I finally managed to view this Chow Yun-Fat flick which has been in my unwatched dvd corner for ages. Well, and I didn't exactly get what I expected. First of all it's no all-guns-out and shoot-the-more-evil-guys action-flick. Chow Yun-Fat playes a master in card playing, the so-called 'God of Gamblers' (... the subtitles always say 'God of Gambles). He's really great, knows to play games, artistic games, and wins it big time ;).

The opponents don't like that -of course- so they try to kill him. Mr. Ko (Chow's role name) escapes but falls down a hill and get's some serious head injuries which leads to partial amnesia. Two guys and a girl help him to recover but Ko still doesn't know who he is. He actually behaves like a child and always demands for chocolate so his nickname is found quickly: Chocolate. Later on he discovers his ability to play cards. And when the bad guys try to kill him again more memories come back ...

In fact, GoG is a comedy with more card playing scenes than shoot-outs. There's (basically) one gun-fight in a parking garage where Chow behaves like we know him (and it looks goooood!) . But Chow is funny - you just have to get used to it. And there's another familiar face in that movie: Andy Lau, previously seen in Running out of time.

DVD (Mei Ah, NTSC, codefrei)

The picture quality isn't high standard. Well, the movie is over ten years old, maybe there wasn't any master tape left? And it's full screen (!). I don't know if there's a widescreen version out there but I suggest there is because sometimes the subtitles (non-removable Chinese & English; white color, not always appropriate and blurry) are out of the frame.

Maybe the VCD release equals the DVD release. And as extra you only have a (subtitled) Trailer. At least we get 9 chapters which is more than the usual (6!) I've seen. If you need to see this movie try a tape or VCD first because the price of this DVD I've seen lately is too high for what it offers.