Once A Thief brings John Woo back to his comedic roots. While, I myself have not seen Woo's earliest films, I know before he did action he was a comedy director. It makes sense(to me at least) that Woo did a project in a lighter direction coming off of his dark masterpiece Bullet In The Head. Once A Thief is an action packed comedy caper about a trio of art thieves that grew up together as orphans and have two adoptive fathers. One of the father's is good(a kindhearted police officer played by Chu Kong) and the other is bad(a gangster played by Ken Tsang). The friendship/love triangle theme between Chow Yun Fat, Cherie Chung and Leslie Cheung kinda works(but not nearly as well as it did in The Killer). In no way is this film in the same class as The Killer or Hard Boiled. However, it still should be enjoyable enough for most fans of the genre. The cast has excellent chemistry as most of these actors worked with John Woo frequently and/or together in various films. Like I said before, the tone of the film is light. The film moves along at a brisk pace and has enough shoot em' up action to please most of John Woo's fans. Once A Thief came out in between two of Woo's best films, Bullet In The Head and Hard Boiled. It can't touch either of these, but I still regard Once A Thief as above average and good for what it is.

ONCE A THIEF (Zong Heng Si Hai)Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: MonoThree professional thieves (Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung) steal a valuable painting coveted by their villainous mentor (Kenneth Tsang), leading to violent retribution.John Woo redeemed the commercial failure of his masterpiece BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990) with this breezy comedy-caper, designed to restore his directorial fortunes at home and abroad. Originally conceived as a dark-hearted tragedy, Woo and co-screenwriter Clifton Ko (FOREVER YOURS) re-tooled the project for a Chinese New Year release, allowing the director to indulge his fondness for French New Wave cinema by setting much of the narrative within continental Europe, toplined by some of HK's biggest - and most iconic - movie stars. Chow overplays his role as an experienced jewel thief who alienates his loved ones by refusing to take life seriously, while Cheung and Chung are sympathetic and beautiful as his trusted sidekicks (the scene in which they dance the tango at a swank party is one of the highlights of their respective careers). Typically of Woo, the action scenes are fluid, dynamic and endlessly inventive, photographed with glossy precision by world-class cinematographer Poon Hang-sang (SHANGHAI GRAND). Planned and executed within a three month period (!), the movie overcomes its rough edges and jarring comic interludes (get a load of that final scene!) to emerge as an irresistible blend of big stars, fancy glamour and creative set-pieces. Woo returned to the story in 1996 for a Canadian TV movie (using the same title) which was dismissed by fans and general audiences alike, and quickly disappeared. Stick with the original.(Cantonese dialogue)

I find it ironic the tagline for this movie is "They Only Stop to Reload" since they never actually stop to reload. In the long drawn-out and ridiculous gun fight scenes the bad guys, who have terrible aim, can fire their automatic sub-machine guns for a full minute and never have to reload.In reality they would only be able to shoot those guns at full-auto for about two seconds. Of course they rarely get the chance to discharge their weapons for more than a few seconds before our good guys knock them off with perfect shots from their pistols. Who are they bad guys? We never really know for sure, and we never really know how they manage to find the bad guys. For instance in one chase scene set in the French Riviera, the chase starts when the bad guys find the good guys camped out on the top of one of the hills towering over the town. The bad guys chase them all the way through town to the waters edge where they are more bad guys waiting for them in boats. Why are the bad guys waiting for them in boats?? who knows?Who cares?The whole movie defies any attempt at logic. In fact the whole movie throws logic by the way-side in an attempt to be funny, but most of the jokes fall flat and the whole movie comes off as being lame. One of the few movies I've watched where I was impatiently waiting for the end to come just so I could quit watching it.2/10

I liked this film a lot, but I was constantly having to remind myself it was a John Woo film. Yeah, there are explosions, gunfights, violence, etc. etc. but it's all kept reasonably tame (for Woo at least). The movie was funny and charming--nothing like you'd expect from one of his films. Worth watching, but Yun-Fat (sp?) should stick to drama - he was overacting WAY too much in this one when he tried to be funny.