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5 great Asian heist films, from John Woo action comedy Once a Thief to 2023 Korean hit Smugglers, to watch if you saw The Moon Thieves
- John Woo’s Once a Thief, an uproarious action comedy starring Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung and Cherie Chung, is one of many great Asian heist films
- We list five of our favourites, from a bombastic Japanese thriller about a gang of ageing thieves to one of the funniest, most original heist films in years
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Crime films assume all manner of elaborate identities and disguises, but the heist movie must rank as one of the most inventive and enduringly entertaining.
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Every piece of the puzzle, from recruiting the team to devising the plan, its breathless execution, followed by – if all goes smoothly – the high-speed getaway, must be carefully assembled. When performed correctly, the results are hugely rewarding, and have yielded countless cinematic classics, from Rififi to The Sting, Ocean’s Eleven to Inception.
Asian cinema is no exception.
One need only look at the crop of films on release in Hong Kong right now to catch the high-stakes thrill ride of Herman Yau Lai-to’s Moscow Mission, or the star-studded Lunar New Year caper The Moon Thieves, in which three of the boys from Hong Kong pop sensation Mirror turn to a life of crime for our entertainment.
But these are just the latest examples in a long and storied tradition. Here are five of our favourite Asian heist films, all deserving of your attention.
1. Once a Thief (1991)
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