From Vegas to Macau III

赌城风云III

Hong Kong/China, 2016, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 3-D (China only), 100 mins.

Directors: Liu Weiqiang 刘伟强 [Andrew Lau], Wang Jing 王晶 [Wong Jing].

Associate director: Zhong Shaoxiong 钟少雄 [Billy Chung].

Rating: 3/10.

Skittish, feeble end to the series makes even the lame FVTMII  look good by comparison.

STORY

Paradise Island, Thailand, the present day. Arms dealer-cum-scientist-cum-gambler Yi Tianxing (Zhang Xueyou) has former money launderer and DOA Group head Cang Jing, aka Mo Chou (Liu Jialing), in a suspended animation sphere after rescuing her in mid-air when she jumped without a parachute from a plane following a face-off with her onetime lover and nemesis, master gambler Shi Yijian (Zhou Runfa). Yi Tianxing vows vengeance on Shi Yijian for what he did to Mo Chou. Meanwhile, in Macau, Shi Yijian is hyper-nervous over the marriage of his adopted daughter Shi Caihong (Tong Fei) to Interpol agent Le (Yu Wenle), the adopted son of an old friend (Jiang Dawei). To calm him down, his friend Ma Shangfeng (Zhang Jiahui), DOA’s former chief accountant who absconded with US$15 billion of the group’s money, hypnotises him into believing Le is marrying Shi Yijian’s fat cousin instead. The wedding in a luxury hotel is interrupted by a bomb inside a robot clone of “Little Knife” Chen (Liu Dehua), an old gambling colleague of Shi Yijian. Shi Caihong and Le are knocked out by the blast and fall into a coma; Shi Yijian is unharmed but he and Ma Shangfeng are arrested by Interpol for stealing DOA’s money. In prison, Shi Yijian seems brain-damaged by the hypnosis and the bomb blast; but he shows off his card tricks to the other inmates and leads them in a song ‘n’ dance. A task force sent by Yi Tianxing breaks into the prison to kill Shi Yijian, but he’s rescued by the arrival of “Little Knife” Chen and two younger colleagues – Long Shiwu (Xiang Zuo), the son of an old gangster pal, Long Wu (Xiang Huaqiang), and Gao Fei (Li Yuchun), the younger female cousin of legendary gambler Gao Jin (Zhou Runfa). “Little Knife” Chen invites Shi Yijian and Ma Shangfeng to stay at his home in Singapore, where they learn from Interpol that the explosives used at the wedding have been traced to JC Group, the company of Yi Tianxing. During the stay in Singapore, Shi Yijian further regresses and thinks he’s martial-arts hero Zhang Wuji from Jin Yong’s novel The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 倚天屠龙记. Ma Shangfeng takes a liking to Gao Fei, but she thinks he’s an idiot. Romance blossoms, however, between the house droids of Shi Yijian and “Little Knife” Chen. Then one day, Yi Tianxing shows up unexpectedly and demands to see Shi Yijian. After some inconclusive games of table tennis to decide whether he stays or leaves, Yi Tianxing invites everyone to Paradise Island to celebrate his birthday with some high-stakes gambling.

REVIEW

Any hopes that From Vegas to Macau III 赌城风云III would re-discover the bounce and wit that made the 2014 original such fun are dashed early on, when it becomes clear that Hong Kong writer-producer-director Wang Jing 王晶 [Wong Jing] and his team are happy just to carry on milking the cash cow ever more cynically. In fact, FVTMIII is so feeble that it makes even the lame From Vegas to Macau II 赌城风云II (2015) look good by comparison. (It still went on to gross a humongous amount in China, but not significantly more than FVTMII, suggesting that even Mainland audiences have their limits.) With Zhou Runfa 周润发 [Chow Yun-fat] playing a brain-damaged simpleton for half the film, Zhang Jiahui 张家辉 [Nick Cheung] asked to fool around much more than in FVTMII, and other Hong Kong heavyweights like Liu Dehua 刘德华 [Andy Lau] and Zhang Xueyou 张学友 [Jacky Cheung] brought in to bolster the line-up, there’s a desperation to the whole movie that’s a sad advertisement for what Hong Kong cinema has become. Basically a long series of skits, sketches and cameo items hung on an almost non-existent plot, FVTMIII will hopefully live up to at least one promise – to be the final film in the series.

With only a short opening section set in Macau – and the rest in Singapore and Thailand (with almost no exteriors) – the film hardly lives up to its title on a location level and, more seriously, has even less real gambling in it than FVTMII, presumably to get round Mainland restrictions on its portrayal. The result is like making a film about sharpshooters and having no scenes with guns. Even when the film finally moves to the villain’s Thai lair at the 60-minute mark, the gambling is very perfunctory and the characters play second fiddle to an onslaught of visual affects.

Instead, the characters while away the time (a) goofing around and throwing custard pies, (b) playing table tennis, (c) watching their house droids fall in love, and (d) making in-jokes that don’t mean much outside Hong Kong. Most of (a) is comprised of Zhou’s character suffering some kind of mental damage after being hypnotised and later thinking he’s a hero from a Jin Yong 金庸 martial-arts novel, The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 倚天屠龙记, resulting in scenes that make the 60-year-old actor’s fooling around in FVTMII seem dignified by comparison. The idea behind (b) is initially funny – when the villain comes face to face with our hopeless heroes, he challenges them to…ping-pong – but is squeezed for laughs way beyond its potential. The C-3PO-like droids in (c) are just as annoying as the one in the previous film, and are given a distracting amount of time in the long, VFX-dominated finale set in the villain’s underground arsenal. And the in-jokes in (d) – often centred on Cantonese songs – are so local that it makes it look as if Hong Kong’s film industry hasn’t moved on for the past 30 years.

The only star to emerge with any dignity intact is Liu, who avoids mugging and/or dressing up in silly clothes, and whose character even manages to fight a group of his droid clones with some dignity. Liu Jialing 刘嘉玲 [Carina Lau], last seen jumping from a plane without a parachute at the end of FVTMII, has very little to do except look frozen alive in soft focus, and Yu Wenle 余文乐 [Shawn Yue] even less. In the main female role, tomboyish Mainland singer Li Yuchun 李宇春, who was good as a spunky swordswoman in Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 龙门飞甲 (2011), tries her hand at comic repartee with Zhang Jiahui but fails to generate any likeable on-screen chemistry. Among the copious cameos, South Korean singer Psy is redundant as an over-cocky poker king, Hong Kong veteran Luo Jiaying 罗家英 [Law Kar-ying] is seriously unfunny in a silly wig as a salesman, and quarter-Korean, Mainland actress-model Xu Dongdong 徐冬冬 is there simply to recall an older, more iconic moment from Wang’s God of Gamblers 赌神 (1989), in which Nishiwaki Michiko 西协美智子 made a jaw-dropping appearance as a tattooed dice queen.

On a technical level, the film is very smooth at all levels, with the crew of FVTM reprising their roles and d.p. Liu Weiqiang 刘伟强 [Andrew Lau] being given the main co-directing credit alongside Wang this time. (Footage included with the end titles shows Liu doing most of the work.) Experienced genre director Zhong Shaoxiong 钟少雄 [Billy Chung], who worked on the first FVTM, is back as “associate director”, though his customary punch is hardly discernible. In line with the rest of the series, the film was released in China as The Man from Macau III 澳门风云III, to play down the gambling aspect.

CREDITS

Presented by Bona Film Group (CN), Mega-Vision Project Workshop (HK), Media Asia Film Production (HK), Sun Entertainment Culture (HK), Shaw Brothers Pictures (HK), China Star Movie (HK), Infinitus Entertainment (HK). Produced by Mega-Vision Project Production (HK).

Script: Wang Jing [Wong Jing]. Photography: Liu Weiqiang [Andrew Lau], Cao Wanqiang. Editing: Zhong Weizhao [Azrael Chung]. Music: Chen Guangrong [Comfort Chan], Chen Zhiyi. Art direction: Zhuo Wenyao [Andrew Cheuk]. Costume design: Zhang Fangdi (general), Lv Fengshan ( for Zhou Runfa, Liu Jialing, Li Yuchun), Ouyang Xia [Connie Auyeung] (for Zhang Xueyou, Zhang Jiahui, Yu Wenle), Liang Zhi’en (Liu Dehua). Image design: Zhang Shuping [William Chang] (for Zhou Runfa, Liu Jialing, Li Yuchun), Xi Zhongwen [Yee Chung-man] (for Zhang Xueyou, Zhang Jiahui, Yu Wenle), Huang Jiabao (Liu Dehua). Sound: Zeng Jingxiang [Kinson Tsang], Yao Junxuan. Action: Li Dachao. Visual effects: Huang Hongda (VFX Nova).

Cast: Zhou Runfa [Chow Yun-fat] (Shi Yijian/Ken; Gao Jin), Liu Dehua [Andy Lau] (“Little Knife” Chen/Michael), Zhang Jiahui [Nick Cheung] (Ma Shangfeng/Mark), Li Yuchun (Gao Fei/Kitty/Aunt-Aunt, Gao Jin’s younger female cousin), Zhang Xueyou [Jacky Cheung] (Yi Tianxing/JC), Liu Jialing [Carina Lau] (Mo Chou/Molly), Xiang Huaqiang [Charles Heung] (Long Wu/Five), Yu Wenle [Shawn Yue] (Le/Vincent, Wei’s adopted son), Psy (Wang, South Korean poker king), Wang Shiling (Ma Chuyi, Ma Shangfeng’s daughter), Xiang Zuo [Jacky Heung] (Long Shiwu/Fifteen, Long Wu’s son), Hu Ran (Jin Yi/Gold, formerly Purple), Jiang Dawei [David Chiang] (Wei/Victor), Luo Jiaying [Law Kar-ying] (Only Yu, props salesman), Tong Fei (Shi Caihong/Rainbow, Shi Yijian’s adopted daughter), Jiang Meiyi (female Interpol agent), Jiang Haowen [Philip Keung] (Ma Dafa), Zeng Guoxiang [Derek Tsang] (Interpol agent), Maria Cordero (prison warden), Wu Zhixiong (gangster), Lu Haipeng (San Taigong/Majiang King), Yuan Qiu (Liu Shen/Majiang Queen), Jin Gang (Jilong Black King), Xu Dongdong (Japanese Dice Queen), Xu Weidong, Shi Xijin (Interpol agents), Zhang Hong (Xiaohei, female assassin at wedding), Lin Lijuan (Xiaocang, female assassin at wedding), Ashwin Yap (David), Shen Tongjia (Weiqiang/Silly Qiang/Stupido, Shi Yijian’s male robot), Wang Bei’er (Skinny, “Little Knife” Chen’s female robot), Wang Jing [Wong Jing] (Jing, prisoner), Zhuang Simin, Wang Junxin, Chen Huanren, Xiu Zhiyong, He Huachao, Xiaobao.

Release: Hong Kong, 6 Feb 2016; China, 8 Feb 2016.

(Read review of From Vegas to Macau II here: https://sino-cinema.com/2015/12/22/review-from-vegas-to-macau-ii/.)