Army of Thieves (2021) Review

 "I have absolutely zero idea what's going on, but thank you!"
-Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert


Army of Thieves is a prequel to Army of the Dead that follows how Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert (Matthias Schweighöfer) became Ludwig Dieter.  A lowly bankroller with an obsession with safecracking, Sebastian is recruited by a gang of international thieves to rob three legendary safes.


What Works:


The best character from Army of the Dead was Ludwig Dieter.  Matthias Schweighöfer gave by far the best performance, was genuinely interesting and funny, and was the only character of the film I cared about seeing live.  So if we're getting a prequel to the film, I'm glad it's about Ludwig.  Schweighöfer continues to give a charming and endearing performance.  He's an interesting leading character and actually fun to watch.  He also directed the film and did a really good job.  Unlike Army of the Dead, this was actually an enjoyable film to sit through from beginning to end.

The characters may not be the most complex bunch of people, but they are at least interesting and fun.  All of them are well defined and each has a moment or two to shine.  The ones that are supposed to have chemistry definitely have it and I really like the team dynamic as a whole, which is always critical to get right when making a heist movie.

The cinematography is very good as well.  We get to see inside a lot of the safes that the team tries to crack and the inner look at the mechanisms is cool.  There's only one legitame action sequence in the movie, but it's very well shot with nice fluid camera movements.  This isn't an action movie, but I'd like to see this cinematographer, Bernhard Jasper, shoot one.  He seems like a natural fit.

Finally, the music for this movies kicks a ton of ass.  That's to be expected when one of your composers is Hans Zimmer.  The music adds a lot to the film and ramps up the tension like crazy.


What Sucks:

This is a comedy movie as well as a heist movie.  While most of the comedy works, there are a few moments where it falls completely flat.

My only other problem is that the movie is a bit too long.  There are definitely scenes and lines that could have been trimmed down.  The big one is the scene where we meet the team for the first time.  That scene could have been cut it half.  Army of the Dead had the same problem, but Thieves isn't nearly as big of an offender.


Verdict:

Army of Thieves is a far superior movie to Army of the Dead.  I don't know how many prequels we can say that about, but Thieves pulls it off by being a fun film with good performances, awesome cinematography, and kick-ass music.  Not all of the humor works and it's a little too long, but it has still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

 














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