"Army of Thieves" is a funny film that is immediately forgotten

Army of Thieves, a prequel to Army of the Dead by Zach Snyder, is released on October 29 on Netflix. The plot of the film reveals the backstory of Ludwig Dieter - the best burglar, who in the first film opened a safe in a casino.

The tape was directed by the leading actor Matthias Schweighöfer. This is not his first work: the actor had previously directed several comedies in his native Germany. And everywhere he played himself.

In part, it is Schweighöfer's style that is the main problem of the "Army of Thieves". The new picture is more like a classic European movie-robbery, rather than a bright attraction Snyder. It is interesting to watch it once, but the plot will quickly disappear from my head.

Adventure classics and clichéd heroes

The humble Sebastian (Matthias Schweighöfer) works in a bank, and in his free time he writes videos that no one needs on YouTube, where he talks about the most difficult safes. His life is boring and has long turned into a repetition of the same events. But one day, a mysterious stranger invites Sebastian to a burglary competition. The hero wins and is invited to join the team.

New friends, led by Gwendoline (Natalie Emmanuel, known for "Game of thrones"), Plan to break three safes in a row of the great master Wagner. Moreover, criminals do this not only for profit, they also want to become famous.

From the very first scenes, Army of Thieves resembles traditional robbery films. There is a kind of almost impossible task that daring professionals take on. The team consists of typical characters: a thought leader, a humble genius, and even a rude impudent person who spoils everything at some point. And there is a dynamic plot in which the heroes move from one beautiful location to another and come up with different schemes.

But for the whole picture, the authors will never show anything that would distinguish The Army of Thieves from other similar pictures. Rather, the opposite is true. Everything will remain within the cliché. This primarily concerns the motivation of the characters. Gwendolyn's dreams of cracking the best safes are described too abstractly. And Sebastian reveals himself here even worse than in “Armies of the dead”, Where he (already under the name Ludwig Dieter) was only a minor hero.

With the study of the rest of the team, it is even worse. Brad Cage (Stuart Martin who plays him seems to copy Hugh Jackman in the image of Wolverine) does extremely illogical acts. One can only wonder why he is considered a tough criminal. And then there's the driver Rolf (Goose Khan) and the hacker Corina (Ruby O. Phi). These are characters-functions about which there is simply nothing to say.

And these are just the main characters. And the viewer is also shown Interpol pursuing them. Moreover, the actions of the special services are also tied to personal revenge on criminals. But only a few minutes are allocated for this line.

Perhaps such a stereotype is compensated for by a fast driving plot? Yes and no. The action really unfolds very dynamically. And here at least there is something to admire. The film was filmed in several countries: the landscapes of Switzerland are mesmerizing, and the races in the historical center of Prague will delight everyone who has ever been to this city.

But the robberies themselves look ridiculous as much as possible. The authors are more concerned with how interesting it is to dress the characters and what other hairstyle Natalie Emmanuel is to do than really complicated plans to enter another bank. Steep schemes and unexpected turns in the style of "Ocean's 11»Don't wait.

But they devote too much time to the very opening of the safe, which every time looks like the same: the hero simply presses his ear to the door and turns the knobs, and the viewer is shown the work mechanism. Moreover, it will not work to understand why the next task is considered more difficult. The process is the same.

Therefore, the main advantages of the film will remain the vigorous pace and good visuals: you can admire the characters' images, laugh at a few successful jokes and watch the chases. But nothing more.

Director's self-admiration

In the "Army of the Dead" featured nearly a dozen main characters. Moreover, Zach Snyder tried to devote approximately equal amount of time to everyone, revealing only the hero of Dave Batista more than others. But even then it was clear that Dieter was not the deepest, albeit rather charismatic, hero.

"Army of Thieves" only confirms this. After the introduction, it turns out that the character of Matthias Schweighöfer simply has nothing more to offer the viewer. He still screams when he gets scared, turns on the classics and stretches his hands before opening the safe, shyly talks about himself.

Perhaps a more interesting and individual setting would have saved the picture. In film Snyder there are many drawbacks, but he often turns the action into a set of clips, twisting the pictures at full brightness and the madness of what is happening.

It seems that Schweighöfer had the opportunity to do the same. Moreover, his hero is not acting alone - you can devote more time to the whole team. But the author often prefers to shoot himself: in the most literal sense - close-up. This approach has worked in his previous comedy films, but here Sebastian's endless antics quickly become boring.

Fortunately, the director tries to copy Snyder's style in some scenes, which somehow adds brightness and dynamics. But still, the difference in approaches is too obvious and clearly not in favor of the new film.

Army of the Dead references

The pluses of "Army of Thieves" include a properly built connection with the previous picture. On the one hand, Schweighöfer's film is a completely independent work. It can be viewed in isolation from the action movie Snyder, then the viewer will get just a funny adventure story. On the other hand, throughout the story, they constantly refer to the "Army of the Dead".

This applies not only to the protagonist himself. In the course of the action, in passing, but regularly remind that the world began the zombie apocalypse. And Sebastian even sees dreams, as if predicting the future (to the uninformed viewer, they will seem just nightmares). His desire to open the safe in Las Vegas, the appearance of the pseudonym Ludwig Dieter himself and many other details are immediately revealed.

But perhaps the most witty, and not too obvious, reference comes during the first heist in the scene describing the plan. She very ironically parodies both the plot of Snyder's picture and, in general, typical moves from such films.

There was a lot of controversy about the Army of the Dead, released in the spring of 2021. Some viewers admired the variety of zombies and strange plot twists. Others scolded the film for being too long. But it was discussed.

The main problem of "Army of Thieves" is that there is simply nothing to say about the picture. The film is nicely shot, two hours fly by quickly. However, after watching it, it will be instantly forgotten. In part, this is not so bad: the picture complements the nascent cinematic universe (already planning an anime series and sequel to Army of the Dead) and entertains the viewer. It seems that more is not needed. But even such a plot could have been implemented in a more exciting way.