6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
Three Hong Kong art thieves, working the circuit in Europe, seek revenge after their boss, who trained them from childhood, double-crosses them.
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung, Kong Chu, Kenneth TsangForeign | 100% |
Crime | 15% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p (upconverted)
Aspect ratio: 1.89:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Cantonese: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Mandarin: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Mandarin (Traditional), English, Thai
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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".
Showtime
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).
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.
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).
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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