“The Army of Thieves”, the Snyder universe expands

The army of thieves premiered on October 29 and has been the only one so far, to snatch the first place in the top ten of the most watched on Netflix, from The squid game, which had been there, immovable since it was released. premiered in September. The prequel to the universe created by Zack Snyder has arrived sweeping. Although, it will not reach the viewer figures that the Korean series has accumulated; Let’s not forget that it is the most watched series in the entire history of the streaming platform.

The director of The Army of the Dead announced that he planned to make grow The Universe Created In The Movie, that would lead us to get to know the characters that had starred in his zombie movie a little better. The first is this Army of Thieves, which will tell us how the young Ludwig Dieter becomes the greatest expert in opening safes. An ability that helped him to be chosen as part of the group that would form the tragic expedition to a Vegas dominated by the undead.

Snyder is right now, immersed in the direction of Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, of which he also participates as a producer. An anime series that works as a spin off that will follow the zombie universe created a few months ago by the director, in which he seems to move like a fish in water.

A ‘movie’ robbery

The film is directed by and stars Matthias Schweighöfer in the role of Ludwig Dieter. It is not the first time that Shweighöfer has been behind the cameras, the German had already directed 5 films before embarking on this project, in addition to having prestige and recognition in his homeland, for his work.

The German actor plays a young man with a very boring and monotonous life but who dreams of getting out of it, although the only thing he does to achieve it is upload videos on YouTube about his knowledge in safes. But when something has to happen the universe turns to get it. Gwendoling (Nathalie Emmanuel), will find him in one of those videos and plunge him into a dangerous adventure that will change his life.

The young and attractive Gwen is a member of a gang of criminals who intend to commit a historical fact: rob three of the most impregnable safes in the world, with the added handicap of having a time limit for it, since they will soon be replaced by others. For that they need the ability that the young and innocent Dieter has. She herself has seen his worth in a contest in which we suppose she points to the young man as a test to overcome in order to be accepted and be part of the group of robbers.

Thieves

The group consists of three other members. Gwen’s boyfriend, Brad, played by Stuart Martin (who reminds me a lot of Hugh Jackman), and who becomes the muscles of the group. Korina, played by Ruby O. Fee, who has also been a partner of Matthias Schweighöfer since 2019. She is the one who knows the most about technology, a very important part to be able to carry out the operation without problems. The last of the group is Rolph, the expert driver able to get the group of robbers out of all the trouble.

A group that looks like a family, but as the film progresses, it will actually be seen that they are only united by convenience and routine. Gwen is a rebellious young woman who would leave the comfort of her teenage life with wealthy parents for a life of danger and risk. You could say that she is the brainiac of the operation, everything is thought and studied when Dieter is included in the group. The plans are already on the table, and the countdown begins.

The army of thieves. Entertaining and conventional

Something to keep in mind is that in The Army of Thieves there are no zombies. During its little more than two hours of duration we will meet them, of course, but it will be in an almost anecdotal way. Dieter will see on television how they give the news of the zombie plague, something that seems distant and that at that moment he does not know how it will affect him.

We will also see zombies in their dreams, a kind of premonition, as Gwen and Korina tell him in a sequence of the film. In those dreams the young man is attacked by those zombies hungry for blood, and he always ends up waking up upset. A formula that the screenwriter has used to unite both films in some way.

As you have already seen, we are before a movie about thieves with its clumsy policemen included and some other surprises. All this is very conventional and it is something that we have already seen before, but that does not mean that Army of Thieves stops being entertaining. It doesn’t delve into the plans to carry out the robberies, but that doesn’t matter. The scenes where we see Dieter act as he tells us the story of each safe are great.

In these scenes we can see how the actor has enjoyed being Dieter. We can notice the passion that the young man feels for those puzzles and the care with which he treats them. His motivation goes beyond what the boxes hide, it is simply the pleasure of having been able to discover one of the best kept secrets: how to open the boxes. A kind of game in which the aspiring thief enjoys and knows how to communicate it.

In summary

The Thieves Army is a decaf Ocean’s Eleven, and not that that’s a bad thing. The film focuses more on the story of an innocent young man, sometimes overusing this fact, and how his life changes to end up being the best ‘safecracker’. While they tell us this they introduce us to a romantic historynothing cloying, between him and Gwen.

It is an entertaining movie, one of those that make you have a good time and keep good memories of them, but without being anything impressive. By the way, the film has a scene that is like a kind of revelation for Dieter. The images of him reminded me of the scene in Army of the Dead where he ends up locked in the safe that he had just opened to save his life from zombie attacks. We all think that he would have died because he has no way out of there, but these sequences could leave us open a door and come to think that this was not the end of him. Anyway, this is speculation, and only Snyder knows the truth.