Name: Retro Film/Television Review: Once a Thief (1996)
Item: Once a Thief
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

In late 1990s John Woo was on the roll. Brought to Hollywood with reputation of action film guru and film making deity, he was being given most prestigious projects, large budgets while many less talented Hollywood film makers tried very hard to copy his style. In that time Woo even had enough time to try his hand on television. One of such attempts was television series inspired by his 1990 Hong Kong action comedy Once a Thief. Woo directed 1996 pilot episode himself.

The plot starts in Hong Kong during dance competition during which the audience gets introduced to three professional thieves - Mack Ramsey (played by Ivan Sergei), Li Ann (played by Sandrine Holt) and Michael (played by Michael Wong). All three are employed by Tang, criminal organisation led by Michael's father (played by Robert Ito). Professional relationship between the three have recently been tainted by romantic complications - Mack and Li Ann love each other, but Li Ann's hand has been promised to Michael. Mack and Li Ann decide to solve this problem by stealing from Tang and escaping Hong Kong. Plan backfires and only Li Ann escapes, while Mack ends in prison. Few years later he is given a choice - either to offer his services to international crime fighting organisation or try to survive Tang's wrath alone. He opts for the former and gets relocated to Vancouver where he meets Li Ann again. This time she is in relationship with former policeman Victor Mansfield (played by Nicholas Lea), so Mack again has to deal with love triangle. Romantic problems are, at least temporarily, set aside when all three of them join forces in order to stop Tang from taking hold in Vancouver.

Dance routines and love triangles aren't the elements most people associate with works of John Woo, so Once a Thief must look refreshing to the audience. Complicated plot of this 90-minute television pilot episode, however, didn't leave much time for Woo to develop characters and subplots, but Ivan Sergei, Sandrine Holt and Nicholas Lea (best known as Mulder's mysterious nemesis Krycek in The X-Files) project enough charm and talent to carry this film despite its lack of depth. John Woo handles another problem - how to reconcile the outrageousness of his action scenes with American television standards - equally well. Unlike most of John Woo's films, television version of Once a Thief doesn't enjoy particularly big reputation, but even those who care little about John Woo's opus would probably appreciate hour and half of stylish entertainment displayed in this hidden gem.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on February 4th 2004)