That was an excellent one.

Charming and brutal

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The penultimate HK picture of action-tastemaker John Woo before he was signed up to conquer Hollywood-land in 1993, ONCE A THIEF reunites Chow and Cheung from Woo's most esteemed A BETTER TOMORROW franchise, teams up with Cherie Chung (who would soon get married and retire entirely from the screen) in this ultra-breezy ménage-à-trois caper, which, at the start, sets its adventurous background in an exotic France, then after the midstream, routinely retreats back to Woo's turf to anticipate its bullets-flying homestretch.The film is super fun to watch, on account of the charming facade of those three Hong Kong screen icons. Joe (Chow), Jim (Cheung) and Cherie (Chung) are three orphans raised and trained by a sinister crime boss Chow (Tsang) as professional thieves, meanwhile they also befriend with another father figure, the kind-hearted cop Chu (Chu). Joe and Cherie become an item when they grow up, and Jim holds back his affection to Cherie. In France, they successfully steal a Modigliani's painting, but their next mission goes amiss, resulting in a heavily-armed skirmish and Joe is presumably dead. Jim and Cherie return to Hong Kong in despondence, and their romance blossoms, then a wheelchair-bound Joe shows up unexpectedly and reticently gives them his blessing. The trio reconcile like old-times, only now Joe is the third wheel in their good rapport. More urgently, they have to settle the old scores with Chow, and Woo leaves a very wayward twist to temper the picture's trigger-happy excess, as if he tellingly tips off audience that don't take the story seriously, it is a jolly ride, just enjoy the experience.The emotion tangle of the triangular relationship could have been developed into a more complex and heart-tugging structure since they are all able players, although a cordially comic gaiety seeps thoroughly into the narrative thanks to Chow's chameleon-like swagger (including his wheelchair dance routine) and Cheung's wet-behind-the-ears ardor, which leaves Chung most of the time like a pretty foil. Also the good dad/bad father trope doesn't really register under such black-or-white and cartoonish impetuosity.The action set pieces are flashy at their best, churning-out at their worst. They may look dashing at first glance, but soon plummet into passable effects borne out of a shambolic manufacture, a sign of the times of HK film production. One particularly WTF scene materializes when Jim sawing a wooden plank under the bottom of a barreling lorry, which is transporting precious artworks of Musée du Louvre, on which planet, the lorry would have a wooden bottom? Which instantly snatches audience out of the credentials of the trio's teamwork. Moreover Violet Lam's synthetic score doesn't help, it is sheer obtrusively objectionable to one's ears.ONCE A THIEF is a jaunty divergence from John Woo's more polished, bullet-ridden and heroic fraternity bravura, but shackled by the incoherent attribute between a heads-in-the-clouds lark and a dead-serious survival strategy at gunpoint, the entire experience is a mixed-bag of thrill, embarrassment and frivolousness, often in a cyclical fashion, before one's investment runs dry.

I don't have a lot of reverence for John Woo. I have next to no interest in gangster movies with lots of shooting. But I love kung fu movies. Unfortunately, John Woo hardly ever does any of those. Oh, the mature John Woo can certainly do action (as in Mission Impossible 2, the best of the lot), but most of his stuff strikes me as horribly dull. In Once A Thief, he attempts a light-hearted action-drama-comedy starring three orphans who are raised first as thieves and then apparently as cops, and then end up becoming thieves. Or something.The movie is dull as dish-water. Featuring insufferable Hong Kong humor (dumb and malicious practical jokes which aren't funny to the ones they happen to, but apparently a barrel of laughs to a Hong Kong audience), and a terrible soundtrack (featuring accordions and such) which is apparently supposed to sound French.Chow Yun Fat's acting is frankly horrid, and his character is a moronic bastard. He's the main reason that this movie is bordering on the unwatchable. (Not that he hasn't been good in other movies; he certainly has. Especially in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.)I watched this movie because I'm a fan of the Once A Thief TV show (1997), which I love. It does everything right - both the comedy and the seriousness -, and happily has nothing whatsoever beyond the name and the fact that it's got three lead characters in it in common with the movie. The characters in the movie are not involved in an organized crime family like the ones in the TV show, and in the TV show they aren't even thieves (well, they were once, but...), so the title doesn't make sense, either, as anything but an attempt to capitalize on the fame of the movie, the wisdom of which is questionable to say the least.Anyway, I'll spare you my bitterness over John Woo's general suckage and just express my gratitude that he has nothing whatsoever to do with the TV show, despite being credited as executive producer.3 out of 10.

This is not a deep movie. This not a serious movie. Come expecting some fine fluff, and you will be rewarded with exactly that.I've read HK movies described as schizophrenic [& I DO like them very much, because they are not predictable], but I think multiple personality better describes this one. At first one, it looks like a breezy art-theft caper movie out of the 1960s...but not for long.Too many bodies--faceless and without personality, to be sure, collect for the breezy label to fit...but then...then there is the dancing scene. You ain't been nowhere and you ain't seen nothing until you have seen Chow Yun-fat dancing in a wheelchair. The whole movie may be worth this scene alone.

Sorry, guys for the trivial summary ! This is my first review on IMDb, plus I am a Frenchman.It was only when I understood the purpose of this movie, that I was ready to rate it. During the movie, I enjoyed the quality of the picture (colors and lights are great, the music is good too)... The gunfights were OK to me (It's not a typical John Woo bullet-filled movie, and that's a plus to me), the accent of the french businessman funny, and the stupid jokes of the 2 thieves were "cool", the way they defeat their enemies surprising...So I was saying to myself : this was an-above-the-average Kung-Fu and mafia movie when suddenly... I got it ! This movie is full of... love ! John Woo shows his love of Paris, his respect for friendship, the way he would like handicapped people to be treated, and many other things... So, in my opinion, this movie beats every Jackie Chan movie, because it is filled with humanity and humility.I am glad I watched this gem and I recommend it to you.My only complaint is that it's a tiny bit too long.