God of Gamblers' Return (1994)

After many sequels and spin-offs, this is the one true sequel to the original God of Gamblers, returning Chow-Yun Fat as the gambling master Ko Chun. This time, after living a seemingly quiet life, a new nemesis has murdered his family and he has vowed to seek revenge on those who did him and his family harm, while concealing his God of Gamblers identity for one year.As a sequel, I think this film does not compare to the intrigue, charm, humor and drama as found in the original movie, as the action scenes were, in my opinion, overkill, and the characters weren't as memorable - even though some respected actors such as Tony Leung-Ka Fai and Chingmy Yau have starring roles.The kid in the movie was a little annoying and the gambling scenes in the movie were over-hyped. There are some intense and suspenseful moments, especially when Ko Chun finally takes on his nemesis. There are also some funny moments from Leung-Ka Fai, but overall, it's not one of the more intriguing gambling movies.Grade C-

God of Gamblers Returns is a drunken repeat of first movie, and stumbles down to the ground in comparison. The story is just as simple where Chow needs to take revenge for his loved ones the only way he knows how through shooting, smiling, and gambling. The biggest flaw of the original God of Gamblers was the breakaway subplot of Chow Yun Fat losing his memory and thinking he was toddler for an hour. In this movie, Chow Yun Fat actually has to take care of a toddler, and this time the cheesy subplot lasts much longer than an hour which gets progressively more slapstick oriented. Like in the first movie, the introduction is both fast-paced and interesting then after 15 minutes immediately dives off into the subplot which has no relief until the villain makes a confrontation in the third act. In a similar structure CYF gains a few comic relief oddball-pals, except this round he gains two more which brings the count to four comic relief characters which surround him constantly. Despite the movie trying to present a facade of a fun group, they're plain annoying and obnoxious, overall detracting screen time and charisma away from Chow and the serious characters. The return of the God of Gamblers is disappointing as his return is weakened by flat side characters who treat him as a stooge. Wong Jing didn't learn from his previous mistakes, as still the only truly interesting portions of the sequel are where there's gambling and gunfights. Thus the beginning and end are great but the middle act will frustrate even the most patient HK fans. It has its moments but the stuff in between will wear you down. -5/10

I will have to say that this sequel is a step down from the original first movie. Why? Well simply because they put too much stupid comedy in it, which really worked as an anchor and dragged the movie down.Sure it was good to see Chow Yun-Fat reprising the Ko Chun character, and he did act well enough. Unfortunately he wasn't joined by Andy Lau, which would have been a great addition to the movie having him reprising his character as well. Instead Chow Yun-Fat is joined by Tony Leung Ka Fai and Chingmy Yau on the screen.Storywise, then "The Return of the God of Gamblers" wasn't as enjoyable as the first movie. There were some really great moments in the movie, sure, but in overall it was just not as good as the first movie. And I repeat myself again here, but the implemented attempts at bringing comedy into this movie was so poor that it made the movie suffer instead of improving it.Don't get me wrong, "The Return of the God of Gamblers" isn't a bad movie, but personally I didn't think too much of it, especially not compared to the first "God of Gamblers" movie. They have strayed a bit too far into the comedy genre for my personal liking.

Chow Yun Fat has 2 modes in his movies: super-cool & super-goofy. These 2 modes are often signalled by his hairstyle: the slicked-back hair (e.g., "The Killer") and the scruffy hair (e.g., "City on Fire.")This movie is fun because it incorporates both modes, and the movie itself also veers from tragic to super-silly - and it works. There are things in this movie that are so wacky that you have to see it to believe it.The gambling scenes in this movie, especially the earlier ones, are staged more like sporting events, and are the most entertaining gambling you'll ever see in a movie. Again, if you're hung up on realism, you'll find it preposterous.But if you're prepared to loosen up and enjoy a fun movie, you won't be disappointed.