Army of Thieves (movie 2021)...one-upping in style

​    Army of the Dead was a huge, loud and bombastic onanistic action flick. Something Zach Snyder specializes in. A movie that offers nothing but a soulless noisy diversion. A crime thriller with zombies that relied all too heavily on special effects, where characters were merely additional props.
     Army of Thieves took the same premise and did it right, the multi-talented actor/director Schweighöfer infusing it with just enough European sensibility and overall soul and cleverness to create a perfect action thriller…it’s fun and funny and has a likeable protagonist you really care about, a bumbling safe expert recruited by and subsequently enamored by a gorgeous femme fatale played by the lovely actress of GOT fame.
     Does it still feature international locales, high-speed chases, exciting criminal adventures and all that? Yes, absolutely, plenty of it. it just does it right, not only providing an exciting backstory, but also contextualizing the experience for Sebastien as he is immersed into a brand-new world. It’s the classic fish out of water premise and Sebastien proves to be a surprisingly adaptable and charming fish. That’s the protagonist you want in movie.
     Dave Bautista, with his strangely brain-like skull skin and his imposing muscles, has a certain charm of his own, but he can only ever be a one, very specific type of action star/leading man. That which defines him also restricts him and so he’s kind of like a lesser Dwayne the Rock Johnson. The multi-talented lead and director of this movie has a lovely versatility that makes the entire movie sparkle. It’s a perfect anthesis to the American and specifically Snyder-esque approach to blockbusters. Charm over brawn wins the screen.
     I’d say let’s hope Schweighöfer never sells out and maintains his originality and integrity, but then again he did ditch his long-time love and mother of his two children to date the 15-year-his-junior starlet of Army of Thieves, so that ship might have sailed.
     At any rate, it isn’t often that a prequel or a spin-off leaves the original in the dust, but this one succeeds marvelously. This is the movie to make an action movie fan out of you.