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The Orange County Register WEEKEND Friday, Sept. 27, 191996SHOW 7Smart Woo punch meets America’s good ol’ buddy picREVIEW: Once a Thief isn’t classic John Woo but a fairly credible simulation.By CARY DARLINGThe Orange County Registerho would have thought it? That it would be American television, not film, that would come closest to capturing famed Hong Kong action director John Woo’s kinetic Cantonese crime operas. After all, “Hard Target” and “Broken Arrow,” Woo’s first forays into the American film market, had their appeal but lacked that particular blend of Far East intrigue and chaos that make his Hong Kong movies so dazzling.But with “John Woo’s Once a Thief,” a flawed but entertaining telemovie that’s only tangential-ly related to his 1991 theatrical film of the same name, Woo comes closest to that Hong Kong ethos.The original movie, more of a lighthearted caper film than Woo’s other more hard-core projects, followed a snazzy trio of high-living art thieves from Hong Kong to Paris. This time around, the athletic, good-looking threesome — Mac Ramsey (Ivan Serge), Li Ann Tsei (San-drine Holt) and Victor Mansfield (Nicholas Lea from “The X-Files”) — is an elite police forcesummoned together to battle big-budget Pacific Rim crime. So instead of Paris, they end up in Vancouver. C’est la vie.While the plots of the two diverge, the key Woo elements are all here: male bonding and questions of honor; the undercurrent of angst surrounding Hong Kong’s governmental takeover by mainland China in ’97; physics-defying stunts;, flowing camera work; and highly choreographed, two-fisted gun battles. There’s even a running joke about white roses that recalls one of Woo’s greatest movies, “Hard-Boiled.”Though much less violent than his feature films, “John Woo’s Once a Thief” nevertheless packs a pretty swift punch. Anyone put off by Woo’s brand of rock ’em-sock-’em action should stay far away.Yet for all of its Woo wizardry, there are enough weaknesses to give even the staunchest Woo fans pause. Now that our heroes are government agents (even though two of them have Hong Kong underworld pasts) instead of art thieves, the movie has more of a feel of a standard-issue American buddy pic, complete with smart-mouthed one-liners from the group’s designated hothead, Mac.Though everyone in the production looks great, no one can summon the grace, style and class of original “Thief” stars Chow-Yun Fat, Cherie Chung, and Leslie Cheung or someonesuch as “Hard-Boiled” co-star Tony Leung, a veteran of many HK action flicks. Here, Holt and Lea are serviceable, but the dimpled Serge, who is obviously bidding for heartthrob status, is just wooden.Perhaps smarting from criticism that he doesn’t develop strong female characters, Woo has made the director of ourthreesome’s super-secret organization a woman (Jennifer Dale), but she seems less a person than a device.And the plot, regarding former Ramsey/Tsei crime partner Michael Tang . (Michael Wong) coming to Vancouver to seek a pre-1997 safe haven and ending up trying to get revenge, peters out near the end. Overall, since'JohnWoo's Once a Thief'► Channel:KTTV/11► When: 8 p.m. Sunday► Grade: B'ONCE A THIEF': Theelite police force that goes to Vancouver to battle big-budget Pacific Rim crime includes, from left, Ivan Serge,Sandrine Holt and Nicholas Lea.“John Woo’s Once a Thief” is a pilot — it’s a candidate as a midseason replacement on Fox — and the characters must continue, it’s more routine and predictable than a Woo movie should be.Still, any Woo is better than no Woo at all. And the fast-paced “John Woo’s Once a Thief,” for all of its flaws, rarely is boring. Lock ’n’ load and rock ’n’ roll.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, Sep 27, 1996
Page 140
Full Page
Clipped by
Wikimedia F.
California, DZ 19 Dec 2023
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