Written and directed by Ao Shen, co-written by Luyang Xu and Yifan Zhang, a Chinese programmer and a model who, enticed by the promise of high-paying jobs, find themselves trapped in a foreign country as prisoners of a scam mill and were forced to be part of their online fraud scheme. Starring: Yixing Zhang, Gina Chen Jin, Mei Yong, Chuan-jun Wang, Talu Wang and Ye Zhou.
Ao Shen makes a resoundingly strong first impression with the opening of No More Bets, immediately setting a thrilling and gripping atmosphere. That style continues throughout but evolves into various different animals, starting out with that thriller basis then gradually taking on qualities that are surprisingly violent, harsh and unforgiving. There’s a big sharpness to its aesthetic and the atmosphere is captivating, it draws you in easily.
Having Yixing Zhang and Gina Chen Jin leading the film was a terrific piece of casting. They quickly create two strong, intelligent, relatable and sympathetic characters who are effortless to root for. They both excellently capture that balance of walking the line to avoid putting themselves in danger but never willing to fully submit, always looking for a way out, and not just for themselves. There’s a great deal of conflict at work, particularly for Chen Jin’s Anna, and they both handle it with a compelling style.
One of the great things about the film is that it spends so much time of its time following closely with the different victims of these crimes. From those in the heart of it like Sheng (Zhang) and Anna (Chen Jin), to those finding themselves fuelling the trafficking and fraud with Talu Wang’s A Tian and his girlfriend Yu (Ye Zhou), who’s struggling to get him on the right path. It mostly avoids the typical investigative angle and instead takes a raw, impactful route which is absorbing to watch.
Unfortunately, it does eventually slip into the classic police procedural style in its latter moments and that switch in atmosphere dramatically slows things down. It still has plenty to offer the story, especially as Mei Yong is absolutely wonderful, but that drop off in energy and sharpness means that it ends up drawing out that final stretch. As well as that when it does arrive at its ending moments, they can feel somewhat sentimental which adds a strange energy. Especially when the credits then have testimonials from real life victims of trafficking and fraud, going back to its harrowing reality.
No More Bets is a gripping, potent thriller delving into the violence and far-reaching misery and suffering of the victims of human trafficking and fraud. It’s packed with fantastic performances across the board, with all of them bringing a superb level of intensity. It’s shot with a sharpness and harsh reality which has a magnetic pull. Its only key weakness is that it overspreads itself in the finale, switching things to a slower and more classically dramatic pacing, which doesn’t match the strong, unrelenting energy it had built.
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