Once A Thief

2/4

Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung, Kenneth Tsang, Kong Chu

Rated R (inexplicably) for Violence

Every now and again, an artist gets the urge to expand his body of work and do something outside of his comfort zone.  Sometimes this works…Steven Spielberg was primarily known as an action film director until he blew the world away with “Schindler’s List.”  With “Once a Thief,” action film master John Woo has attempted something similar, only with much less satisfactory results.

Three art thieves, Joe (Yun-Fat), Jim (Cheung) and Cherie (Chung), have been raised together since they were young by Father (Tsang) to become masters at the art of the steal, and they are as close as siblings.  However, they are in a tug of war with Godfather (Chu), a cop who wants them to go straight.  It’s not as easy as it sounds, but when they make the decision to go legit once and for all, there are dire consequences from Father.

This is John Woo’s attempt at making a caper comedy, which is fine, except the characters are two-dimensional at best and the comedy isn’t especially funny.  Even worse, there are long stretches of the film when it’s flat out boring.

I can’t blame the actors.  Chow Yun-Fat has worked with Woo many times, but he is misused here.  In addition to being completely at home in action movies, he’s also a fine dramatic actor (his performance in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” should have garnered him an Oscar) and based on the evidence, an able comedian.  The sad thing is that the material he is given is too lame for a sitcom; it’s a testament to the actor’s talent that he’s able to get a few grins with material that’s this bad.

It’s kind of odd to see Leslie Cheung in a movie like this, or at least I thought so.  Cheung nailed his portrayal of a seriously conflicted gay character in “Farewell, My Concubine,” so to see him in an action movie is akin to seeing Meryl Streep in a role made for Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Cheung is fine, although there’s not really anything for him to do.  I haven’t seen Cherie Chung in anything, but based on her performance here, she’s a capable actress as well.

As much as I hate to admit it, the failures of this film have to be laid at the feet of John Woo.  He co-wrote the bland script, and the story makes little sense in the final hour.  Even the action scenes, something Woo is famous for, are limp.  Woo has no sense of comic timing or skill in writing jokes and gags that are actually funny.  It’s not for a lack of trying though, but it rarely works.  The final scene, which is sped up like a Looney Toons cartoon, is especially bad.

There are some nice scenes, though.  The first heist scene is reminiscent of “Entrapment,” and there’s a dance sequence that can only be described as unusual.  Still, it’s not nearly good enough for me to recommend it.