Director: Matthias Schweighöfer

Story By: Shay Hatten & Zack Snyder 

Cast: Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Guz Khan, Jonathan Cohen, & Noémie Nakai

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Now this was a really fun movie and spin-off prequel. 

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Below are my grades for key components in #ArmyOfThieves that I find to be key in any story/film/series—Theme, Plot, Pacing, and Character (pertaining to arc/development &/or delivery). FYI: My A=95, A- =90, B=85, B-=80…etc. My D- =60 and my F=50

Additionally, I have added an entertainment factor scale to help you determine whether or not the film is something you’d be interested in taking time out of your weekend, evening, or day to watch. The scale range consists of: Worth the Watch/$$$, Interesting Enough (if looking for something new to start, OR experience is intentionally relevant to the genre and executed well–nothing more), Wait for Streaming, Don’t Rush, & Don’t Watch.

I have also added a few non-spoiling thoughts, wonderings, and comments as I watched the film to help give some rationale for my grades and entertainment scale.

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Theme: A

Plot: A 

Pacing: A

Character: A

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Entertainment Factors

General Public: Worth the Watch

Film Enthusiasts: Interesting Enough

Experience Seekers (via Visuals & Score): Interesting Enough

Adventure/Crime/Thriller Fans: Worth the Watch

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TAKEAWAYS:

1. I think I am in love with Matthias Schweighöfer… he’s really good. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

2. “The relationship between admiration and influence” seemed to be a primary message of this film that was so well developed and followed through. 

We see it executed through the main character and his admiration for Hans Wagner—with the foundation being laid in Act One, and carried through in Acts Two and Three via storytelling at every new safe interaction—and with his admiration for Gwendoline which had a lot of influence on his character. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

3. MY GIRL FROM GAME OF THRONES! 😩🙌🏾

4. Whew…them last safe jobs were so intense. 🤭🤭🤭

5. Sebastian is such a charming and well delivered character (shout out to Matthias)—I really enjoyed following him as he led this story. 

Speaking of the story, it did a pretty decent job with providing a clear and engaging arc for Sebastian and his overall development. I was able to understand the boring and sad monotony of his day-to-day, only having that one moment of joy that no one else seemed equally interested in from a social media stand point in Act One; to finally feeling seen and appreciated, sparking a new sense of confidence, camaraderie, and “life” in Act Two; and having everything developed in Act Two be disrupted in varying ways, forcing his character to respond accordingly in Act Three. Very well done. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

6. I loved the stories with each safe. 👍🏾

7. Come on for those finger waves. 😂

8. Pacing was solid. Actually, pacing was really fun—especially around Acts Two and Three. Even the moments that felt like nothing was happening, didn’t feel like a drag on the plot. Every moment felt entertaining or interesting in some way, and I think a large reason for that also had to do with Matthias’ character. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

9. Lately, I’ve been really drawn to subtle direction moves. In this film, seeing Sebastian on the train riding across the bridge just really caught my eye, in addition to how shot where camera pans over the bridge of police cars with our character emerging from under the bridge on the bike. 👍🏾👍🏾

10. Army of Thieves is a prequel to the Zack Snyder film Army of the Dead where we learn the backstory to the safecracker, Ludwig Dieter—who he was before being contacted in Army of the Dead, how his abilities came to be, and even why he was very confident and willing to be part of the heist in Army of the Dead. For me, this was a very well executed prequel that also made clever, logical, and nonintrusive choices weaving in the zombie aspect of Army of the Dead for cohesion.

And the way I know this story was solid is because the character was able to own it to the point that I don’t even have to break it down here. You can literally read my point made with the character arc to also see how well the plot moved. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

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Overall #ArmyOfThieves gives Oceans 8 – meets Now You See Me – meets Lupin – meets Set It Off. 

Fun. Fun is what found myself saying by the end of the film. There were moments in the direction that were fun. Matthias Schweighöfer was a fun character. The interaction between all the characters was fun. The humor was fun and hit each time. Just fun. I genuinely and thoroughly enjoyed watching this film.