Watch Once a Thief For Free
Once a Thief
Set in Hong Kong and Vancouver, the story follows Mac Ramsey and Li Ann Tsei, lovers and professional thieves who are separated while fleeing the powerful Hong Kong underworld crime lord who raised and trained them. After being imprisoned in Hong Kong, Mac is forcefully recruited into a clandestine international crime-fighting unit by a hard-nosed, menacing Director. He is teamed in Vancouver with Li Ann, who thought Mac was dead, and her new fiancé Victor Mansfield, an ex-cop who is attracted to the unorthodox methods of the agency. Conflict flares between Mac and Victor as the trio take on their assignment. They soon learn that their principal target is their foster brother Michael Tang, who had been given Li Ann as his future wife and who has vowed to hunt down the pair for their disloyalty to the "family".
| Release : | 1996 |
| Rating : | 5.2 |
| Studio : | |
| Crew : | Director of Photography, Stunt Double, |
| Cast : | Sandrine Holt Ivan Sergei Nicholas Lea Robert Ito Michael Wong |
| Genre : | Action Comedy Crime |
Watch Trailer
Cast List
Reviews
It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
I was very disappointed with this, considering that I love John Woo, but the story and dialogue are so full of holes, contradictory and hypocritical that I just turned it off...In every single other John Woo film I've seen, characters have been well fleshed out and reasonably likable (both bad and good characters too) and whilst I had no problem with most of the main cast (Sandrine Holt being particularly pleasing) the main character played by Ivan Sergei was so stupid and ridiculous that I found myself calling him "git-face" every time he was on screen. His motives, lines and general dialogue were so stupid, contradictory, lying, and self-serving it was unbelievable that a women such as Holt's character would ever find him attractive, and I'm afraid I just didn't like the actor on first view, like I just took and instant dislike to him, thats just the way it is sometimes but I expect John Woo to cast just the right people for his works.This feels like Woo was just going through the motions and that it might be just a contractual obligation of some kind...not even the action scenes are that good and also few and far between. It feels more like Woo was an 'executive producer' than at the helm on this one.
I haven't seen that many of Mr. Woo's movies, but I've heard enough to know that this movie is a new low for him.The fact that this is a TV movie already hints at the disappointment to come, and the 90-minute ride can be easily split into three pieces: 33% of the movie is bad acting, mediocre dialog telling a barely mediocre story, 33% of the movie is mediocre shooting scenes which lack John Woo's trademark bravado, panache and any spirit at all, 33% of the movie is slow-motion shots from several angles of the action scenesSo basically, with this movie you'll watch all the battles twice and follow a barely mediocre story with bad actors. What was Mr. Woo thinking?
To tell you the truth I don't know why I gave this movie 4/10 ... I really don't, I shouldn't have rated this so high ... but I think I gave this TV movie more credit than it deserved (imo), just because I didn't want to rate a John Woo movie too bad! And although sometimes this movie has some good scenes, it is always apparent that it's made to start a TV show/series ...It's a shame, because this is a remake of a quite good (not excellent, but still good) HK action movie, that Woo made himself. You can check that out under "movie connections" on the (currently) left bar side of this site.The actors are not up to much and it's only the few good action scenes and some pieces of the original story/movie that do convince ... Not recommendable!
Yeah, it sucks, but it's one of those movies that gives you that warm and happy feeling, that you can only get when two supposedly heterosexual men are DEFINITELY into each other. Seriously, if you didn't see them, watch it again. The homo erotic undertones are there. Esp. with The Bite as my sister has taken to calling it. Of course Lee Ann had to be there to mess with everything.I realize very few people know anything about this movie, as it was pretty obscure, so I shall sum up. There are three 'siblings' named Mac, Lee Ann, and Micheal. Micheal is the biological son of a Chinese mob boss, and Lee Ann and Mac were adopted into 'The Family' Mac and Micheal are both in love with Lee Ann, but Micheal gets permission from his father to marry her. Micheal is a slimy little jerk, and honestly, the guy who plays him can't act... at all, I don't know his name, because all I really worry about are Mac and Vic (Ivan Sergei, and Nicholas Lea *heart*). So anyway, Mac and Lee Ann try to run away, Lee Ann escapes and Mac ends up in prison. That = exposition. I hope I've peeked your interest at least a little. Great movie. Rent it.
