'Army Of Thieves' A Review

Army Of Thieves is a heist action/comedy a supposed "prequel" to Army Of The Dead, but more accurately described as a standalone spin-off as the zombie outbreak is virtually irrelevant. The movie is in essence an origin story for safecracker Sebastian(Matthias Schweighöfer who also directed). Sebastian is a safecracking obsessive who has no practical experience as he is a nerdy homebody who works in a dead-end banking job. He's recruited by Gwen(Nathalie Emmanuel) an international thief and her crew as they set out to crack three uncrackable safes constructed by master locksmith Hans Wagner inspired by composer Wagner's famous Ring Cycle. 

Schweighöfer's character is just as contagiously charming and funny as he was in his initial appearance, even more so as the tone of the movie is much more playful and comedic than AOFD. Emmanuel isn't asked to stretch much in her role but she's competent and as magnetic as she's allowed to be in the servicable if somewhat underwritten part. Ruby O. Fee and Guz Khan as Korina and Rolph respectively are perfectly cast, but also not given enough to do. The one sour note is Stuart Martin as Brad Cage, the last member of the crew, whose performance is kinda DOA. All in all a solid cast who knows what movie their in and has a blast in it.

Visually competent with some flashes, particularly in the safecracking sequences, of real ingenuity. The movie is, for the most part, a straight-up old-school heist flick and on that basis it's quite entertaining bolstered significantly by Schweighöfer's odd indefatigable energy if not particularly surprising or unique it's got some electricity to it.

Fun throwback movie with a solid mostly unknown cast.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Rent It.