Boxer Charlie (Michael Chan) defies the demand by Japanese gangsters to be defeated in a championship match in Japan so himself and his trainer (Lau Kar-Wing) are cornered afterwards. Saved by a rival gang to the one led by Luk Chuen (with a henchmen being Phillip Ko), Charlie is taken into the family of the elderly boss that saves him and pretends himself to be the leader of the Marlboro gang in Hong Kong. When the elderly boss is eventually assassinated, the widow and her daughter Wakoko travels to Hong Kong where the charade has to be orchestrated in order to make them believe Chan and company are in fact a gang. Although their secret is easily revealed by the Japanese guests, it doesn't stop them from being part of the Yakuza rivalry and living up to bonds of loyalty...

Phillip Chan offers up a subdued yet appropriately moody action-comedy. Having Michael Chan play against type by ACTING as the hard hero works more as the movie rolls on and although never laugh out loud funny, there is amusement on display (best in the case of Deannie Yip who acts as a Filipino maid at one point). Issues of cultural clashing and loyalty transcending country boundaries isn't equal to refined storytelling but director Chan does decent in this regard and mixes dramatic family issues and eventually intense action to entertaining effect. Also with Dennis Chan, Cheung Kwok-Keung and director Phillip Chan himself.

Laughter! Romance! Sex! Murder! Courtroom drama! You get this and more in Terry Tong's (Coolie Killer) wildly crowded (and crowd pleasing) final film. The above is what he spends time jumping in between as he portrays the life of one gigolo (Simon Yam) turned upside down when a client of his (Veronica Yip, back in smut territory after a fine performance in Call Girl 92) goes postal. Longing for love after he's fulfilled the duty of impregnating her, she gets seriously ticked off when Simon is actually in love with lawyer Sandy (Sandra Ng)...

Tong scores points in the low-brow area of the comedy since he has Michael Chow to work with and obviously the bonk-a-thon featuring Veronica and Simon is entirely welcome, if not a little bizarre. There's also a great deal of unconventional casting on display here as it's Sandra Ng who gets the be the actual object of desire, not a common occurrence at this time. Then when Tong takes cues from Fatal Attraction, you realize what an oddly compelling piece of smut this is.

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Gaining word of mouth due to it being funded by the triad boss it is a biopic of, Casino still is a quickie gangster-entry of messy proportions. Talking with a journalist (Kennix Kwok), Simon Yam as Giant recaps the days of late 80s/early 90s in Macau where he and best friend Liu (Alex Fong) rose to fame. Now in a deadly conflict with rival boss Ping (Frankie Ng), the games of twists and deception are in motion...

Billy Tang (employing past cast & crew largely) had fun with the triad genre in Sexy And Dangerous but the treatment here is all over the place. Chunks of the script was either filmed, subsequently cut or simply never written as no character except for maybe Alex Fong (the better performer of the film) has any hint of depth. Best example of this poor treatment being a short appearance by Ada Choi as Giant's wife and all of a sudden we're subjected to what apparently is a dramatic backstory to their relationship... dealt with in 2 minutes via dialogue. It doesn't pan out to be cheap, quick and possess a desire to provide a epic production about Macau gangster life. Your typical wide eyed and large performers occupy the flick (Frankie Ng "best" representing this) and the odd satirical moments of millions of followers constantly talking on their mobile phones and how quickly the different sides mobilize their squads should be put to use in a better movie that actually does satirize all of this. That I think Billy Tang is capable of. Kent Cheng and Ben Ng also appear.

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Fighting gambling with gambling is the motive for Luo Tianguang (Yueh Hua) and this endangers his and his wife's (Lily Ho) life (she was a former head of a casino as well). There's possibly a more layered story to tell here of how corrupt forces win and that righteousness gets you nowhere but what we get in The Casino during its 80 minute running time is effective despite. Director Cheung knows how to showcase the Shaw Brothers sets to good effect, Yueh Hua and Lily Ho are both iconic while the bloodshed is taken up to more creative levels than usual with Shaw Brothers (Wu Ma's finger cutting being the best example and quite frankly close to shocking). Any violent confrontations comes with a hard aura too, making The Casino take on the feeling of hard hitting action of any Chor Yuen movie of the time (in particular The Killer). Sek Kin co-stars.

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Neither No Risk, No Gain (aka Casino Raiders - The Sequel) or Johnnie To's movie at hand here are true continuations of the Jimmy Heung/Wong Jing helmed gambling flick from 1989. Not surprisingly Andy Lau got into all three but that's where the connections stop. Lau is Chicken Feet and works in a gambling den aboard a boat run by crippled gambler Fan (Lau Siu-Ming) and the son Kit (Dave Wong) who's currently in jail. Gambler James (Kelvin Wong) is after a pair of legendary jade stones that is said to be a link to the equally legendary God Of Gamblers so he murders Fan in his pursuit. Left is Chicken Feet, his partner Lin (Wu Chien-Lien) and the son Kit to plot revenge...

Simply put, Casino Raiders II is a product. A well calculated product of the heavy duty production machine that was early 90s Hong Kong cinema. Hot genre, hot stars (especially the pairing of Lau and Wu from A Moment Of Romance, hence them sharing motorcycle scene set to Andy Lau's music in this film too) and a wildly moody product... just like you should expect out of Hong Kong from this time. That's not saying Johnnie To's work is thoroughly good as the vision doesn't seem very unique but there is a charm watching the business tactics on display here (of course co-star Dave Wong gets a multi-song showcase on the very excellent soundtrack). Occasionally the sparks fly for real, in particular Anthony Wong acting up a villainous storm and Ching Siu-Tung's action has a creative 90s energy that is hard to resist. Sporadic flash isn't critics proof and a certain love for the Hong Kong cinema mindset is required to enjoy this "yet another" product but they knew what they were doing and awesomeness all throughout wasn't required for that time's audience.

Reportedly loosely based on the life of casino tycoon Stanley Ho, this largely Macau set Wong Jing epic surely had in mind a little acclaimed (but poor in this reviewer's opinion) flick from 1991 called To Be Number One. Therefore Wong takes his time, giving us a 2 hour movie coming out at best as standard. Just because you have ideas of grandeur and can design it as much, doesn't mean you clinch your goal. Wong seems to think so.

Starting with a quick run-through of Hsin's (Andy Lau) life, starting in poor times, going through war times and his first steps towards securing a position in the world of casinos and gangsters, with him he has loyal friend Kuo (Alex Man). There's a restraint in terms of the amount of times Wong attempts to lighten up the proceedings. There's no restraint to be found in the creation of the lush surroundings though that may radiate but does symbolize a director desperately trying. And that's a fact because in the end this larger narrative doesn't have good character-drama to warrant the expansive arena. These are age old characters possessing righteousness and all that bla bla and lead Lau is running on an autopilot that makes his performance watchable only if you really try hard. Leading ladies Chingmy Yau and Joey Wong are decorations and victims in the frame but it's Alex Man's role reversal that actually registers. Easily destined for the Wilson Lam role instead (playing a rival of Hsin's), Man puts forth warmth and a funny recurring bit where he uses his only knowledge of rather naughty English in any situation. By the hour mark, rivalry, jealousy and power struggles have taken form and it's actually an easy subsequent hour to go through. Much due to some colourful over the top acting by Paul Chun and scattered offensive material coming from Wong Jing as a pregnant woman is kicked around (you take notice, not put forth thanks) It IS standard and a 40 minutes shorter running time wouldn't have been unwelcome. To Wong's credit though, you do wish to take on the sequel just because it presents itself as a shorter tale and hopefully less dreamy in terms of character and grandeur wished upon. Lau Siu-Ming and Kwan Hoi-San also appear.

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Come to think of it, I didn't REALLY, REALLY want to go into a sequel of a rather failed movie anyway but I did. Following in the footsteps of the successful first by having events unfold 20 years later, clearly Wong Jing must've felt pretty anxious to make a dopey movie again and while there's no rules in cinema saying you have to keep a straight line in whatever you do, Casino Tycoon fans need to be pretty forgiving if they're going to endure this mess. Watch Andy Lau's Hsin mostly feature in a serious gangster movie where power struggles of Macau casinos are at the forefront while past rivalries and romances also pop up to give Casino Tycoon II more melodramatic drive.

But Wong Jing is tired of the textured design and everyone being gloomy all the time so he decides to make proceedings akin to a melodramatic gangster comedy instead. Yes, see him disrupt any momentum he might've had by featuring Feng Shui-nutters, recycle the God Of Gamblers score, make multiple racist jokes come out of the mouth of respectable lead Lau even and the aging process of having select gray strands of hair being similar in all characters except Lau Siu-Ming's who seems stuck in a time warp. Wong lays flat on his back and directs in his sleep so there's no argument here apparent that we should care for the soap opera that unfolds. Hui Siu-Hung gets used frequently the excessive comedy way Wong Jing likes, dishing out VD jokes amongst other things and Alex Man is thoroughly annoying in his reprisal of a character that was actually likeable the first time around. Also with Michelle Reis, Remus Choi, Calvin Choi, Sandra Ng, Lee Shu-Kei, Kingdom Yuen and Joey Wong appears in a cameo.

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Jien Chiu (Adam Cheng - Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain) and Bai Yu-Tang (Alexander Fu) are two rival swordsman constantly dueling it out. They share the same master who states that they have equal ability. This doesn't stop the rivalry and when Jien Chiu saves the traveling emperor (Gordon Lau) and his royal seal, he is knighted as an official, much to the dismay of the now hugely jealous Bai...

While My Young Auntie and The Lady Is The Boss divided its time between comedy and kung fu, Lau Kar Leung's 1982 effort Cat Vs Rat is almost exclusively the former. That beforehand means that it's aimed at a local market which also means that Westerners have it slightly more rough going with all goofy comedy featured. However the film comes highly recommended because after all frantic exchanges, verbal or physical are done, the double act between Adam Cheng and Alexander Fu emerges as a winning one. Fu especially is excellent as the deceitful rat and Adam contrasts well as the stoic Jien Chiu. It's not great fun but it's a minor delight and an unusual entry from master Lau Kar Leung. Possible nods to The Elephant Man and the animated Robin Hood resides in here and the action, while sparse and stripped of any serious intensity, adds to a fun mixture. Kara Hui, Hsiao Hou, Lydia Shum, Wilson Tong and an hilarious Lau Kar Wing co-stars.

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