Conman In Tokyo Review 2000 Hong Kong 中華賭俠

A very average Hong Kong Film which doesn't really offer anything new to the genre but it's still a fairly entertaining ride mostly due to the cast.

Jersey is the self proclaimed King of Gamblers in Hong Kong. When he hears the story about his idol, Cool, disappearing for 3 years, he hopes to one day find him. After winning big his girlfriend, Banana, decides that they should go to Tokyo for shopping. One night, they go to a Chinese restaurant, where the owner turns out to be Cool. Cool was betrayed by old friend Yeung Kwong, who married Cool's girlfriend Nancy. Cool wants revenge but first, he must deal with the #1 Asian Gambler, Tetsuo.

Nick Cheung and Louis Koo star and both deliver fine performances but not enough to elevate this beyond gambling movie mediocrity. There are some great special effects for its time with Louis Koo's character Cool being able to throw cards and use them as a weapon, which will be repeated in gambling films for years to come. Cheung often over acts and becomes a bit hammy, but his character is usually used for silly fun.

There are actually some decent action pieces through-out with some good gimmicky fight scenes which help pad out the running time. Nick Cheung actually delivers some fun Kung Fu scenes which was unexpected for this film and role.

However, it's not enough to save this film from being generic fluff. Wong Jing is the producer and it has his name all over it. If you enjoy the crazy Hong Kong gambling films, I'm sure you'll enjoy this. Otherwise it's just an extremely average time waster.

5/10

See this if you liked:
God of Gamblers
Poker King
From Vegas To Macau

Note: This film is a sequel in name only to the 1999 film The Conman in Vegas starring Andy Lau.