Nowadays it seems that franchises are interested in world building and extended universes and you would think that this was a fairly modern innovation. We've always had spin-offs and sequels that introduce an added dimension to a cinematic world and in many respects, Wong Jing's follow ups to his huge hit “God of Gamblers” could, to a degree, be considered an earlier example of the idea of world building. We started with the God of Gamblers in the original, then the Saint in the Stephen Chow's more comical sequels. With “The Top Bet” we get introduced to the Saint's sister and more female centric position before the arrival of “The Saint of Gamblers” that adds another shade of paint to a familiar formula by including a new “Saint” along with Lone Seven, a relation to the originals laconic protector. Now I'm not saying this is intentional as Wong Jing was always about the money and raking in every last Hong Kong Dollar imaginable. So to think that he was planning this is completely absurd. Yet the constant adding of new elements does make it a fascinating side bar to an increasing convoluted sub-genre.
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Uncle Tat (Ng Man-tat) travels to a Chinese village where all the residents have secret abilities in a bid to find a replacement for the Saint of Gamblers. He discovers God (Erik Kot), a rather naive villager who he brings back to Hong Kong with the aim of making money gambling. They cross paths with Ray Thai (Ben Lam), a villainous gambler who is aiming to win a tournament and sees the duo as a perfect distraction. He uses his girlfriend (Chingmy Yau) to sweeten the smitten God until she realises how far Ray has fallen. Her kid brother (Ashton Chen) and Interpol agent Lone Seven (Donnie Yen) must help come to the rescue before Ray's plans come to fruition.
This is very much a lesser vehicle but still has lots to enjoy. It's main failing though is the lack of charisma in its lead Erik Kot. In trying to find a successor to Stephen Chow, we had already seen Nick Cheung promoted as a potential new king of comedy, only for him to eventually be better recognised and received as a straight actor. Erik Kot – one half of a musical double act Softhard and comedian was the next in line with his top billed role here. The character of God is a bit of a hindrance in terms of range, being the usual idiot savant, but in essence, we are getting the character Chow Yun Fat played once he developed amnesia and none of the coolness that he brought elsewhere in the very first “God of Gamblers”. Ng Man-tat is always an eager sidekick as Uncle Tat who will go through endless pratfalls but it's clear there is little of the chemistry that he shares with Steven Chow. With this issue at its centre, it is unsurprising that the supporting cast is full of scene stealers to maintain the interest.
Ashton Chen as the Shaolin styled, high kicking baby brother Siu-Loong is a bundle of energy and threatens to walk off with the movie as he steals every scene he is in. Diana Pang's wardrobe as Hokei steals every other scene, especially in one rather crude but brilliantly executed sight gag involving ties. Donnie Yen as Lone Seven ups the action ante in the last third, it's just a pity he never really gets to square off with Ben Lam's villainous Ray Thai. I've personally never fully understood the appeal of Chingmy Yau who can be rather wooden at times in her performances. Whilst she gets plenty of action, her character never really comes to life, but I put this down to the script rather than her acting.
A Wong Jing film is basically a three ring circus. Throw everything at the screen and see what sticks. Quality is never a prime consideration and so the scripts and overall polish can be lacking,\ when not fully focused and this is no exception. With Hong Kong cinema at the time, the traditional narrative structures did not apply and so tone would change from scene to scene which, for the uninitiated, is really perplexing. Here one scene can feature vicious violence and slapstick within seconds. This is about entertaining the audience rather than any deeper meaning and reviewing any Wong Jing movie needs to bear this in mind.
The look is that of most Hong Kong comedies with bright primary colours, visual comic book style humour and full of energy if slightly off kilter and lacking in direction. The gambling scenes end up as almost an afterthought, a plot devise to hang all the other comical and action sequences too. It's an irrelevance really as to who wins as it's never really considered that important. The other area of Wong Jing comedies to pay attention too and as a potential warning is the frequent use of pop culture references. This can be slightly distracting watching it about 25 years, on as references that appear funny at the time are now more obscure and the jokes lost. Language is a consideration also, unfamiliarity with Cantonese means that for non-speakers like myself we will also miss some of the verbal humour too. Personally never stopped my loving Stephen Chow comedies even if I was only connecting to half of the jokes!
“The Saint of Gamblers” is the equivalent to a McDonalds Happy meal. It entertains, passes the time nicely, sates the appetite but doesn't leave you fully nourished. This though, is what it was intended to be. No pretext to high art, just a series of comedy skits, a bit of action and some gambling scenes thrown in for good measure. If you want something more substantial then go with the superior “God of Gamblers”, but if you want 90 minutes of no-brain required nonsense, then this will do the job. It won't last long in the memory but you won't be bored.
