646f9e108c A romantic and action packed story of three best friends, a group of high end art thieves, who come into trouble when a love-triangle forms between them. Once a Thief is an action/comedy/romance movie involving the plight of three master thieves (in the mode of Pink Panther). All three were raised by the same father and in fact were most certainly street orphans. The story begins with a successful art heist followed by a pledge to make this the last crime ever for the trio. The plot revolves around the theft of a mysterious &quot;cursed&quot; painting and how its obsession affects the family. Once A Thief sees John Woo trying something a little different—at least for the much of the movie&#39;s running time, after which the director once again breaks out the big guns, the slo-mo and the explosive violence for a typically stylish action blowout.<br/><br/>The film startsa comedic crime caper set in the sunny South of France, with a trio of charismatic Chinese cat burglars—Red Bean Pudding (Chow Yun Fat), Red Bean (Cherie Chung) and James (Leslie Cheung)—barely breaking a sweat whilst pulling off a few tricky art heists, with a few flashbacks to their childhoodshappy-go-lucky orphans raised by a Fagin-style father figure.<br/><br/>The action stays in this lightweight gear for quite some time, but a mid-movie shootout and car chase marks a gradual move into slightly darker territory: it&#39;s at this point that it becomes apparent that Woo&#39;s antagonists aren&#39;t all that dissimilar to those in his other movies, having no qualms about taking lives to get the job done. It also sees Red Bean Pudding involved in a nasty car crash that leaves him hospitalised and presumed dead by his friends.<br/><br/>The film then reverts back to playful mode for a while, with Red Bean Pudding revealing to his pals that he is still alive, displaying his skill at dancing the tango in a wheelchair, and teaching his wicked &#39;dad&#39; a lesson in the auction room. Thankfully, the best is saved for last, Woo bringing on the ballistics for a frantic final act, Red Bean Pudding and James pulling off one final robbery that results in numerous explosions, lots of corpses (including several innocent security guards!), and which features a silly bad guy who dispenses with conventional weaponry, preferring to sling playing cards at his enemy.<br/><br/>All in all, Once a Thief isn&#39;t essential Woo or Chow Yun Fat, but the film still has enough going for it to make it a reasonably entertaining way to waste 100 minutes or so. 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&#39;s all kept reasonably tame (for Woo at least). The movie was funny and charming–nothing like you&#39;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.
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