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| Once a Thief | 
 enlarge | Actors: Leslie Cheung, Yun-fat Chow, Kong Chu, Cherie Chung, Kenneth Tsang
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $3.00
You Save: $21.95 (88%)
Buy New/Used from $3.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (18 reviews)
Sales Rank: 38547
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Chinese (Original Language), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 108 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 08425
ISBN: 0767887867
UPC: 043396084254
EAN: 9780767887861
ASIN: B00008J2EC
Release Date: April 22, 2003
Theatrical Release Date: January 14, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Action film maestro John Woo (Mission: Impossible 2 Windtalkers) directs this lightning-paced caper of stolen art and broken hearts starring Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Over-the-top action sequences and mind-blowing gunplay get mixed with comedy and romance in this thrilling crowd-pleaser. Joe (Chow) Jim (Leslie Cheung Happy Together) and Cherie (Cherie Chung) have been partners in crime ever since their childhoods spent on the streets stealing to survive. Now world-class art thieves their relationships and lives are put on the line when they agree to one last mission: steal a multi-million dollar painting for a mysterious client who's bent on revenge.System Requirements:Running Time: 108 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating:R UPC:043396084254 Manufacturer No:08425
Amazon.com
A romantic art-heist comedy, far lighter in tone than most of director John Woo's work, and in places much sillier. As kids, Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Leslie Cheung (A Chinese Ghost Story) were starving street urchins together. They are rescued from the law and trained by a Fagin-like older crook, who transforms them into glossy international cat burglars. The best sections (especially the opening and closing heists) are as masterfully smooth as any action set pieces in the Woo canon. But the tone wavers alarmingly, from the sophisticated (Chow as Cary Grant) to the savage to the sentimental and back again, with a disastrous slapstick coda set in the states, in which the baby food hits the fan. The busy plotting distracts us from a strong theme: the struggle between good and bad father figures (the other is a stalwart cop played by Chu Kong) for the souls of these noble criminals. Not to be confused with the rather limp 1995 remake, produced by Woo for Canadian TV in 1995, with The X-Files' sinister Krycek, Nicholas Lea, surprisingly effective in the Chow part. --David Chute
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 A lighthearted fun caper movie April 29, 2007
This movie is not what I expected at all. Rather than the usual Chow Yun Fat/John Woo Kill everything and then some movie, I was pleasantly surprised to watch this fun and seet movie. The premise is very 70s caper movie, a heist, a plan, a bad guy and the players. However, Woo takes us on a long journey with some unsuspecting turns and twists that I did not expect. The effort was fun and effective. Though some of the humor towards the end has a prediliction for cheesy humor, it's easy to get past and enjoy a very fun and entertaining romp. Recomended.
It's pretty good October 26, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is not woo's best work I will say that but it is not bad. It is more comedy than the ulta violent action gun-ho stuff that we are all use to see. But the fact that he took a different aproach for this film was in alot of ways refreshing. The humor at times can be a tad bit corny at times and the action is very restrained. Out of respect for the man that has given us the greatest action movies of our time I will say get this movie. Not everyone will like this movie but some will just don't get your hopes high.
 Painfully bad December 20, 2005
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Ok, a John Woo film, starring Chow Yun Fat, about an art heist. It's all good right? Wrong. Oh, was it bad. Slapstick, some terribly contrived stunts and a cringingly bad soundtrack. We did finish it--but we still wonder why.
Caper Film Woo Style December 6, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The film starts out breezy enough. Likable trio of art thiefs mastermind elaborate heists in Paris. Afterwards they toast their laurels and have a jolly good time. You almost forget you're watching a John Woo film. Never fear. Guns start ablazing. Things blow up real good. Bad guys eat lead. It's soon revealed that Joey(Chow Yun-Fat), Jim (Leslie Cheung), and Cherie(Cherie Leung) were raised by an evil father figure who taught them petty thievery at the threat of a caning or starvation. The three grow up to be master criminals employed by evil Daddy's thriving Hong Kong crime syndicate. Heavy stuff but Woo is in top form here juggling thrills and levity along with the film's darker themes. The film also contains enough clever twists and surprises to satisfy the more discerning viewer. Yun-Fat is in top form here as the devil-may-care Joey. Yun-Fat commands the screen as both comedian and action star. This may not be the equivalent of Woo's masterworks, "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled", but it is an impressive entry in the directors canon.
Another John Woo movie worth owning October 24, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not as 'heavy' and full of action as many of Woo's other early films such as The Killer, Hardboiled, A Better Tommorrow etc. A bit of a change of pace for Woo and well done. Three street kids pull off a big heist.
Woo remade this film for TV with disastoruous results so make sure you are buying the one starring Chow Yun Fat.
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