Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

BA_Harrison Once A Thief sees John Woo trying something a little different—at least for the much of the movie'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.The film starts as a 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 childhoods as happy-go-lucky orphans raised by a Fagin-style father figure.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's at this point that it becomes apparent that Woo's antagonists aren'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.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 'dad' 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.All in all, Once a Thief isn'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.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews 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

action-6 Once A Thief is the first collaboration between John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat after their hugely successful THE KILLER. The movie is about three art thieves that want to still just ONE more picture before they retire. As always it is rather predictable that something very dramatic will happen, but you`ll have to see the movie to find out exactly what. Once a Thief can be called a romantic violence-comedy. The actionscenes are nicely directed, but you won`t be blown away by them as by those in THE KILLER. I don`t like many of the jokes in Once A thief. I think most of them are rather corny and just plain stupid. This is a nice example, where a Hong-kongfilm is TOO weird for a Western audience to really appriciate. But I`m sure that Eastern fans will love it to bits, I didn`t. Worth a look though, and a million times better than the EXTREMELY POOR American re-make from 1996. 7,5/10

tcboxer This movie was a little silly at best, a poor story line and bad characters made it a fair movie at best. Certainly not up to the standards of "Hong Kong 1941", or even "The Witch from Nepal". It was just a silly excuse to make a movie. Not up to Chows potential at all.