Once a Thief Reviews

Strange film that looks to have been intended as a parody of the genre. It draws you in with drama and action and gradually descends into the kind of comedy where people manically overact in that way that says "I'm going to give you what you're asking for in such a exaggerated, mocking, insanely angry way that you'll be begging me to stop but I won't." Chow Yun-Fat goes the most berserk but the film is structured to give this free reign. By the end it was just tiring having your every expectation confounded with nonsensical slapstick delivered through gritted teeth, with everyone demanding to show you how delighted and playful they are regardless of what happens. I was half expecting someone to pull out a butcher knife and kill everyone off by the end.