Movielogr

Rating: 6.5 stars

Tags

Hong Kong France heist art thief revenge wheelchair auction museum

All movies seen on 11/16/2017

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Once a Thief (1991)

Directed by John Woo

Crime | Action

Overview

Three orphans grow up to become art thieves under the tutelage of a crime boss. Romance complicates matters when the trio are double-crossed.

Rated R | Length 108 minutes

Actors

Chow Yun-Fat | Leslie Cheung | Cherie Chung | Paul Chu Kong | Kenneth Tsang | Fung Woo | Pierre Yves Burton | John Dang | Tong Ka-Fai | Leila Tong | David Wu | John Woo | Philip Kwok Chun-Fung | Jack Wong Wai-Leung

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

An older John Woo joint I haven’t seen. Finally remembered to track it down from the library. Seeing Leslie Cheung always makes me sad.

Now I understand why this film hasn’t gotten the best of ratings. It’s a weird amalgamation of crime, action, romance, and slapstick comedy. To be certain there are some great moments sprinkled throughout, particularly Chow Yun-fat doing his wheelchair dancing and stunts. The two shootout sequences are unmistakably John Woo. The dual mentors of good and evil is also very Woo. Had the humor been toned down (or removed entirely) this could’ve been more impactful between these two thieves.

Still great to see this trio together even if Cherie Chung basically gets pushed to the sidelines for the final act. I don’t think I’ve seen Woo’s American remake of this but I’m curious how much was retained and if the comedy was reduced.

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