Once A Thief (纵横四海)
Cast: Chow Yun Fatt, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung, Kenneth Tsang
Director: John Woo
Synopsis: Chow Yun-Fat, Cherie Chung and Leslie Cheung play three orphans who grew up together under the auspices of adopted father Kenneth Tsang Kong. Tsang also taught them how to be theives, and despite falling in with kindly cop Paul Chu Kong, the three grew up to be high-tech, high-stakes art thieves who terrorize the French Riveria and, presumably, museum curators everywhere. Chow eventually wants to leave the life, but their final score goes awry when a double-cross occurs. Chow appears to perish in a car accident, and Cherie is heartbroken at losing her lover.
Still, Leslie and Cherie must go on without Chow, and eventually begin their own romantic liason. Big surprise: Chow survived, though he's now confined to wheelchair. Despite that setback, and the newly-complicated romantic tension, the trio go about planning a new heist, though things aren't what they appear to be. (taken from lovehkfilm.com)
Mini Review:
This is probably the worst John Woo film I've ever seen. John Woo might be a master of action, but he is not really quite good in directing drama (tend to go over the top) as Anthony Wong has publicly said before. This is very evident in this old movie of his, Once A Thief. This movie is outdated and it feels like it. John Woo made this movie for the lunar new year crowd and hence, while it still has actions and some of his usual heroic themes, this movie is quite lighthearted. However, this movie are problematic. The jokes are lame, the characters are uninteresting and (surprise! surprise!) the acting is uneven. Chow Yun Fatt has proven in other films to be a good comic actor, but here he is just annoying. The late Leslie Cheung did ok, but in some of the more emotional scenes, his acting is overdone (feels like it belong to some other movie). The action, especially at the end of the film, is the film's saving grace but it definitely did not save much. John Woo and CYF and Leslie has done better. This movie is better skipped.
Rating: 2 out of 5
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