The Mighty Gambler is a 1992 action film starring Sibelle Hu, Alex Man, Alex Fong, Michiko Nishiwaki and Francis Ng.
Sheila (Hu) and Feng (Fong) have been rivals since childhood, until they are separated as kids. Growing up in the rough Hong Kong underworld, Sheila ends up being a gambler and hitwoman, while Feng is now an all-powerful triad boss. When both of them inexplicably ends up on opposing sides of a mob war, chaos ensues.
Alex Man and Michiko Nishiwaki co-stars, and in a rare occurence, both actors whom are frequently typecast as villains, ends up being on the side of good for once.
This film provide examples of:
- Action Girl: Sheila, who is also The Ace. She is an expert in shooting, fighting, gambling, forming strategies in duels... probably Sibelle Hu's most over-perfect role.
- Bad Guys Play Pool:
- There's one in the movie frequented by the Loan shark, a Fat Bastard of a mobster, and his minions, who gets busted by Jason. The Loan shark himself particularly gets a pool cue smashed over his head and its blunt end shoved into his throat.
- Later on, Feng is shown discussing affairs with a bunch of mob leaders, while playing pool. And Cue the Billiard Shot.
- The Casino: After the opening Time Skip, the next scene Sheila is shown is in a casino, proving her gambling skills by winning a massive wager over a crime boss which is her competitor. The same casino shows up in multiple scenes, true to the film's title.
- Dark Action Girl: Yamaguchi, the right hand of Feng.
- Darkened Building Shootout: In the climax of the movie when Sheila and Chi-lo had to take on the mob, one of the mobsters deliberately shuts the building's power plunging the entire area into darkness.
- Designated Girl Fight: Downplayed, while Sheila is the lead character and there is a Dark Action Girl that's introduced rather late into the film, in the end it's supporting character Joyce who fights the henchwoman instead of Sheila who battles Feng.
- Duels Decide Everything: When Sheila and rival mobster Lung gets into their own territorial dispute, they decide to settle it out by meeting in the center of a bridge, where they will walk twenty paces away from each other, and begin shooting as they turn around. It culminates into both of them jumping off the (relatively low) bridge and firing at each other like crazy while dodging shots.
- Girls with Guns: Sibelle Hu with a Shotgun.
- I Have No Son!: Jason's father ends up disowning him after discovering his involvement with the triad. To the extent of trying to kill him...Mr. Han: "I don't have a son! (shoots at Jason) I give you life, I can take it from you! You... dissapointed me!"
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Mr. Han, shot by Feng while threatening to shoot Jason.
- Latex Perfection: In the final confrontation, Sheila managed to beat Feng to the draw, and fire her pistol point-blank into his chest. But after checking his body, she soon discovers Feng is actually a Body Double in a latex mask. Cue the real Feng showing up from a higher level with a horde of his mooks.
- Machete Mayhem: Joyce gets to fight a band of machete-wielding mooks using a machete she recovered on her own.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The first scene featuring Sheila and Feng are from their childhood days, where both of them, being rivals since childhood, consistently tries to compete and one-up each other... until Feng's family, who had mob connections, gets killed by assassins, and the boy had to be taken out of his village and end up in Hong Kong. In the following Time Skip, Sheila is now a top gambler who partakes in high-stakes bets in casinos, while Feng is a powerful mob boss who controls most of Hong Kong's casinos.
- Molotov Cocktail: A backup weapon Chi-lo gets to use, to throw into a doorway where thugs are coming out to pursue him and Sheila. The resulting inferno simply seals the path beyond the door, allowing them toi escape.
- More Dakka: Feng, after seeing Sheila and Chi-lo still pursuing him in the final shootout, ends up retreating into his boardroom, before coming out with a massive belt-fed heavy machine-gun which he quickly use to spray bullets everywhere.
- Pink Means Feminine: Played with, Sheila, who often wears a pink blouse, is one of Sibelle Hu's more feminine and least tomboyish roles for once, and she did wear her hair to her shoulders in this movie (a rarity). But she is still a capable ass-kicker, and when taking part in shootouts she ditches the pink attire.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Sheila, who racks up a massive kill-count when she get her hands on a shotgun halfway through the movie, notably in the final shootout.
- Staircase Tumble: Sheila, after getting hit by a stray bullet in the construction site shootout in her shoulder.
- Throwing the Distraction: During the bridge duel between Sheila and Lung, she decides to throw out her jacket as a distraction. It works, Lung quickly shoots her jacket to shreds, wasting all his ammo in the process, and get himself shot dead by her.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Kicking Your Sword Always Works, the duel between Joyce Huang and Yamaguchi ends with Joyce kicking her sword into Yamaguchi, pinning her into a wall to her death.
- Villainous Valour: The duel between Sheila and Lung is being observed by Lung's team of bodyguards, and when it goes awry, with both of them ending up jumping off the bridge and shooting it out underneath, Lung continues firing away at her, taking on her by himself instead of ordering his mooks to back him up. Sure enough he ends up losing and dying, but at least he died like a man.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Enforced, during the gambling duel between Sheila and Feng. Sheila decides to bet ALL her chips on a stake; Feng, trying to one-up her, throws in all his chips as well, AND his shirt, where he then gambles bare-chested. So that female members of the audience can feast their eyes on Alex Fong's pecs.
- White Shirt of Death:
- On Lung when Sheila guns him down.
- Also on Feng when Sheila shotguns him through a balcony to his death.
