From Vegas to Macau Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

From Vegas to Macau Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 1, 2014

Jing Wong's "From Vegas to Macau" a.k.a. "The Man From Macau" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Universe Laser & Video Co. The only supplemental feature on this release is a standard making of featurette. In Cantonese or Mandarin, with optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Let's play...

Former gambler turned security consultant Ken a.k.a. “Magic Hands” (Chow Yun-Fat, The Killer, Hard Boiled) invites old gambling partner Benz (Hui Siu-Hung, Exiled) to attend his expensive birthday party in Macau. Soon after, Benz arrives in Macau escorted by his son Cool (Nicholas Tse, The Stool Pigeon, The Viral Factor) and his kooky partner Karl (Chapman To, Isabella).

During the party, Ken confesses to Benz that he is looking for the right man to marry his beautiful daughter Rainbow (Kimmy Tong, Young and Dangerous: Reloaded). He also reveals to his old friend that he is hoping to find someone that he can unreservedly trust with business matters. Meanwhile, both Cool and Karl show that they are interested in Rainbow.

Soon after the party, Ken is approached by the local authorities with a request for assistance -- they need his invaluable experience to get powerful racketeer Ko (Gao Hu, The Last Tycoon) behind bars as quickly as possible. Ken agrees to help when he discovers that Ko is responsible for the death of Cool’s half-brother Lionel (Phillip Ng).

In 1989, director Wong Jing and Asian superstar Chow Yun-Fat collaborated on the terrific action comedy God of Gamblers. Between 1990 and 1996, Wong Jung also directed God of Gamblers II (only with a very small cameo by Chow Yun-Fat), God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai (without Chow Yun-Fat), God of Gamblers Return (again with Chow Yun-Fat) and God of Gamblers III: The Early Stage (without the superstar). When it 2013 it was revealed that Wong Jing and Chow Yun-Fat are teaming up for a new action comedy, at least on paper it looked like From Vegas to Macau would be the latest installment to the God of Gamblers franchise.

From Vegas to Macau does borrow some of the gags that made the previous films so entertaining, but the end result is an awkward hybrid of a film which might have been greenlighted only because someone with very deep pockets wanted to see its superstar play a skillful gambler one more time before he retires. Indeed, there is something remarkably corny about the entire project and the manner in which it is executed.

The biggest problem with this quite flashy film is that it is so disorganized that at times it is virtually impossible to tolerate. Its stars -- and the film really does have an impressive cast -- are literally all over the place improvising and looking shockingly out of sync. Perhaps the most disappointing amongst them is Chapman To, whose performance is so over the top that he actually makes everyone else around him look poor. (If you had a difficult time enduring his antics in The Midas Touch, you should simply avoid From Vegas to Macau). Even the visibly aged Chow Yun-Fat looks like he was forced to play a character he was never particularly interested in -- the awkward smiles and mechanical lines are totally unconvincing.

The slick cinematography by Chou Man-Keung and Ng Man-Ching is the film’s one and only redeeming quality. But this is hardly surprising as both have already worked with some of Hong Kong’s biggest directors and their management of the camera and treatment of space are terrific. (Chou Man-Keung assisted John Woo on The Grandmaster, while Ng Man-Ching worked with Alan Yuen on the visually superb Firestorm).

From Vegas to Macau Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Wong Jing's From Vegas to Macau arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Universe Laser & Video Co.

Short with the Arri Alexa camera, the film has the appropriate clean and smooth look. The daylight footage looks particularly impressive, boasting outstanding clarity and excellent image depth. However, there are a few sequences where the bright daylight is captured rather awkwardly by the camera and creates the impression that sharpness levels have been elevated (see screencapture #6). The nighttime panoramic shots also look terrific (see screencapture #5). Contrast is stable throughout the entire film. Colors are lush and very rich. The encoding is good, but I did notice some light compression artifacts trying to sneak in (see screencapture #10). Overall image stability is outstanding. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

From Vegas to Macau Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Mandarin Dolby TrueHD 5.1. For the record, Universe Laser & Video Co. have provided optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless Cantonese track opens up the film very well, but it should be said that there are actually quite a few sequences that are shot with various very good sound effects. In other words, the film has a very active sound design. Many of the shootouts and explosions have good surround effects, though they are not of the same caliber as the ones present on Edko Films' Blu-ray release of Alan Yuen's Firestorm. The dialog is clean and stable, but occasionally the English subtitles switch very quickly. There are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

From Vegas to Macau Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making of featurette - plenty of footage from the shooting of the film and clips from interviews with various cast and crew members. In Cantonese, not subtitled. (20 min, 1080i).

From Vegas to Macau Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The talent that contributed to this film is impressive, but the end result is seriously underwhelming. I must also say that more and more it looks like Chow Yun-Fat's best days are behind him. It would be great if someone restores and brings to Blu-ray Wong Jing's classic action comedy God of Gamblers, possibly even the next two films as well. It can be done. John Woo's cult film For a Better Tomorrow is getting a new 4K restoration in 2015, so at this point it is obvious that anything is possible as long as there is enough interest and resources to fund such projects. RENT IT.