God of Gamblers (1989)
Ko Chun, an extremely talented and well known gambler. On the eve of a big confrontation with a famous Singaporean gambler, Ko walks into a trap set by Knife, an avid but a so-so gambler, meant for an Indian neighbour. Struck on the head, Ko suffers from amnesia and regresses to a child-like state. Knife takes care of Ko and begins to exploit Ko's gambling talents.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Absolutely Fantastic
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
With a Hong Kong viewing challenge coming up,I started keeping a look out for films from the country on DVD. Mesmerised by his performance in John Woo's The Killer,I was happy to find in a local DVD shop another Chow Yun Fat title from the era,which led to me going on a gambling spree.View on the film:Hitting the tables in the Heroic Bloodshed era, writer/director Jing Wong folds the stylisation of the genre into the most striking scenes of the film, via a weaving camera following the moving of cards around the tables building up tension towards Chun's next gamble, along with bursts of slow-motion in pans around Mexican stand-offs and short hits of Gun-Fu. Placing these elements to the side for a big chunk of the flick, Wong aims for zany Comedy that zips along Chun's screwed-up face,which becomes grating as glimpses of flashback show the thrilling part of the tale the film should be focusing on.Picking up Chun's cards, the opening 30 minutes is given an enticing slickness in Jing Wong's screenplay, as the calculation Chun puts towards his card playing has the thrill of a heist movie,and swift setting up of ruthless gangsters (backed by the chimes of Lowell Lo's score.) Knocking Chun out and giving him memory loss, Wong attempts to play frantic slap-stick Comedy for the next hour,but unveils a bad hand as the repetitive "wacky" antics become increasingly grating, and undermine the build-up,which is just about saved by a return to the wheel of fortune gambles in the ending. Bringing a feeling of Heroic Bloodshed loyalty in his scenes with Andy Lau's Little Knife,Chow Yun-Fat gives a terrific performance as Chun,who retains a blazing charisma even when stuffing his mouth with chocolate, which melts as Yun- Fat gets Chun to reveal himself to be the god of gamblers.
It's rare that you see a movie that's so cheap yet so cool. How do you define 'cool'? What makes a guy 'cool'? If you would like to know the answers to these questions, there's one person you can ask, Chow Yun Fat (Yun-Fat Chow). He basically defines cool in this movie. However, that's not the only kind of character he plays in this film. Try and think of the coolest person you know. Now, try and imagine someone really childish. Now imagine both as one person. Sound like a difficult role for an actor to play? After you see the acting in this film, it won't look difficult at all. If you didn't think much about Chow Yun Fat before this movie, I can almost guarantee you will after seeing it. He is clearly a brilliant actor.There's really no point to have a really good actor if you can't even have a good story. Luckily though, God of Gamblers succeeds in this aspect as well. I don't really want to say anything, as the plot is kind of weird at parts, but if you just follow along with it, you should pleasantly enjoy it. The characters are all performed fairly well, and are enjoyable to watch. There is also a great sense of humour to this film, which may seem weird at times, but always funny.The directing is well done and the music is absolutely awesome, and fits the film perfectly. This movie also has what could be considered as one of the greatest endings of all time. This movie is brilliantly executed and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys watching movies.
God of Gamblers is a bit of a hybrid of different genres. There`s intense drama, lively comedy and ultraviolent action. Chow Yun-Fat is God of Gamblers. Because of an accident, his mental state is reduced to the level of a child, but he has not lost his gamblegift(nor his hunger for chocolate). The people responsible for the accident(they didn`t mean to by the way) soon discover the unusual gift of their "patient", and begin to take advantage of it. Chow Yun-Fat gets a chance to prove his great acting abilities, without so much use of a gun(he also uses a gun, but rather rarely). God of Gamblers has intense drama and a rather nice soundtrack(if a little bizarre at times). The comedy part is also all right, but a Western audience might find quite a few of the jokes a little TOO chinese for their liking. Overall though, God Of Gamblers is a quite tasty hongkong-movie that every fan should see. 8,5/10
...but the subtitles on the DVD I rented were totally unreadable. They are burned directly into the film (unlike properly formatted DVD subtitles), and sit much too low on the screen, resulting in the English being cropped off. The VHS version might be better. Be warned!