Conman in Tokyo 中华赌侠

Jersey (Nick Cheung), a master gambler from Hong Kong, travels to Tokyo with his girlfriend Banana (Kristy Cheung), where he happens to meet Cool (Louis Koo) — a former gambling god who has now retired from the "big game." His best friend (Ben Lam) betrayed him and stole his girlfriend Karen (Athena Chu), and now works for the Japanese gambler Tetsuo (Yasuaki Kurata), who dreams above all of playing Cool to find out which of them is the stronger.

Impressions: It was hard to believe that after the terrible second film in the series, Conman in Vegas, anyone could make something just as bad, but you can't argue with the facts, as they say – Conman in Tokyo is not far off from its predecessor, even though it was directed by Ching Siu-Tung, a highly respected man and undoubtedly a true professional.

First of all, apart from the title, this film has nothing to do with the previous two. Nick Cheung plays a completely different character here (albeit with the same mannerisms), as does Athena Chu, who played his sister in the first film. The replacement of Andy Lau with Louis Koo also proved unsuccessful: you can criticize Lau's one-note acting all you like, but in that regard Koo leaves him far behind. Don't be fooled, though – the fact that Conman in Tokyo appears to have no connection to the earlier films doesn't mean it won't repeat them. The same unjustified love of soccer (players simultaneously bet on the outcome of a match), the same simplistic plot with the obligatory kidnapping for the sake of a game and double and triple betrayals (predictable all the same). Variety is to be found only in the action.

Ching Siu-Tung, after all, is first and foremost a master of fight scenes, and there are plenty of them here. Everyone who can be bothered fights. Besides Ben Lam, who already swings his legs around on screen often enough in other films, Nick Cheung puts up quite a watchable fight, while Louis Koo is constantly doubled by someone (that "someone," admittedly, is pretty good too). As for the special effects, which Ching Siu-Tung also crammed into his film to the brim, they could have used some trimming – the flying cards, people dodging rockets, and explosions are simply awful. But worst of all is the uneven and unsuccessful style, foolishly comedic and cloyingly sentimental. Another similar Ching Siu-Tung film immediately comes to mind – The Magnificent Seven, practically killed by its cartoonish humor. The situation here is similar, only even more advanced. Everything else is sacrificed for the sake of humor: plausibility, logic, and that same style, in the end. The tension that builds for so long during the traditional final game is mercilessly ruined by gunfire and explosions, and next to the dramatic moment of the lovers' reunion (indecently fake, by the way) sits the inappropriate flat humor of Nick Cheung and Kristy Chung. A huge disappointment – a couple of decent fights can hardly justify the 100 minutes of torture that come bundled with them.