Yoon Jung TerribleThe story is forgetful, too many meaningless, shallow humor fillers. Cheesy/cringe/anger causing moments with overdone cg and spontaneous visual effects (tvb is behind the production, you know what that means).I would not watch this again if I was paid. In fact, I stopped watching half way through because I was so disgusted at the quality of this crap. Typical Hong Kong garbage from director Wong Jing.Cannot recommend to anyone.1/10

YJLcool Anyone who watched Hong Kong movies from the 90s should roughly know what this film is about. From Vegas to Macau is another gambling-themed action drama comedy film directed by Wong Jing (王晶) which stars Chow Yun Fatt (周润发), but note that this film is not related to the God of Gamblers series from the past.As with many Wong Jing's films from the past, the film is full of slapstick and nonsensical 'mou-lei-tau' (无厘头) comedic jokes, some worked, providing the audience a few laughs here and there, while some don't...as some of them feel forced and superficial or due to jokes being done several times by many films in the past.The film will not be as entertaining as it should be without Chow Yun Fatt's charismatic performance as the legendary gambler turned Macau casino lead security consultant, Ken. It's been a very long time since we get to watch him involved in such a comedic, charming role. It's quite fortunate that he still got what it takes to carry the film. As usual, we have Chapman To (杜汶泽) to provide some comic relief to relieve some tension in the midst of serious elements in the film. On the other hand, Nicholas Tse (谢霆锋) delivered a quite disappointing, below-average, unenthusiastic performance as the good-looking main hero who knows how to fight, possibly to provide some eye-candy for female audiences.The film lacks in plot and character development for many of the supporting characters, which is quite common for many Wong Jing films, so it's expected. The film is at best when it's not taken seriously and just go with the 'flow', enjoying the comedic scenes as they come and go.Overall, it's still a decent entertaining film to watch during the Chinese New Year festive season, due to Chow Yun Fatt's incredibly charming performance.http://yjcool.blogspot.com/

hkauteur The God of Gamblers series were the films of my childhood and were amongst the first films I binge-watched on television. Chow Yun Fat in a pompadour and tuxedo with unexplainable gambling powers walking in slow-motion was just the epitome of cinematic cool. The success of the first GOG spawned three spin off series, a sequel and a prequel. The gambling movies peaked with the Stephen Chow series when he took it to new heights with his brand of nonsensical humor. The trend started to die out in the late 90′s and eventually in the 2000′s became embarrassing rehashes starring Nick Cheung. The only interesting addition was 1999′s The Conman starring Andy Lau, a reboot of The Knight of Gamblers series, which interestingly rooted the gambling into reality. Sadly it was ruined by its lackluster sequel The Conmen in Vegas, which was a string of unfunny lewd gags.Now here we are with From Vegas to Macau, the story starts with small-time conman Cool (Nicholas Tse), whose undercover policeman half-brother (Phillip Ng) is murdered by Ko (Gao Hu), the head of an illegal gambling syndicate. Cool seeks the help of "Magic Hands" Ken (Chow Yun Fat), a legendary gambler turned casino security consultant, to battle Ko.As you may have figured, Chow is unfortunately not playing the Ko Chun character. The Ken character is more akin to Chow's silly comedic roles in The Diary of a Big Man or The Eighth Happiness, which is overall less serious. However much of Chow's cinematic allure is still there. I can watch Chow Yun Fat in a tuxedo walking into lobbies greeting people all day. When Chow sits at a gambling table, you just want him to win so much you don't even care how he is doing it. He is the warm bright sun shining onto this film, and every time he is not on screen, it starts to feel cold and stale.Nicholas Tse looks bored playing the stone-faced romantic lead Cool. Tse plays it so straight it looks like he belongs in another movie. Jing Tian, having previously starring together with Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan, is getting on my nerves from overexposure. Her policewoman is bland. I would kindly suggest that she go fire a real gun and wear the police gear before the day of the shoot, because she always looks like she's playing dress up. As the comic relief, Chapman To does the most with he's given with delivering the cheesiest jokes in rapid-fire delivery. To does it with such earnestness that he just about gets away with it.Even after 20 years, Wong Jing is still giving the same gags. I started guessing the punchlines to all of the gags. Even worse, I knew where they were all done before. To name a few tropes: the international water plot twist, staging a fake football broadcast, and the fat women being undesirable gag are all here. The most unforgivable thing is that there isn't a final gambling match at the end, and the anticlimactic nature of that left me empty.The biggest con man is perhaps Wong Jing himself, who in the final shot of the film, teases the audience with a surprise cameo appearance and plays a hip hop cover of Lowell Lo's original God of Gamblers theme song in the end credits, which insinuates the good film that he could have made, the film that everybody came to see. And that is just mean-spirited.Wong Jing, having seen him speak in interviews, has a very 'ends justify the means' approach to everything he does. As long as he makes money, everything he does is justified. That is the accountant-like approach to Jing's directing. What's most infuriating is the gambling film series feel stuck in time is not because of its nineties pastiche, but because Wong Jing has no interest of taking it anywhere by updating or adding a new modern angle to it. From Vegas to Macau just feels like reheated overnight food.For more reviews, please visit my film blog @ http://hkauteur.wordpress.com

caseymoviemania It's been 20 years since Chow Yun-Fat last portrayed his iconic Ko Chun role in 1994's GOD OF GAMBLERS RETURNS. And this year, he's finally back to the gambling genre that first made him popular in 1989's GOD OF GAMBLERS. Unfortunately, FROM VEGAS TO MACAU is not the long-awaited GOD OF GAMBLERS 4 everyone has been anticipating for. Despite the return of Chow Yun-Fat and director Wong Jing, FROM VEGAS TO MACAU is actually a new movie altogether.WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?Chow Yun-Fat plays Ken, who was once a renowned gambler and a former Vegas security consultant known for his "magic hands" technique. When Ken invited his old buddy, a retired swindler named Benz (Hui Shiu Hung) to Las Vegas for his lavish birthday event, Benz's son, Cool (Nicholas Tse) wants to become Ken's protégé. Meanwhile, Cool's undercover brother (Philip Ng) is killed by one of Mr. Ko's (Gao Hu) right-hand men, Ghost Eyes (Max Zhang) for trying to expose his money-laundering operation. The cops (led by Michael Wong and Jing Tian) seek Ken's expertise to help them apprehend Mr. Ko at all cost, while Cool has set his sights to avenge his brother's death against Ghost Eyes.THE GOOD STUFFThe biggest attraction in this movie is definitely none others than Chow Yun-Fat himself. It's been a very long time since we watch Chow Yun-Fat in such jovial mood. Even though he's nearly 60 years old, he's hardly lost his charisma and comic flair at all. Whether flirting and romancing around with Annie Wu and Jing Tian, singing with Hui Shiu Hung and Maria Cordero, showing off his skills on the gambling table or stylishly flicks his gold-playing cards as throwing weapons, Chow Yun-Fat's hugely entertaining performance is the reason that made this movie a fun experience to watch for.Meanwhile, director Wong Jing manages to retain some of the wacky charm that we used to watch from GOD OF GAMBLERS series. His direction is fast and furious, at which he blends action, comedy and romance in a fairly enjoyable manner.MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)The brief but memorable scene occurs midway during the end credit rolls... let's just say it involves a certain character making a cameo appearance that guarantees to give the fans something to cheer about.THE BAD STUFFIt's quite a pity that the rest of the actors doesn't fare as good as Chow Yun-Fat does. For instance, Nicholas Tse is almost wasted here as Cool. Same goes to Chapman To as Karl, who appears to be more annoying than actually being funny. The female cast, in the meantime, ranging from Kimmy Tong, Annie Wu to Jing Tian, are mostly reduced to eye-candy roles.Wong Jing's screenplay has several rough patches as well, especially when it comes to numerous subplots. Some of them are almost useless, like the one involving the would-be romance between Cool and Rainbow (Kimmy Tong). Even some of the jokes feel either forceful or recycled from Wong Jing's previous own movies.FINAL WORDSWhile the movie isn't as nearly memorable as GOD OF GAMBLERS, FROM VEGAS TO MACAU remains a recommendable effort worth watching for this Chinese New Year. After all, how often do you get to watch Chow Yun-Fat playing such a role these days?caseymoviemania.blogspot.com