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THE
CONMEN IN VEGAS
AKA:
N/A
Year:
1999 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
When
King (Lau) and Ching (Athena Chu - although she does not
appear here) part ways, King becomes something of a lost soul.
With the assistance of Dragon (Cheung) and fellow conman Nat
(Chan), he decides to go on a scamming spree. When a
trick backfires and Dragon is taken hostage by a local gang
the remaining two are forced into trying to raise some fast
cash. Their only option is to assist the police in
bringing in a big time conman who has relocated to Las Vegas
in the US taking $4 billion of the government's money with
him. They team up with a couple of gorgeous girls and
set about trying to outfox one of the biggest foxes ever
known.
The
good thing about this sequel to the disappointing 'The
Conman' is that it borrows very little from it's
predecessor. Rather than try to add another rehash to
the aging 'God Of Gamblers' saga, it is clear from the
beginning that it is a plain and simple comedy. It
avoids the predictable card game confrontations and openly
sets out to make a fun adventure movie with a few laughs along
the way.
Andy
Lau reprises his role as the mean and moody King although he
shows a softer side to his character here to fit in with the
humorous style of the movie but it is not that much of a
departure from most of his recent performances. The one
thing that puzzles me about Lau is that he is surely
considered an A-movie star in his own territory so why does he
continue to fill up his schedule with films that do not fulfil
his potential? That said, it is clear that he is not
willing to compromise his hard man image in any way as he
retains his cool persona whilst other around him are mutilated
horribly about the face for the sake of satire.
Nick Cheung also puts in an appearance here but we are left to
assume that he had other commitments as he has very little to
do so Natalis Chan steps in to fill the sidekick role (as he
has done many a time, particularly in Chow Sing Chi films) and
in fact does a better job than Cheung did in the original.
For
'Conmen In Vegas' Wong Jing takes the best approach that we
could hope for - one in which he has little aspiration to
achieve heights that we are all well aware he isn't capable
of. We all know that he can't make a masterpiece but he
can make movies that provide escapism for the audience and
that is ultimately what films are all about. There are
glamorous locations, beautiful women and plenty of humorous
moments to glide you through this typified H.K. farce that is
definitely fun while it lasts although it won't leave a permanent
impression.
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