MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Once a Thief’ Pulls Off a Delightful Caper

With his zesty “Once a Thief” (at the Monica 4-Plex), fresh from the second annual Festival Hong Kong, John Woo adds comedy to his usual potent blend of sentiment and action to create one of his most light-hearted entertainments, a terrific mix of slapstick and sophistication--imagine “Rififi” with a Harold Lloyd/Keystone Cops touch. Woo and his writers have come up with one ingenious gag and stunt after another to show off a trio of charismatic stars--Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung--at their most dazzling.

They play a notably happy-go-lucky gang of big-league art thieves living in the utmost luxury in France, and their derring-do in Paris, the Riviera and later on, back in Hong Kong, become hilarious spoofs of intricate “Topkapi”-type heists and also elaborate safe-cracking jobs tossed in with Woo’s trademark razzle-dazzle chases, hand-to-hand combat and gun battles.

The way in which Woo launches “Once a Thief” sets the tone for all that is to come. Joe (Chow Yun-Fat) spots a Modigliani in the Louvre and learns that it will be part of a shipment of art on loan for an exhibition in Nice. Cherie (Cherie Chung) distracts guards during the loading of the art onto a van, allowing her tiny dog to lift its leg on the crate containing the Modigliani, thus marking it. Later on the highway, Cherie and Jim (Leslie Cheung) drive erratically in front of the van to divert attention from Jim’s parachuting onto the top of it; once inside, Jim will be able to identify the proper container simply through smell. From this point on, shenanigans like this multiply at a dizzying rate.

More than any contemporary action director, Woo keeps in mind that stunts mean little unless you can care about the people. Shrewdly, Woo dares to wait 40 minutes into the film before revealing that the handsome Joe regards his romance with Cherie as merely a pleasant fling--though there’s always the hint that he feels more but doesn’t choose to reveal it because he doesn’t want to settle down. The boyish Jim, however, secretly loves Cherie seriously. By this time these thieves have displayed such charm and humor we’re thoroughly hooked; indeed, among the many things Woo accomplishes in this film is to invoke the spirit of ‘30s screwball romantic comedy better than almost anyone else who has attempted to do so. Once again, Woo evokes genuine emotion by playing it against an action fantasy plot.

For her part, Cherie is most concerned that the trio retire after they sell the Modigliani to a shifty French collector, but he in turn tells them of a cursed painting he covets that is displayed under heavy security in a Riviera chateau spooky enough for Dracula. The introduction of this painting into the plot, plus a deft flashback showing our thieves as little street kids coached in pickpocketing and the like by a Hong Kong Fagin but also befriended by an avuncular cop, sets the stage for all the mayhem and comedy and romance to come, climaxing of course in one of Woo’s bravura shootouts. “Once a Thief” may just be the dizziest yet endearing Hong Kong caper since “Peking Opera Blues.”

‘Once a Thief’

Chow Yun-Fat: Joe Leslie Cheung: Jim Cherie Chung: Cherie

A Rim Films release of a Milestone Pictures production. Director John Woo. Producers Linda Kuk, Terence Chang. Screenplay by Woo, Clifton Ko, Chun Siu-Chun; based on a story by Woo. Cinematographer Poon Hang-Seng. Editor David Wu. Costumes Shirley Chan. Music Lam Man-Yee. Production designer Leung Wah-Sang. Sound David Wu. Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes.

Times-rated Mature, for standard Hong Kong action violence. Times guidelines: a large number of corpses and violent scene involving fire.