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GOD
OF GAMBLERS 3: BACK TO SHANGHAI
AKA:
God Of Gamblers III: Back To
Shanghai || All For The Winner 3
Year:
1991 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
Having
finally got his wish to learn the art of gambling from the God
Of Gamblers, Sing (Chow) returns home to find he is the talk
of the town. However, with this new found responsibility
comes danger in the form of rival gamblers who compete for
fame and fortune. When they combine their powers, Sing
is transported back through time to 1937 where he arrives just
in time to save his own grandfather (Man Tat). On his
quest to find his way home, Sing is befriended by Triad boss
Ding Lik who offers him all the wealth he needs in exchange
for his gambling skills. However, the only thing that he
really wants is the love of Ding's wife, who is gentle with
him one minute and cold as ice the next. It's up to Sing
to chose between helping Ding or risking all by trying to the
win the hand of the woman he loves.
Following
on from the disappointing 'God
Of Gamblers 2', this third part in the series thankfully
chooses only to re-employ the services of Chow Sing Chi and Ng
Man Tat as they were the most successful elements from the
second film. Story-wise, it also moves away from the
cheap repetition that plagued the last production and comes up
with a completely new film that only borrows ideas from the
original idea as a springboard.
Surprisingly
for a Wong Jing comedy, this is actually a very inventive and
highly amusing outing that emerges as one of my favourite Chow
Sing Chi films. How much it was inspired by films like
'Back To The Future' is not known but thanks to some excellent
casting and hilarious gags, this film really does rise above a
lot of his earlier (and most recent) efforts. Chow and
Man Tat are surely the key to it's triumph with some
side-splitting routines which surprisingly offer Man Tat an
equal amount of screen time as well as some of the funnier
dialogue. However, its the combined chemistry that is so
enthralling and makes this one of their best on-screen
collaborations to date which can't fail to have you rolling
with laughter.
Chow's
admiration for his real life idol Bruce Lee also gets a chance
to shine through for this role as he recreates several
homage's to his hero. The most notable of these is when
he actually re-enacts the training sequence from 'Way
Of The Dragon' with uncanny ease before launching into
some impressive moves of his own. Admittedly, most of
these action scenes are played for laughs but some of his real
talent for martial arts is also evident. It's a shame
Chow has never really chosen to appear in a serious Kung Fu
film as he certainly has the ability and timing for it so I'm
sure it would make for interesting viewing but it looks
unlikely at this stage in his career.
A
third film in this series seemed like a bad idea, especially
considering the lacklustre second part, but in fact this movie
succeeds in taking the concept to a whole new level.
Correcting the mistakes from its predecessor, it contains some
of my favourite Chow and Man Tat moments of all time as well
as providing a genuinely enjoyable hour and a half's
entertainment.
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