Once a Thief (1996)

Directed by: John Woo | 92 minutes | action, crime | Actors: Sandrine Holt, Ivan Sergei, Nicholas Leo, Robert Ito, Michael Wong, Jennifer Dale

‘Once a Thief’ starts with a dance competition in Hong Kong. Several characters stand out from the crowd: a handsome Asian woman, a boyish American guy, and a serious Asian man. They are Li Ann, Mac and Michael. Li Ann dances with her partner until charmer Mac intervenes and roughly pushes her partner aside. While the newly formed couple continues to dance, Michael calmly sneaks into a forbidden space. It becomes clear that this is a team of thieves at work here. The distraction in the dance hall during the match beautifully symbolizes the style of this thief trio: smooth, stylish and sexy.

Despite this captivating introduction, the film unfortunately continues very disappointingly. The story moves way too fast. The ‘real’ story, which will be the focus of the rest of the film, comes later and the directors rush through a lot of events in the shortest possible time. As a result, we have had several declarations of love within twenty minutes as well as the dramatic breakup of the group. This makes the relationships between Li Ann, Mac and Michael seem very strange. What is also striking is that the directors drop a silence after almost every sentence, which is supported by a dramatic tune and a close-up of the face of the person who is speaking. This makes the film more like a soap series than a serious production.

Despite the fact that ‘Once a Thief’ is disappointing in many ways, there are certainly funny and clever details in this film that ensure that you keep your attention and keep you interested. For example, the directors use white and red roses in a fun way to depict the battle for Li Ann when Mac again has to take on a new admirer of the Asian beauty. Director John Woo, no small name when it comes to martial arts in films, does not disappoint the viewer in that regard. ‘Once a Thief’ contains a lot of acrobatic skills, fierce firefights with a lot of flying sparks and debris. There’s no music playing during the fight scenes, though, which creates a somewhat static character, but they’re certainly entertaining.

Unfortunately, these positive aspects of the film do not outweigh the negative aspects. The camera work and the sound are of a quality that is reminiscent of a home video. The camera work is often shaky, especially when zooming in and the sound suggests that every scene was shot in a shed. Even towards the end of the film when the story, which is quite cleverly put together, starts to captivate, those little things continue to bother you. In the end, too much emphasis is placed on the fact that all the male protagonists are after Li Ann, so that the film resembles an out of control and aggressive ‘There’s Something about Mary’.