Once a Thief

This film is in a different vein to John Woo's other films, the body count is lower than in any other of his heroic bloodshed movies. He uses martial arts more than in any other, and the infinitely charismatic Chow Yun Fat, played his role more like Benny Hill than clint Eastwood(Although Mr Chow, versatile as he is can play comedy just as well as his silent assassin, or the take no prisoners cop.) The departure from the standard Woo, high bodycount, 2 hour long shoot out type of film come from the fact that he had just made his two darkest films "The Killer" and "Bullet in the head". "At that time the world thought I was a very pessimistic guy" said Woo "but I just wanted to show to the world that I was actually an optimisic guy. I always think there's hope and beauty in the world" hence this light hearted film, in the style of an old heist movie. The plot centers around three highly skilled are thieves played by Chow Yun Fat, Cherie Chung and Leslie Cheung, involved in a love triangle. Although not as developed as "a better tomorrow", as beautifully cinematic as "The Killer" or as "brutally high octane as "a better tomorrow 2" and the fantastic "Hard boiled". This piece delivers, and is still miles better than anything that could come out of Hollywood. (with the possible exception of John Woo's american projects) If you know you would like this film go and buy it. I did, and although I paid a ridiculouly high price for it, I knew that Woo and Chow would not dissapoint, so it was money well spent.