Film Review: "The Thieves" ("도둑들") (2012).

"All for the money. One for the revenge. Every man for himself." This is The Thieves (도둑들). This South Korean heist film directed by Choi Dong-hoon, and written by Choi and Lee Ki-cheol. Popie, the brain and muscle, Pepsee, an expert safecracker, Yenicall, the wall climber, Zampano, the strategy head, and Chewingum, the master of disguise, decide to rob a $20 million diamond.

Since late 2010, Casting negotiations began, and, in late March 2011, Showbox announced the star-studded cast in a press release. The cast included Kim Yoon-seok, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jung-jae, Jun Ji-hyun, Simon Yam, Kim Hae-sook, Oh Dal-su, Kim Soo-hyun, Angelica Lee, and Derek Tsang. Choi commented: "These are the very actors that inspired me to write what I have for the movie's script starting from its first line. I'm dreaming of creating explosive ensembles that will clash or harmonize within a single movie due to their different styles." Choi later confessed that the thought of directing this group of high-profile actors and actresses was "really scary", but "during filming, I couldn't take my eyes off the monitor because of the charisma of all these actors. Never did it occur to me that they needed to be handled in a certain way. It's just that the screenplay must be fully understood... We talk. Slowly infect them with my thoughts, mixing the individual with the movie's tone and manner." On comparisons with Ocean's Eleven (2001), Choi said he never went into production consciously thinking about the hit Hollywood film. Though similar to it, he thinks the film is actually closer to his previous films The Big Swindle (2004) and Tazza: The High Rollers (2006), with the action featured "invested with more emotion." Kim Yoon-seok added that contrary to the characters' compatible and harmonious collaboration in Ocean's Eleven, "In The Thieves, we are all over the place, all with our own faults. But I think that you will see through the friendships and love in the film, our unique emotional developments will show through." Principal photography took place in Seoul, Busan, Macau, and Hong Kong.

The film stars Kim Yoon-seok, Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jung-jae, Jun Ji-hyun, Simon Yam, Kim Hae-sook, Oh Dal-su, Kim Soo-hyun, Angelica Lee, and Derek Tsang. The cast gave terrific performances that the crime itself less important than the post-heist cheating in enjoyable, character-based yarn about a bunch of grifters that provides meaty roles for its whole cast plus a couple of neat twists prior to the final act.

The Thieves maintains its tone of madcap rambunctiousness, while allowing its thieves to be, or at least to become, true Korean patriots with a grand political cause and an East-meets-West sensibility (the latter shared with the film itself). The fourth directorial effort by writer-director Choi Dong-hun makes a pic more for Asian-centered fests, though basic story, carefully cast, could have remake potential. As strands of storyline feverishly tie themselves up through twists and coincidences, the double and triple crosses fade in impact next to the poise of Choi's all-star cast.

Simon says The Thieves (도둑들) receives: