Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Thomas Tokmenko Casino Raiders is overshadowed by the similar HK franchise "God of Gamblers", although the story here really holds its own with strong performances by Andy Lau & Alan Tam along with solid writing by Jing Wong. Two of the best gamblers out of Hong Kong (Lau & Tam) are hired to work as analysts for a struggling US casino which is losing massive amounts of money to a Japanese group of poker sharks. Our duo of protagonists uncover the secret to the success of the Japanese sharks, and shatter their racket to earn any further winnings in the US. Bitter from their exposure, the Japanese sharks (which also happen to be Yakuza) vow to take revenge on Lau & Tam in which a series of incidents all boil down to one huge defining game of high-stakes Poker. The ride to the finish takes a few detours, however with some patience and character attachment to our duo, the time passes by fairly quickly and ends on a satisfying conclusion. I do believe the film could have been edited cleaner though, as there are a few scenes which just feel like filler and really weigh the rest of the movie down. Besides this one fault, Casino Raiders is an original story with no culturally specific elements like in God of Gamblers, to which Western audiences may enjoy better even with the absence of Chow Yun Fat. The tension is genuine because the stakes are set very high without being cheesy or predictable. If your looking for an out of the ordinary gambling-revenge tale, Casino Raiders is an excellent choice. -7/10

fourletterfury Wong Jing's original and forerunner to the successful "HK Casino" film franchise is an excellent example of how skilfully the genre can be presented.Crab (Andy Lau) is a smooth professional gambler, although "con man" might be more accurate to describe some of his sleazy and deceptive means by which he tricks his rich victims out of huge amounts of money. Although it must be said, he never steals from the innocent, but only slimy business tyrants. His friend and gambling partner, Law (Alan Tam) is arguably the more careless of the two. They are called in to assist a Casino owning friend of theirs who has lost a lot of money to some cheating Japanese Yakuza, and so their investigation into the suspected men ensues. Needless to say, this attracts unwanted attention and eventually leads them into trouble with the Yakuza. When Law's girlfriend, Tong (Idy Chan) is kidnapped by the Yakuza in exchange for Crab, a punishment for stealing back some money in a gamble, Crab goes straight after the kidnappers...Without giving the whole film away, little else can really be said, but the film does contain a great deal of plot twists and interesting developments.Alan Tam is probably the best lead here, and gives an emotionally deep and interesting performance. Andy Lau is not nearly as great as he was in "Casino Raiders II", the unrelated sequel, but still gives a solid depiction of the morally uncertain 'Crab' Chan.In all, very rich noir-visuals and stylishly subdued direction from Wong Jing and Jimmy Heung make this a strong high-point of the HK Casino-Noir genre.

mindless_junk With a movie starring 2 top HK movie stars: Alan Tam and Andy Lau, you know that you are in a real treat.The movie is simple, 2 best friends, both are gamblers. One decides to leave and join the good side, but old enemies won't let go of the past. Eventually, he has to face his enemy once again, in a final showdown at the casino table.Good performance from both leading actors, who share pretty much equal screen time. The female leads also complement the movie very nicely, though their characters lack the depth.Though movie tries to be logical, but there are logical holes, such as Lon's boss willing to make such a big bet on Lon's recommendation alone - that is pretty unbelievable. But one must suppress logic in watching a movie like this.A 6/10 on my book

ylive Even in HongKong, the city of copycats, Jing Wong is infamous for his shameless way of movie making. While other HK directors are imitating Hollywood movies, he copied other HK directors' movies. 'Casino Raiders' is one of them. If you watch it carefully, you will find that this is so similar to John Woo's 'A Better Tomorrow'. (Like Chow Yun Fat in 'ABT', Andy Lau got lost his everythig for his best buddy!)Fortunately, this one is a good movie. The running time is a little bit too long. But the title song and performance is good and the twist in the last scene is splendid!. If you really want to Jing Wong's movie (or gambling movie), 'Casino Radiers' and 'God of Gamblers' is a safe bet. ¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú/¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú¡Ú