Director: Wong Jing

With lazy writing and weak comedy, ‘God Of Gamblers II’ often feels like little more than a typical Wong Jing cash grab.

Just when you thought the ‘God Of Gamblers’ series was dead and buried, Wong Jing somehow manages to find a pretty nifty way of bringing it back.

This action comedy is undoubtedly at its best when Jet Li is given centre stage and allowed to show off his smooth physical moves.

This is not a comic masterpiece and doesn’t amuse in quite the manner that it imagines it does, but with a leading man of Fu Sheng’s calibre this is almost to be forgiven.

Something of a minor undiscovered gem, it’s not hard to see why ‘I Love Lolanto’ was a box office hit in its day and remains well worth seeking out as a latter-day diversion.

The pairing of Jet Li and Sammo should have spawned a masterpiece, but instead the audience is left with this disheartening effort.

If you approach a film of this nature, with this cast, with this storyline and with this lack of imagination, there is very little sympathy you (or indeed I) should expect.

It just appears that Wong Jing wanted to please everyone by cramming the storyline with action, crazed innuendo and sudden plot twists.

Wong Jing manages to restrain his usual vulgarity and blend together some genuinely amusing comic scenes with an enviable amount of superior fight choreography.

‘Mission Milano’ is exactly what you would expect from Jing; a paper thin plot, overdone action sequences and low-brow humour.

One’s enjoyment of ‘My Kung Fu Sweetheart’ depends on one’s appreciation, or tolerance, for Wong Jing’s films.

‘My School Mate, the Barbarian’ is an unusual film that centres on a world of youths that rarely touches that of the adult realm. If the viewer can get used to this, they should enjoy the rest of the duration.