CASINO TYCOON II is a direct sequel to the first movie, set some 20 years later and picking up some plot strands along the way. Andy Lau is by now the boss of the casino and seems to hold infinite power, but various foes are stacked against him and his personal relationships continue to cause problems. Wong Jing returns to write and direct, but I found this by far the weaker film of the two, lacking the momentum and grittiness that made the first film so good.

It opens on a broadly comic note featuring Dennis Chan as a small-time scammer before moving into a slow-moving character piece. You can't fault the actors, but the film doesn't have much in the way of drive or intrigue. The bad guys are clear cut and the various assassination attempts at well staged, with a gruesome attack in the second half being a highlight. But you don't really feel that Lau is ever in danger and the laidback approach works against it. There's also a little too much melodrama with all the offspring and love interests too. Perhaps Wong Jing should have left the story alone after all.

First of all, I don't think I've actually seen the first movie here, so I had no idea what to expect from the 1992 movie "Casino Tycoon II" (aka "Do sing daai hang II: Ji juen mo dik"). But still, it was a Hong Kong movie and had Andy Lau in the lead, so of course I ended up sitting down to watch it.

Well, apparently not everything that Andy Lau stars in turns to gold. This movei from writer and director Jing Wong was boring, so very, very boring. Actually I managed to endure 1 hour and 4 minutes of the ordeal, then I simply had enough and got up to turn off the movie. I had been tempted to turn it off a couple of times before then, but stuck with it, because this was Andy Lau after all.

But a storyline that was just mundane and pointless, and virtually nothing overly interesting or particularly action-filled happened in that time, so I was bored senseless. And I actually can say that I have no intention of returning to watch the rest of "Casino Tycoon II".

While this 1992 Hong Kong movie definitely had an impressive cast ensemble, with the likes of Andy Lau, Chingmy Yau and Shiu Hung Hui on the cast list, it just failed to be entertaining given the lousy and pointless storyline and script.

My rating of "Casino Tycoon II" is a mere, and somewhat generous, three out of ten stars. I was bored with this movie, I kid you not.

Finding the first Casino Tycoon (1992-also reviewed) to be a breezy Action flick with tasty overripe Melodrama,I was pleased to find the second movie in the series on Netflix UK,leading to me visiting the casino again.

View on the film:

Released the same year as the first, returning writer/director Jing Wong is unable to hide the marks of this being a rushed production, with the Heroic Bloodshed-flavoured Action set-pieces of the first flick, here being replaced by slap-dash panning panning shots and zoom-ins on the disappointingly clipped wings set-pieces.

Whilst the first flick offered a delightful mash-up of Historical Drama/Melodrama/ wacky Comedy and Action high-kicks,the screenplay by Wong here goes for a straightforward gangster Drama with dabs of Action on the side as Hsin attempts to hold his empire firm, which results in a dry experience, due to the limitations Wong puts on the script, blocking any sign of expanding Hsin's characterization.

Taking one last spin at the table, Andy Lau has the flick hit the jackpot for the lone time with his merry performance as Hsin,whose dialogue Lau delivers with a snarling relish,as Hsin fights to remain the casino tycoon.