God of Gamblers (1989)

This movie contains one of Chow Yun-Fat's signature roles, where he plays super gambler Ko Chun, who possesses supernatural abilities during his card playing and has earned the nickname of "God of Gamblers." He was involved in an accident that resulted in him having partial memory loss and forgetting his title as the legendary "God of Gamblers." But, he inadvertently ends up showcasing his supernatural powers to street hustler Michael Chan (Andy Lau), who takes him in after his accident.This movie has a little bit of a lot of things including action, humor, gambling, and the supernatural. The actors, which also includes Joey Wang, Charles Heung, Sharla Cheung, and Fui-On Shing, gave us quite a movie with a good balance of drama and comedy that made the film fast-paced for much of the film.From Ko Chun blowing everybody away with his gambling abilities to the development friendship between him and Andy Lau and Joey Wang's characters, the God of Gamblers will definitely remain one of the most iconic movies in Hong Kong cinema and has spawned several sequels and some nonsensical knock-offs, and even inspired the role that launched Stephen Chow's stardom - The Saint of Gamblers.Overall, it's an entertaining movie with Chow Yun-Fat at one of his best! Grade A-

Part of the reason why I was a little confused about the plot of Wong Jing's "Du shen" ("God of Gamblers" in English) is that the copy that I watched cut off most of the subtitles at the bottom of the screen. From the amount that I could understand it was a very entertaining movie, casting Chow Yun-fat as a gambler with an almost supernatural gift. One of the best scenes takes place on scaffolding. Even if you can't read all the subtitles it's still a pleasant romp. Partially a study of the underbelly of gambling and partially a look at Hong Kong during its final years as the last British colony on Earth, the flick is a fun ride. Maybe not to the extent of a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie, but enjoyable nonetheless. You'll probably like it.

I'm a big fan of the actors involved, but I was disappointed by this film. Be warned, the movie isn't like the cover suggests.It's like Chow Yun Fat phoned his agent one day and said "I'm tired of being a total badass of excellence - I want to do a film where I act like an annoying retard for most of it, but become badass for a few seconds just to remind people of what they're missing in the rest of the film and save the day at the end". By a crazy coincidence, Andy Lau had chosen a random word to define his next character, and that word was "incompetent annoying fool".The (single!) gunfight may be quite good, and the ending is trademark cool Chow Yun Fat - but it doesn't justify the hour of wasted time in the middle with Andy money-grabbing and Chow Yun Fat sobbing like a child, with the implications of bonding between the two that never really works.When the cover shows Chow holding a deck of cards and Andy holding a gun , I expect the criminal population of the city to have dropped by at least ten percent by the end of the film, along with some tense and exciting card scenes. Instead you get some embarrassing situational humour and unfunny slapstick.

Inspiring and often hilarious, this movie should not be missed by anyone.Gasp in amazement as Chow Yun showes his 'mah jong' opponents no mercy!Laugh as Chow's head is beaten again and again!Grab your wallet and puchase a copy!This movie is great - action, storyline, step-in part by the director, comedy: God of Gamblers has them all. Make sure you watch the dubbed version or the ending will not be the same... (you'll see what I mean)Watch out for the product plugs for Disney and the blatent disrespect showed to Masterfoods corp. as Chow yun refuses to eat m&ms in stead of his 'favourite'Now sit back and enjoy as Chow Yun and Andy Lau take part in one of HK's finest.