*This is a spoiler-free review so feel free to read on!*
“I want to recruit you…”
Army of Thieves premiered on October 29th 2021 on Netflix. The prequel film to Army of the Dead stars Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin and Guz Khan. The film runs for approximately two hours and five minutes.
A mysterious woman recruits a bank teller to crack a legendary safe, offering him the opportunity of a lifetime.
Here is the trailer:
Army of Thieves allows us to learn more about the character, Dieter, prior to him encountering the undead, but does this prequel film do enough to earn a watch? Let’s find out…
The Pros:
A fun heist.
If you enjoy films like Ocean’s Eleven or Baby Driver, you will be familiar with this type of premise. A band of misfits come together for a dangerous heist, but we also get some humor sprinkled in to make this somewhat of an entertaining ride with Dieter as our main character.
I don’t know that I necessarily needed a Dieter prequel, but I thought the actor/director put forth a valiant effort here.
The girls steal the show…
Even though our primary focus was supposed to be on Dieter, I was more impressed by the characters of Korina and Gwendoline. These two made a fantastic tag team and saved this film in a lot of ways for me. They were dynamic on screen and the banter was more believable between them. Sure, Dieter thrown into the mix was a lot of fun, but I think I’d watch these two in another film if given the chance.
The Cons:
Way too long…
My biggest con with Army of the Dead was that it was too long and this film also ran past its welcomed runtime in my opinion. The film was generally fast-paced but it dragged for me at times because of this.
Didn’t really stick the landing.
This movie wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t anything really spectacular about it either. The characters were fun, but we needed some more layers to truly care about them and even though I enjoyed the heist, it lacked the charm and finesse of Ocean’s Eleven, making it pale in comparison. There were some funny moments, but a lot of the humor didn’t land for me either.
The ending was decent and we came full circle, but I would have liked to have seen more of a connection to the first film. Part of what made the safe-cracking so exciting in the first film was that there were a bunch of undead trying to rip their throats out. This film just didn’t have that edge even though it had some flickers here and there.
So am I in or out?
I’m 50/50 on this one…
This movie had its moments and I liked the cast, but it just needed more charm and humor to make it stand out against some of its predecessors. I’m not sure that the prequel really added anything to the franchise, but if you enjoy heist films, there is enough happening to keep you entertained.
I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts and theories on Army of Thieves in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!
Best,
Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl
A Halloween they’ll never forget…
When former friends, Shay and Adriana team up to participate in a Halloween scavenger hunt with a cash prize, they temporarily put their differences aside to outsmart their opponents. However, they soon start to realize that a dangerous threat is playing their own version of the game, stalking them during each hunt.
Winning is now a necessity as their lives are at stake. As old wounds and memories re-surface, Shay and Adriana attempt to unmask the threat before the night is over, but soon learn that Scream Hunt is not done with them just yet…
My new young adult horror thriller is out now! I hope you enjoy!
Scream Hunt is available here!
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