Army Of Thieves

2021 Netflix

Rated: TV-MA

Length: 2 hr 7min

Action ~ Comedy ~ Crime ~ Thriller

Starring: Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Guz Khan, and Jonathan Cohen.

“Want to put your skills to the test? The house at the end of Leipziger Str. Berlin. 8pm. Back door. Password: Götterdämmerung.”

Matthias Schweighöfer stars as Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert, a would be safe-cracker with an extensive knowledge of Hans Wagner’s work, currently working as a bank teller in Potsdam, Germany. Hans Wagner was a legendary German locksmith who, in his twilight years, crafted four of the world’s most famous safes based on the four operas of Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle, with each safe named after one of the operas: The Rheingold, The Valkyrie, The Siegfried, and The Götterdämmerung. After posting a safe-cracking video on Youtube, he receives a comment on his video asking him to go to an address in Berlin and test his safe-cracking skills. He does and is entered into an underground safe cracking competition where he emerges as the winner. The next day on his way to work, as he makes his usual stop at the corner coffee shop, he is approached by……

Gwendoline Starr (Nathalie Emmanuel) who wants to recruit his safe-cracking talents and extensive knowledge of Wagner’s infamous four safes. The fourth safe’s whereabouts remain a mystery but she and her team have located the first three and plan to rob them all before they are decommissioned in four days with his help. The temptation of being the guy who crack’s Wagner’s safes is too much for Sebastian and he agrees to join “The Crew” consisting of Gwendoline, Korina Dominguez (Ruby O. Fee), Rolph (Guz Khan), and Brad Cage (Stuart Martin). They head to Paris France where the first safe “Rheingold” is the least guarded and the easiest of the jobs.

Unbeknownst to them, they are being hunted by The Interpol Agent Delacroix (Jonathan Cohen) who has been hunting the crew ever since they got away after shooting him three years ago. He is aware of the three safes and surmises that they may be after them and is close on their tail. The ensuing chase, as they hunt the three safes and avoid Delacroix, is a comical thriller full of action, deceit and intrigue against the backdrop of a growing Zombie Apocalypse in The United States. Matthias Schweighöfer stars and directed this movie which is a prequel to ARMY OF THE DEAD, both written by Zack Snyder. Matthias also starred in ARMY OF THE DEAD. They were both written as part of a trilogy with further movies in planning.

ARMY OF THIEVES starts out like a German fairy tale as Sebastian explains the history of Wagner and the four safes. I really like Matthias as the nerdy, straight-laced but very likeable Sebastian. Nathalie Emmanuel is awesome as Gwendoline, the very smart runaway thief with kick-ass street skills. I really like the nerdy but cool swagger of Ruby O. Fee as Korina, the tech wiz kid who writes and records her own music. Guz Khan’s very unique, very British, sandwich eating, getaway driver extraordinaire character is really cool. And Stuart Martin as the very conceited, arrogant and self-centered Brad Cage is well…likeable and hateable.

I love this movie. I love the story and the characters, and the actors that played them. I really think Matthias did an excellent job in directing and acting in this safe-cracking thriller. I had watched this earlier in the year not knowing about THE ARMY OF THE DEAD movie, and after watching that and finding out ARMY OF THIEVES was a prequel I had to watch it again. I have a better appreciation of ARMY OF THIEVES, especially how the story carries over into the ARMY OF THE DEAD. I would suggest that if you were to watch either of them I would watch this one first. That is the timeline order of the story and it leads to better understanding of ARMY OF THE DEAD.

So that’s a yes for me.

Two Thumbs Up!