The Thieves

You know, they really don’t make enough heist movies. It’s a genre with generally tried and true structures and elements, and often lend themselves to fun little adventures with satisfying finales, but we don’t really see too many of them, especially these days – in a good year you might see one at most. So it was a surprise to discover ‘The Thieves’, a South Korean heist movie. It was an even bigger surprise to find that it was a really entertaining film, boasting slick visuals, an entertainingly broad cast of characters, some exciting, unexpected twists and an energetic finale. It’s a really entertaining flick and a genuine surprise in how good it is. I’ve seen my share of heist movies, and The Thieves is one of the good ones, with its slick style, country-hopping action, heist planning and surprisingly exciting action. It’s got a good sense of humour about itself as well, with light comedy and fun characters, while also handling drama well.

Operating out of Seoul is a small gang of thieves that pull off heists together. Popie is the brains, Zampano is his protégé, Yenicall nimbly scales walls, Chewingum runs interference and Pepsee cracks safes. In Hong Kong, career thief Chen leads his own team which specialises in more hands-on operations, such as armed robbery. Notorious master thief Macao Park brings the two teams together for a big time heist that requires all their skills and specialities; the Korean team’s specialities in silent, carefully planned heists, and Chinese team’s expertise in quick-thinking armed robbery.

Their target is the Tear of the Sun, an exceptionally valuable jewel held by the mistress of a powerful gangster notorious for murdering anybody who crosses him. Locked within a safe in a massive, heavily guarded Macau casino, the heist will involve careful planning, preparation, teamwork and a little luck to pull off. Tensions quickly rise amidst the two teams, where distrust and dislike between the groups lead to various plans, deals, arrangements and agendas being formed as everybody looks to their own secret motivations. The biggest tensions are between Macao Park, his former protégé Popie and his former partner/lover Pepsee, with their relationship being a messy love triangle of past betrayal.

It’s almost an antithesis to ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and its sort of slick, swanky heist films. In that movie and those like it the team were all liked each other, worked together well and the heist went off perfectly – even when it looked like it was going wrong it was just another part of the plan. ‘The Thieves’ couldn’t be more different. It’s slick and stylish for sure, and most of the thieves are likeable, but the way things play out is anything but smooth. The team is a shaky shambles from the start, with distrust, dislike and disharmony amongst the ranks and its numerous members all having their own personal agendas. When things go wrong they really go wrong, and the team fractures even more as various schemes and motivations come to light. It becomes much more action packed than one would expect in its finale, where motivations are revealed and things get dangerous for everybody involved. I actually really enjoyed the shift, as it lead to some impressive moments and let some of the characters show off their skills.

The two ragtag teams of thieves are entertaining, made up of a collection of likeable thieves and thugs, with even the scummiest of the lot (Popie is a bit of a douchebag) still being entertaining. Everybody has their part to play, and when things look as though they might go wrong you care about what happens to them. Their interactions are fun. The aged Chewingum and Chen start a little romance, while sexy Yenicall uses her charms to mess with some of the men. The strongest is the Macao Park/Pepsee interactions, with both having their own baggage going into the heist. There are a lot of characters though, and some of them don’t get as much attention as the others. It’s mostly fine, though one or two ancillary characters suddenly get forgotten as the movie continues.

‘The Thieves’ was a big surprise for me, if only because I wasn’t sure what to expect when going in. It revealed itself to be a good film, especially as it continued. Every time it changed gears I enjoyed the new direction it took. It’s one of the good ones.