With the Vegas To Macau action-comedy series, veteran Hong Kong writer-director Wong Jing seems to have decided that he has found a winning formula that doesn't need anything as inconvenient as a plot. This third instalment is a succession of CGI-driven sequences, comic routines and action set-pieces, played out with a distinct lack of energy.

At its centre once again is the figure of gambler Ken Shek (Chow Yun-fat); when we first see him, he's a miserable, blubbering mess, just before his daughter's wedding. But the ceremony doesn't go according to plan: Ken turns out to have an implacable enemy, J.C. (Jacky Cheung), a combination of mad scientist, arms dealer, billionaire and fool for love, who has a bewildering plan for revenge.

Vegas To Macau III takes place nowhere near Las Vegas; It's supposed to be set in Thailand, Macau and Singapore, but apart from the odd establishing shot, it's firmly ensconced on sets and sound stages.

Wong and his co-director, Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Young And Dangerous) shuffle a slew of supporting characters, some new, some recurring, with a cameo from Korean singer Psy. Chow does double duty: as well as playing an increasingly erratic, accident-prone Ken, he also appears as the debonair Ko Chun, his character from Wong's wildly successful God Of Gamblers series that began in 1989. Andy Lau is in the mix once more — his character from God Of Gamblers makes a return appearance.

And it's not enough to have two Chows in one shot. Lau's character has a robot double: in fact there's a scene in which the filmmakers give us more than a dozen dancing Andy Laus – one human, a posse of robots – just because they could, presumably, because there's no other reason.

Movie references include a rousing song borrowed from Prison On Fire and a reference to Chow's dampening encounter with a baby in Hard-Boiled. Some rampaging mechanical monsters have a Transformers look and there's an Iron Man moment for one of the main characters.