![]() ![]() Red is the plucky femme fatale, cocky, and mysterious. Po is the young hacker, gutsy, and untrained. So it's no wonder that Zhang and colleagues Po Chen (Tony Yo-ning Yang), Red ( Shu Qi), and Kong ("Infernal Affairs" co-star Eric Tsang) are never developed beyond their formulaic roles. ![]() Everything you see in "The Adventurers" is essentially a leftover from earlier heist/chase films, right down to the lame John Barry-esque James Bond Lite score, and the uninspired " Thomas Crown Affair"-like set pieces. In fact, he playfully explains his motives for participating in the theft of the priceless three-piece "Gaia" necklace by cutting right to the heart of the matter: "I'm greedy, and I like money." This could have been more than just a throwaway line, but it's not since characters are never treated as anything more than archetype-flat character types. All we know about Zhang is that he likes money. Lau's a star, and you can see it any time that Zhang strides confidently into a room packed with tuxedo and ballroom-gown-clad gamblers and socialites.īut "The Adventurers" is otherwise far too skimpy to be memorable. ![]() But Lau's also stuck with a wan script, which does not give him many opportunities to charm viewers with his signature smile, or boyish, aw-shucks shoe-gazing. This is partly a language barrier problem: Lau exchanges choppy English with co-star Jean Reno, who plays the obligatory stubborn French detective that's hot on Zhang's heels, but always just one step behind. Lau always strains to appear cool in scenes that require an air of effortless yet contained gracefulness from him. But if "The Adventurers" is any indication, Lau has not aged gracefully. Now 56 years old, Lau reprises a role that Yun-Fat Chow originated back in 1991, when Chow was only 36 years old. The role of Zhang, the cocky, and quietly self-assured ex-con jewelry thief, might seem ideal for Lau. If you intend on following the the TV series."The Adventurers," a sleepy globe-trotting adventure about a retired thief (Lau, of course) drawn in by the promise of "one last heist," is an underwhelming vanity project (Lau also produced the film). Not one of Woo's best efforts but still worth catching, especially In that particular scene, Victor and Mac hangs dangerously on aĬhandelier from the electrocuted floor while trying to steal a Staged a heist in the US version directly taken from the HK one. The action for both films were pretty similar, in fact John Woo Two played pretty similar characters: care-free and happy-go-lucky.Ĭhow comes on as a natural and comical while Ivan ends up looking Talented especially Chow Yun Fat who puts Ivan Sergei to shame as the In comparisons to the original Hong Kong, I would have to say thatįirst of all, the leads for the Hong Kong version were far more This way you really can't keep count of the dead-count. Maybe it's just John Woo's idea to reduce the violent as Lots of chaos in the background like explosions to complicate the ![]() I can hardly see who is shooting who and there was Intense three-person stand-out but finally, the shoot-out would prove You have all the excitement build up with the In fact, in the few action sequences of the film, the final wasĮxecuted pretty bad. The action in the UK version is virtually no-existent. If you thought the action in the original HK one was pretty mild, Not when it doesn't live up to the original Hong Kong version whether I'm trying to think of something good to say about the US version of When Li Ann decides to flee the country with lover Mac and escaped herĪrranged marriage to Michael, the couple finds themselves entangled in aĬomplex web of double-crosses,revenge and murder. Hong Kong mobster and are now the main operatives of his criminal empire. (Michael Wong) and Mac(Ivan Sergei) has been raised as siblings by a powerful Set against the pulsating neon of Hong Kong, Once A Thief begins with aĭaring heist by three smart and sexy theives. John Woo directed the TV series and remained onboard asĮxecutive producer of the TV series despite initially expressing interest inĭirecting some of the episodes as well. Transformed into a potential TV series.Woo's intentions were clear: toĭevelop a TV series and provide an opportunity for new talents to direct and Woo took his original concept of highly-skilled martial arts theives and Months on these two aborted projects whilst directing Once A Thief TV Pilot.ĭeveloped as a pilot to an ongoing series by Alliance TV Canadian Network, Written by:Glenn Davis and William LaurinĬo-executive producer:Christopher Godsickĭirector John Woo was involved in two dead end projects, Shadow WarĪt Universal and Tears of the Sun at Fox.Woo worked one year and eight Executive producers: John Woo,Terence Chang,Glenn Davis,William Laurin ![]()
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