Review of The Return of the God of Gamblers

For die hard-fans like me of great star Eastern Chow Yun Fat this film is a little disappointment, although it was the second most successful movie that ever ran in Hong Kong´s cinema! (But commercial success doesn´t say anything about the qualities of a movie, just in view of the greatest blockbuster ever..!) Okay, the gunfights and the chases are a light version of John Woo´s action sequences, but I don´t matter, however a really big annoyance is the forced wittyness. Normally I can stand Asian humor without any problems, but this time the permanent pesky jokes massively strained my nerves! Another minus point is, that real exciting moments are rare in this film! I liked Chingmy Yau´s ("Naked Killer") Kung Fu-roulette and the final poker-duel is an amazing psychological showdown. Unfortunately, the rest of the film does not deliver, because it´s a quite undecided genre-twist between action and comedy! Well-directed and endowed with a fine cinematography, "The Return of the God of Gamblers" is not as great as it could be!!!