Once A Thief brings John Woo back to his comedic roots. While, I myself have not seen Woo's earliest films, I know before he did action he was a comedy director. It makes sense(to me at least) that Woo did a project in a lighter direction coming off of his dark masterpiece Bullet In The Head. Once A Thief is an action packed comedy caper about a trio of art thieves that grew up together as orphans and have two adoptive fathers. One of the father's is good(a kindhearted police officer played by Chu Kong) and the other is bad(a gangster played by Ken Tsang). The friendship/love triangle theme between Chow Yun Fat, Cherie Chung and Leslie Cheung kinda works(but not nearly as well as it did in The Killer). In no way is this film in the same class as The Killer or Hard Boiled. However, it still should be enjoyable enough for most fans of the genre. The cast has excellent chemistry as most of these actors worked with John Woo frequently and/or together in various films. Like I said before, the tone of the film is light. The film moves along at a brisk pace and has enough shoot em' up action to please most of John Woo's fans. Once A Thief came out in between two of Woo's best films, Bullet In The Head and Hard Boiled. It can't touch either of these, but I still regard Once A Thief as above average and good for what it is.