Cantonese 5.1 DTS-HD MA with English Subtitles & SDH
- English Mono Dub
- Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Cinema Expert David West
- Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Cinema Experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto
- Archive Interview with Chow Yun Fat,
- Archive Interview with Andy Lau
- Two Archive Interviews with Wong Jing
- English Titles
- Hong Kong Trailer
- English Trailer
- Stills Gallery
- Reversible cover with new art by Sean Longmore and original Hong Kong Poster
I loved the English language interview with Chow Yun-fat as he explains how he initially met John Woo and he comes across as very easygoing. As with the best 88 Films releases Frank Djeng also provides an entertaining commentary with F.J. DeSanto.
Overall, God of Gamblers could have done with more in the way of action but Chow Yun-fat’s effortless cool makes this an easy watch even with the odd pacing lag. 88 Films have done a nice job with the remastering and there are enough special features to make this well worth your time and money.
