Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Once a Thief Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 31, 2010

John Woo's "Zong heng si hai" a.k.a "Once A Thief" arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Kam & Ronson Enterprises. The supplemental features on the disc include a video interview with actor Kenneth Tsang and the film's original theatrical trailer. In Cantonese, with optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Thai subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

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Joe (Chow Yun-Fat, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Jim (Leslie Cheung, Happy Together) and Cherie (Cherie Chung, An Autumn's Tale) are professional thieves with a terrific record. They were trained to become thieves by their adopted 'father', Chow (Kenneth Tsang, A Better Tomorrow II), a shady character connected to the triads, and protected by their 'godfather', Chu (Chu Kong, The Killer), an honest cop.

While visiting the French Riviera, Joe, Jim and Cherie are offered a lucrative job - if they steal a supposedly cursed painting from a well guarded castle, they would make more than they have made during their entire career. Joe and Cherie are intrigued by the offer but think that it is time to retire and enjoy their lives. Jim, however, disagrees.

Without telling his partners, Jim enters the castle. Shortly after, Joe joins him. The two manage to steal the painting but on the way out of the castle things go wrong - Jim is seriously injured, Joe crashes his car in a luxury boat, and the painting gets stolen by a gang of goons. Assuming that Joe has died, Jim and Cherie head back to Hong Kong.

Jim and Cherie decide that it is time to settle down, perhaps even have a baby. Suddenly, however, Joe appears, now in a wheelchair. A new job offer also arrives - and this time around Joe, Jim and Cherie agree that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity which cannot be ignored. They agree to do the job and all hell breaks loose.

I’ve revisited quite a few of director Woo’s early films during the last couple of years and have come to the conclusion that for the most part they have aged quite well. In fact, some of his best ones, A Better Tomorrow (1986), A Better Tomorrow II (1987), The Killer (1989), Bullet in the Head (1990), and Hard Boiled (1992) still have a unique flavor that cannot be found in contemporary Hong Kong films. Sure, at the moment Hong Kong action cinema is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, but there isn’t a single director whose films are as influential as director Woo’s films were in the early 90s. For the most part, everyone seems to be rehashing old tricks.

I’ve also revisited some of director Woo’s Hollywood films and found them to be borderline unwatchable; perhaps with the exception of Face/Off, which has bits of the unique flavor I mentioned above. I know that Red Cliff and Red Cliff II have given some of director Woo’s older fans the confidence to speculate that he is returning to his Asian roots, but I am not yet a believer. These films are more Hollywood-esque than they are Hong Kong-esque.

Now what exactly is this unique flavor that I am talking about? It is a special blend of over the top action, light comedy and romance - all three of which are perfectly balanced in director Woo’s Once A Thief, but offered in different doses in the rest of his early film. Other than that there is nothing special about Once A Thief - the plot is very transparent and the main characters cliched - but the atmosphere is great, and, in my opinion, a good enough reason to recommend the film.

If you enjoy director Woo’s early action films but have never before seen Once A Thief, you should. Though some may disagree with me, I think that it is one of his best. Nothing pretentious, nothing groundbreaking, just pure old-fashioned Woo-esque fun.

Once a Thief Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Woo's Once A Thief arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Kam & Ronson Enterprises.

This high-definition transfer has been struck from a dated source. As a result, it is somewhat inconsistent. For example, during the daylight scenes fine object detail is mostly pleasing, but not during the darker (indoors and nighttime) footage. Clarity is mostly pleasing. For the first time ever one could actually see all the little tricks Chow Yun-Fat and Leslie Cheung do during the mansion raid (on the old Kam & Ronson Enterprises SDVD release everything is a giant mish-mash of soft and blurry colors). The color-scheme is mostly pleasing; the reds, blues, greens, yellows, browns, and blacks, are not always lush and well saturated but definitely healthy. This being said, mild to moderate edge-enhancement is often easy to spot. There are traces of random noise reduction corrections as well. Blown through a digital projector, however, Once A Thief looks stable, and a lot of the issues noted above are not as troubling as they probably sound. Lastly, while viewing Once A Thief I noticed a few minor flecks popping up here and there, but did not see any large cuts, marks, or splices to report in this review. To sum it all up, while this is an inconsistent high-definition transfer, I believe that it represents a substantial upgrade. Given the manner in which most cult Hong Kong films from the 80s and 90s have been treated by various distributors, I also believe that this Blu-ray release will more than likely be the definitive presentation of John Woo's Once A Thief for a very, very long time. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Once a Thief Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. For the record, Kam & Ronson Enterprises have also provided optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Thai subtitles for the main feature.

Like the video treatment, the audio treatment is also somewhat inconsistent. Generally speaking, the Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1 is pleasing - the dialog is clean and clear, but there is a range of different dynamics that are not as balanced as they should have been. For example, some of the shootouts are a bit too loud, while elsewhere the music score is pushed back more than it should have been. Some of these fluctuations, however, are also inherited. After all there is a great deal of overdubbing in Once A Thief, which must have at least partially affected balance. For the record, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, hissings, or audio dropouts to report in this review.

Once a Thief Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are perfectly playable on North American PS3s and SAs.

Trailer - the original trailer for Once A Thief. In Cantonese, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

Interview - video interview with actor Kenneth Tsang (Chow/Dad). In Cantonese, not subtitled. (7 min, 480/60i).

Once a Thief Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

After having seen a number of very, very disappointing SDVD releases of Once A Thief, I think that this Blu-ray release is very easy to recommend. It is not perfect, but believe me when I tell you that it represents a major upgrade. The disc is also Region-A "locked", so if you reside in a Region-B country, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content. RECOMMENDED.