Once a Thief 4K 1991 Ultra HD 2160p

John Woo moves the action to France. Two siblings, trained from childhood to steal by their “caring” father, are engaged in stealing paintings to order. They do it simply virtuoso with the use of various technical means and with incredible dexterity. Having received an order to steal a rare painting from a castle, they take up the job, hoping to get 2 million and tie, as they promised the policeman who took care of them as children. They steal the painting, but there was an ambush waiting for them at the end instead of money. We know that the director is famous for his ability to stage action sequences. So in this movie scripted by John Woo, Clifton Ko and Janet Cheung, stunts, explosions and gunfire abound, as well as sentimentality.

User Review
John Woo is one of my favorite directors. He has his own unique style. And I sympathize with Woo's Hong Kong period even more than Hollywood. What was my surprise when I learned about John's movie, which I hadn't seen yet. And it wasn't one of his old kung fu action movies. It was from that period of action-drama. Masterpiece movies like 'Bright Future' 1-2; 'Assassin' and 'Bullet in the Head'. And with Chow Yun-Fat in the lead role. I thought, 'What the...This needs to be seen immediately (!)'. And what was my mild disappointment.....

Cons. The first thing that alarmed me was some cheerful, uncomplicated music, usually inherent in comedies. Then went flat jokes. Under the middle of the movie is already disgusting to look at Chow Yun-Fat's smile. How come? Where is the face full of drama and coolness of a man with a gun? I'm getting teary-eyed. What about the genre? It's a comedy! And it's not the wittiest. Of course, the movie has an action component, in the style of Wu. But what about the first part? John... he must be a little drunk. Fucking ruin the plot! It could have been such a riveting drama! And with John Woo's signature fight scenes, it would have been a masterpiece. I still can't understand what happened to this great director at that time. It feels like he made a parody of his own movies.

Pros. If you look superficially at the plot, the story of three thieves inseparable since childhood seems quite interesting and (I won't get tired of repeating) dramatic. I wish John Woo would have remade the movie from this point of view. Oh well, that's not going to happen. The undeniable strength of most of John's movies are the action scenes. Those shootouts, those stunts, those car chases, those deaths...It's breathtaking to watch. And when they shoot from my favorite gun 'beretta' just my heart bleeds. Also a great director's find can be called the dancing scene. Well, just imagine: a girl dancing with a guy who is confined to a wheelchair. It looked very impressive.

Well, what grade to put the movie? Doubts tormented me to the last. Before watching, in the back of my mind I knew that 'Once a Thief' is far from the quality I was expecting, for the film is a little-known and not particularly recognized. But not so much as it turned out. On the other hand, this movie is in that Hong Kong style of Woo's that made him famous and gained him a lot of fans (including me).

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (79.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
#Mandarin: FLAC 1.0
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0

Info Subtitles

Mandarin (Simplified), English, German.