This is about three international thieves, who've known each other since childhood. Their father was a very unpleasant man who beat them, but they since found a good-hearted cop(well, he found them... with loot) who took them in. You'll know right from when you first hear the silly theme tune that this isn't as serious as other of Woo's films. He brings his trademark style and action(slow-motion shoot-outs and chases, some of them vehicular) to this, albeit there's less of the latter(it can be pretty exciting, though), and neither look as great as they do in other of his movies. It honestly comes off kind of cheaply produced, the way it's filmed(meanwhile, editing is sharp). With that said, it does go for plenty of gags(a few of them quite creative and memorable), and it isn't phoned in. This has a couple of cool heists. The humor is very goofy, campy and playful, and I personally found next to none of it funny. Maybe it's on account of cultural differences, but at times I really didn't understand the characters' actions, and this also seemed to take massive leaps in the tone. I didn't see much consequence to most of what happened in this. The version I watched was evidently dubbed, if only a little of it was to English. Chow Yun Fat is awesome, if this did have me cringing at the majority of what was said and done(when not involving guns, at least). There is a bit of disturbing content and mild to moderate violence in this. The DVD comes with several trailers for similar films. I recommend this to fans of Chinese comedy and to an extent, of the director. 7/10
Review of Once a Thief
