Army of Thieves, movie (2021) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
video © Netflix
Article updated: 2021.11.12
The Army of Thieves (2021) is a heist / adventure film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
Original title: Army of Thieves
Series: Army of the Dead
Setting: fantasy Earth (Army of the Dead)
Previous entries in the series: Army of the Dead (2021) is a sequel
Product type: Film, Genre: heist / adventure, Style: heist, thriller, action, adventure
Release: 2021.10.29
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2021.11), first time
Rating: Good (2+ out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Good (2+ out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Army of Thieves, a heist / adventure movie from 2021. It's about a criminal team trying to rob banks. The Army of Thieves film is interesting, I recommend it.
Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
image © Netflix
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Review (spoiler-free) - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
After watching Army of the Dead (2021), I've read that they are making a prequel that I thought was unneccessary. I was totally surprised when I've run into Army of Thieves only a couple of monthes after the previous movie. I though I'd give it a try without reading a synopsis or watching the trailer.
The fact that it's tied to Army of the Dead, although not necessarily interesting, but it's true that it was why I immediately watched this, so this was not a bad choice on part of the makers.
The Army of Thieves movie is about a criminal team trying to rob banks.
The story is okay. It has some good twists. The pacing is mostly consistent, although the ending doesn't really fit in, and it's only there to set up the sequel. There is a character arc for the main character. There were no major logical problems. The horror elements are not an essential part of the story, they are only there to tie the movie to the series. It's a light hearted movie, that often doesn't take itself seriously, although it's far from being a comedy.
The cinematography is good, the action scenes are clear, and the movie is interesting visually, with a variety of sets.
The characters are okay, they are all genre clichés, but we get some backstories for all of them. Their portrayal by the actors is good, believable.
The music (by Hans Zimmer & Steve Mazzaro) is great, fitting the story.
Army of Thieves is an interesting heist / adventure film, I think fans of the genre will enjoy it.
My experience
I was satisfied with Army of Thieves (2021).
Rating: Good (2+ out of 3 points). Army of Thieves is a well-made film.
Enjoyment: Good (2+ out of 3 points). Army of Thieves is interesting, I liked it.
Rewatchability: Probably good. Although the twists of the story make you feel interested, but there's enough humour and action to make it interesting to watch this again.
Chance of watching it again: There's a chance. Now that I know the story, there's probably no need to watch it again, but I liked it enough that I might watch it in the right circumstances.
Chance of watching a sequel: High. I'd sure watch it.
Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
image © Netflix
Will you enjoy this?
If you like heist movies, you might like Army of Thieves.
If you like comedic heist movies, you'll probably like this film.
If you like action movies (Die Hard, Swordfish), you might like the film, although there are not many action scenes in the Army of Thieves movie.
If you enjoyed the Army of the Dead (2021), you might be interested in this story.
If you like twists, you might enjoy this movie, as there are plenty.
If you hate subtitles, beware, because there are some parts of the movie that are spoken in foreign languages.
If you prefer visuals over story, you'll still be satisfied with Army of Thieves, as it looks good.
If you hate comedy, this movie is not for you, as it has many light-hearted moments.
If you absolutely hates zombies in your movies, you should probably avoid Army of Thieves, although the zombies are not a central part of the story.
Do you need to see the first film to enjoy this?
There's enough explanation that you'll understand what's going on without seeing the first film, Army of the Dead (2021).
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in heist stories, I think it's worth watching the Army of Thieves movie for the plot points.
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Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
image © Netflix
Review with spoilers - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
I liked the Army of Thieves movie.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is okay. It has some minor spoilers, and spends a bit too much time on zombies, but otherwise it fits the movie.
Promise of the first scene
We see a guy talking about famous safes made by a famouse safemaker. I assume that in the story he'll able to find and crack at least one of those safes.
Execution: Indeed, he was able to crack three of them.
Plot summary / Synopsis
There's a safe guy (Matthias Schweighöfer as Ludwig Dieter/Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert) who works in a bank, who has the hobby of safecracking. After he puts up a video online about safecracking history, he is invited to a local competition that he wins.
The safe guy is approached by a thief girl (Nathalie Emmanuel as Gwendoline Starr), who asks him to join her team of criminals, intend to crack the safes he talked about in the video. He meets the rest of the team, a hacker girl (Ruby O. Fee as Korina Dominguez), a driver (Guz Khan as Rolph), and a muscle guy (Stuart Martin as Brad Cage/Alexis Broschini). They intend to crack all the safes the safe guy was making the video of. They have to hurry, because due to problems caused by a pandemic, all of the safes will be brought to the USA and be destroyed.
The first one is in Paris. They rob it easily, although they only take a part of the money, so they can easily slip out.
During their celebration, the safe guy tries to get closer to the thief girl, but muscle man is her boyfriend, so they just talk.
The international police still recognises the culprits, and they also guess what will be their next targets. A detective (Jonathan Cohen as Delacroix), injured by the team previously, is intent on capturing them.
The next safe is in Prague. The security is better there, so it's harder to get in, and the muscle guy gets injured in a shoot-out. The safe guy manages to open the safe, and then he shares a kiss with the thief girl. The muscle guy ditches him from the car when they run for it. After this, the team breaks up, the two girls leave the two men.
The safe guy escapes from the city, and walks home, where the two girls wait him. They convince him to join them to break the third safe.
At the third place, in Switzerland (St. Moritz), they manage to get the whole safe in a truck, and they crack it while driving. The hacker girl is captured by the police, and she gives up their location. The muscle guy and the driver are following them, but they are forced to surrender. The safe guy and the thief girl escape, leaving the muscle guy and the driver tied to the truck when the police arrives.
The safe guy and the thief girl almost escape when the detective finds them. The girl makes a bargain that she lets herself get captured without a shoot-out if they let the safe guy go. The detective agrees.
In the last scene we see the safe guy getting hired by people to break the fourth safe from the series, leading to the events of Army of the Dead (2021).
The setting
The story is set in a contemporary fantasy Earth, where zombies exist.
Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
image © Netflix
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one.
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Army of Thieves film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline.
There is no single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - beginning, action, resolution. After the resolution, it ends in a cliffhanger, leading to the sequel.
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Things I liked
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
From the works of the writer (Shay Hatten), I've only seen Army of the Dead (2021), and this was an improvement compared to that, with a lot less logical problems.
I haven't seen any other works of the director (Matthias Schweighöfer), but this was a competent movie, so I'm interested in his further films.
How does it compare to the other films in the series?
That's a good question. Army of the Dead (2021) has a more interesting concept, but Army of Thieves, movie (2021) was better in the execution. From the two movies, I consider Army of Thieves the better one.
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Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
image © Netflix
Analysis of the story - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
I mostly liked the story, I didn't find problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Army of Thieves.
Problematic elements
The title: There's no "army" of thieves, it's just a couple of people, a lot less than the cast of a regular heist movie. Yes, they did it so we'd get that it's a prequel to Army of the Dead, but then it could have been "Army of the Thieves". And in that movie, it was not the protagonists, who were dead, but their opposition, so it could have been "Army of the Bank Security".
The zombie scenes: I get it that they want to tie this to Army of the Dead (2021), but spending whole scenes on that is unneccessary.
- In the bank, he sees it on the tv. This could be enough, although the banks I know only show preprogrammed advertisements on their screens.
- When he gets home, and sees the headlines about zombie apocalypse, that should be probably the right scene to show the connection, but don't spend time on showing the reporter eaten.
- The bad dream is just too much.
- The second bad dream also.
Breaking regulations: While still trying to look innocent, or trying to blend in the crowd, they tend to disregard traffic rules, and just walk through streets, or drive bikes outside of the bike lane. This is neither very efficient, nor stealthy.
Poisoning the guards: The guards say nobody is hurt, but as we see the sedative projectiles working, it looks like a fast acting poison that kills instantly. The same happens when the girl uses some cloth on the face of the guards to take them out, that's probably also a fast acting poison that needs to be inhaled.
Lack of personality: Some of the twists worked because the characters don't really have a personality, so they could do anything the plot requires. That would be fine in itself, but with some work, they could have a personality, and yet have enough foreshadowing that the twist, even though surprising, feels rooted in the character. The thief girl wants to break those safes just because. The muscle guy joins them, because he wants to be with the thief girl. The hacker and the driver is just there, we don't even get to know any more about them. Only the safe guy has some motivation to see the safes, but he lacks the mojo to go on a criminal rampage like this, so it's very out of character to join them.
Unanswered questions
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Possibilities of improvement
- Cutting most of the zombie scenes. Only show glimpses of it on TV.
- Cut those shots where it's obvious that they are breaking traffic regulations.
How it could have been better?
Let the thief girl has some real motivation. For example, she has a rare illness, and needs the millions to get the expensive cure. If you want to make her a good person, it could be one of her parents, or her child who has it.
As the safe guy doesn't look like the one who goes adventuring, let they capture him against his will. After they see that he cracks those safes easily, the thief girl approaches him, but quickly sees that it wont work. Then the muscle guy just puts a bag on his head, and they stuff him into a car. He is threatened that they know where he lives, and they will kill him if he escapes. For a feeble guy like him, this could be enough.
Give some motivation to the hacker girl and the driver too. One of them could be a plant by the police, showing us how does the police get the info about their plans.
The policemen should also get some motivation. Being shot is not an excuse for acting like a maniac. The police woman should be probably in love with the guy, as she seems to follow him with such a determination, but then the police guy should be an overall good guy instead of being a mix of the worst cop and the worst boss, otherwise it won't be belieavable.
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Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
image © Netflix
Uses for the film - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
Plot
- Criminals want to rob some banks.
- The police finds it out that criminals want to rob some banks, and they want to stop them.
Scenes
- The first heist is especially good to show to players as a plan to do the job.
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
- There are some artifacts, created by the same maker. They are all in separate collections. They are all going to be moved together to a very safe location. It would be easier to steal them while they are in their original places, or when they are being transported, as in the new location it would be almost impossible to break in.
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
- Competition: A competition is held for multiple teams. On the playing area, there are multiple instances of the same objective. The teams have to reach the objective and activate it to complete their goal. The objectives might require models with specialist training to activate. This could go on for multiple scenarios, with more and more difficult terrain, and harder to complete objectives, depending on the number of teams. If the loser gets out of the game, then the winning team is the one that is the winner of the last scenario. If the loser doesn't get out, then hold a number of matches, and the one with the highest winning score be the victorious team.
- Harder version - antagonistic play: The teams are allowed to oppose the other team if they want to, but they are not allowed to use weapons.
- Harder version - weapons allowed: The teams are allowed to use weapons.
- Heist: The defender has a base. The defender deploys their units anywhere on the playing area, and there can be pre-defined patrol routes. The attackers disguise themselves as allies (they can carry small weapons) or neutrals (with no weapons). The attacker can leave models outside of the playing area as reinforcements, and these reinforcements can have any kind of weapons. Unless the attackers are seen to be doing something suspicious, the defender is not allowed to harass or attack them. There is an objective the attacker wants to reach. Their disguise only allows the attacker to walk on the outer perimeter, but they must get in somehow. For that, they need to climb through a fence / break a door / defeat a guard. If there is any defender model that sees this, they can alert the rest of the defenders, making the job of the attacker a lot harder. The disguised model can spend an action to talk to a defender model, it distracts that model for that turn, but it can't be used more than once on a model. The attacker reinforcements can enter the edge of the playing area at any time. They can choose to come disguised, or attacking openly, with weapons drawn. After the attackers completed their objective, they have to leave the playing area.
- Harder version - specialist: In order to complete the objective, the model that spends the action on it must have some specialist training.
- Harder version - retrieve: In order to complete the objective, they have to bring it with them when they leave the playing area. The objective is big enough that it's hard to be concealed. If a defender models sees anyone hauling it, first, they spend an action to stop the model and ask for permission. As the attackers don't have persmission, for their next action the defender can do anything, including attacking the model.
- Alternate version - transport: There are transports (mount, cart, car, truck, hovercar) at the defenders base. The attackers can put the objective on one of them, and use it to leave the base. If a defender sees them getting in the transport, they can ask for permission. When the transport leaves the base, the guards will ask for permission. If they don't destroy the rest of the vehicles, a next scenario starts when they leave the base, The Chase. The defenders have a maximum of chasing vehicles, depending of the non-destroyed transports they have.
- The Chase: The chasing playing sets up the playing area. Then the chased player sets up their transport (mount, cart, car, truck, hovercar) with their models inside (or riding it) on the edge of the playing area, and makes a move. Then the chasing player rolls a d6. On a roll of 1, one of his own transport reached the edge of the playing area, and they can set it up, to be moved in the next turn. The chased player wins if they leave the playing area in their transport. The chasing player wins if they stop or destroy the chased transport. It's a draw if the models of the chased player leave their transport, and leave the playing area without it.
- Harder version - retrieve: There is something important in the chased transport, so the chasing player can't just destroy the vehicle. They can take out the drivers, but the contents of the transport must be intact.
- Harder version - rival: There's a third team joining the scenario that wants to steal the chased transport, or at least the contents of it. The third team is deployed in their own transport in the beginning of the game, but on a different edge than the one used by the chased transport, at least 3 movements away from that. The chasing force may be controlled by the system - they try to move closer to the chased transport, while trying to shoot at the closest transport - either the chased transport, or the third team.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Criminals: Human-sized modern human civilians.
Police: Human-sized modern human soldiers, with pistols or assault weapons.
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Similar stories - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
Movies
Army of the Dead (2021): A team of criminals wants to crack a safe, while they are being chased (by zombies). Has comedic elements.
Dobermann (1997): A team of criminals wants to crack multiple safes, while they are being chased (by the police).
Ocean's 11 (1960): A team of criminals wants to crack multiple safes.
Ocean's Eleven (2001): A team of criminals wants to crack three safes.
Swordfish (2001): A specialist guy (hacker) is forced to join a team of criminals to steal money.
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Frequently asked questions - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
Is the Army of Thieves film based on a book or comics?
No, Army of Thieves is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Army of Thieves film a remake or reboot?
No, the Army of Thieves film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in Army of Thieves? Does Army of Thieves have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Army of Thieves.
Where can I see Army of Thieves? Where can I watch Army of Thieves online? Is Army of Thieves available on Netflix? Is Army of Thieves on Amazon?
As of 2021.11.03, Army of Thieves is on Netflix.
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Resources - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
Official
Netflix: Army of Thieves: Official article.
Information
IMDB: Army of Thieves (2021): Database article.
WikiPedia: Army of Thieves: Database article.
Letterboxd: Army of Thieves 2021: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Army of Thieves 2021: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Army of Thieves film (2021)
Robert Daniels (for Polygon): Netflix’s Army of Thieves tries to turn a Zack Snyder film into a franchise no one needed: Review article about the Army of Thieves film with minor spoilers.
Reviews with spoilers - Army of Thieves film (2021)
: Review article of the Army of Thieves movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Army of Thieves movie (2021)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Army of Thieves.¤
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Buying the product - Army of Thieves, movie (2021)
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Have you seen the Army of Thieves film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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