Actually the third installment in the series, since “No Risk, No Gain” followed the initial one, “Casino Raiders II” essentially uses gambling in order to present a melodramatic actioner, in a distinct HK style.
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Chicken Feet, Kit and James were Uncle Fan's apprentices in the past. When Uncle Fan brought them to Osaka to compete with Taro Yamamoto, James colluded with Yamamoto and betrayed Fan, but still lost to Kit. James killed Yamamoto after the latter berated him, in a series of events that led to Chicken Feet rescuing Fan, who is crippled after leaping off a high platform to escape from James, and Kit being beaten by James's henchmen and framed for murdering Yamamoto, leading him to prison. Now, Chicken Feet assists, along with his girlfriend Mui, in running a gambling den with Uncle Fan, while training for the upcoming Asia Gambling Tournament. James, however, is not willing to stop, eventually murdering Uncle Fan, just before Kit gets out of prison and tries to reconnect with his daughter. In the meantime, though, his ex-wife is in a relationship with one of James's henchmen, Pau. Even worse, and while the search of Fan's Jade Stones is at large, James kidnaps Kit's daughter to prevent him from joining the tournament.
As was usually the case with Hong Kong movies of the time, the story does not exactly make sense in the way it unfolds, as the focus is on individual scenes, with the narrative revolving around them instead of the whole script. The key scenes, here, however, are truly top notch, even if To had not yet reached the level of direction he achieved in his Milkyway Images productions. As such, the card flying scene of the beginning, the fight in the boat, the many card scenes, the one where Chicken Feet roams the streets in his underwear, and the “car-chase” scene are bound to stay on mind, as they exemplify all parts of the production, including Horace Wong's cinematography, Ng Kam-wa's editing, To's direction, Tony Ching Siu-Tung's action choreography and the abilities of all the cast.
Particularly the card-playing scenes are presented in a way that is truly agonizing, with the opening of each card taking an almost ritualistic hypostasis, in one of the most intriguing elements of the whole movie.
A number of other scenes, as the constant fights between Chicken Feet and Mui, and the ones involving Kit and his daughter, serve the melodramatic aspect of the movie, and while the charisma of Andy Lau as the former in particular is evident, the overall acting is over the top, to the point of annoying at times. Furthermore, the music in these parts is not helping particularly as it adds to the overall cheesiness. On the other hand, these sequences help character analysis, in order to present the desperation and resolve of the protagonists, and the cruelty of the villains.
And talking about villains, pony-tail Anthony Wong steals the show once more as Pau, being entertainingly excessive every time he appears on screen, in a way only he can achieve, with his ending being the most impressive scene in the movie.
Truth be told, “Casino Raiders” has not aged particularly well, but is still quite fun to watch, especially due to To's direction as well as Andrew Lau and Anthony Wong's presence.
