Sing who has some special powers and some gambling talent decide, together with his uncle Ng Man-Tat, to try and become the apprentice of the God of Gamblers in order for them to be able to make some cash. But since the God of Gamblers Ko Chun is not available they have to settle for Little Knife, the Knight of Gamblers. At first Little Knife refuses to take Sing on but when a man named Tai-Kun (The Devil of Gamblers) steals Knife's title, Knife teams up with Sing in order to get his honour and reputation back.
Chow Yun-Fat is gone and is here replaced by Stephen Chow who makes this movie a lot funnier and also a lot more silly than the first God of Gamblers was. I'm a big fan of the old (before America) Chow Yun-Fat stuff and think that God of Gamblers was a great movie. This movie has its positive sides too, but it's pretty different compared to the first one. While God of Gamblers was filled with seriousness and cool action, God of Gamblers 2 is absolutely packed with humour and silly situations. There are a lot of comical things in this movie and while some are really funny, some are far from it.
I think one could say that out of 7 jokes, one works. But since the movie is absolutely filled with jokes and humour, there are of course a lot to laugh about. Also, the stuff that's funny is often really laugh-out-loud funny, but a lot of times it's just too silly as well. I guess it all comes down to what kind of person you are and what type of humour that works for you. This is typical HK humour and if you've seen a lot of HK movies you should know what to expect, some stuff is fun and some is just ridiculously childish. Although in the end you still get a lot of humour that works well and the movie has some hilarious stuff in it.
Can't really complain about the story either. It's a good sequel where Stephen Chow wants Andy Lau to take him under his wings and train him to become a great gambler. Lau refuses at first but later realizes that he needs Chow's help in order to get his stolen title back. It's predictable and it's easy to figure out how it's gonna end, but a movie like this you watch for the entertainment. If you want a complicated story with twists and turns, look elsewhere.
The acting is ok, Stephen Chow is always really comical and Andy Lau does a great job with his character. Chow Yun-Fat appears every now and then in the movie, but it's from scenes taken from the first movie so he never really acted in this sequel. Some of the acting from the other actors are way over-the-top at times, but since it's supposed to be comedy it works quite well. You have to expected a movie like this to be somwhat over-the-top at times, a lot of these type of HK flicks are and that is one reason why they are cool. So it's not really bad over-the-top acting we're talking about here, although sometimes it still might be a bit too much.
Expect for humour, the movie also treats the viewer to some great action, some cool shoot-out scenes and some nice fighting as well. In the end it manages to stay true to the first movie even though this is much more of a comedy than the first one was. If you're into HK flicks, you'll probably like it.
Sometimes it's too much but at times this movie offers some brilliant funny stuff and it's very hard not to laugh. It's quite long but is never dull and manages to stay interesting and funny the movie throughout. Plus that, we get to see some cool action scenes too which makes a nice break from the constant comedy. Nothing fantastic but really entertaining. Recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Dou hap
MOVIE YEAR: 1991
DIRECTOR: Jing Wong
WRITING CREDITS: Jing Wong
GENRE: Action, Comedy
CAST: Stephen Chow, Charles Heung, Andy Lau
COUNTRY: Hong Kong
RUNTIME: 126 min
RATING: 6/10
God of Gamblers 2 Website/IMDB Click here
God of Gamblers 2 Trailer Click here
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