Reno Rangan It looks not bad, but too long. From the director of 'Woochi' and 'Assassination', though it came between them and I'm seeing it now since I liked them both. An international cast film, I mean some well known Korean and Hong Kong actors in this multi-starrer. The story of two thief gangs joins hands to steal a diamond necklace in a casino in Macau. It's a team work, everyone is assigned to do their part, but due to some old incidents, they lose trust on one another. Followed by betrayal, how the heist takes place and what happens to them comes in the final quarter.The actors were good, but their roles were so usual. At least the story looked better, but too much drag in the first half. Once their work begins to take off, the narration with those stunt sequences gets interesting. Even though I felt it should have been better, the screenplay should have kept tight. With so many characters, too many twists. So feels like it all jammed, though none of them were stunning enough, particularly a theme like this needed one that. I have seen a better heist film, I bet did as well, so this film won't surprise, but okay for watching once.6/10

cremea SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS.Here's your story: Gather a bunch of thieves & criminals together to hatch a plan to steal a diamond…That's it!...Well, Almost!The comparisons to this film being a Korean version of "Ocean's Eleven" simply can't be avoided. And, if you're asking "Why should I waste my time watching that?" …The answer is because IT IS a KOREAN VERSION!When you watch "Ocean's Eleven", you know the worst thing that will happen to Clooney & Pitt & the Gang is a couple of punches in the face and/or slaps on the wrist, or maybe some minimal jail time…there's nothing wrong with that; it can all be great fun when done well. But, this is a Korean production, so, Anything Goes Here!!! (and, it certainly does Go!).This movie has a quite a bit going for it. First & foremost, the acting is top notch throughout, and, each of actors and actresses they gathered together here get their chance to strut their stuff. The cast is packed full of talented stars (in Asia anyway), and it's really hard to take your eyes off of any one person when it's their time to step to the plate (regardless of age, sex, or role). Everyone really plays off each other quite well, so much so that it seems they've been working together as a cohesive unit for some time…this is even all the more impressive when you consider this is a Pan Asian ensemble cast that has to overcome language barriers while snappily working their way through some well scripted, and witty dialogue. The film eventually tightens its focus more on the Korean stars for the most part, but this is a Korean production, so that is to be expected.The story is pretty decent overall…nothing fancy or overly challenging (at least until your figure out who's doing what to whom and what everybody's motives are). The first half of the film primarily brings everybody together to work on the plan to steal the diamond, while revealing their past histories and present interpersonal relationships. The second half ultimately brings all their story lines and individual objectives to a head under a heavy dose of fairly impressive action scenes.Production values are quite high here, and, it might be the most slickly made and stylized film I've ever seen come out of Asia…I'm used to seeing increasingly high production values from Asian cinema over the last decade plus, but this film is really pushing the limits of what an Asian "Big Picture" can be. If this is what bodes for the future of this type of Asian action cinema, then I'm on board 100%! (PROVIDED, they don't lose their heart & soul along the way, which is what made films from this part of the world so enticing to begin with).Perhaps what I like best about this movie is that it is just flat out sexy, and, I don't mean that in a 'let's get naked & have sex kind of way'. It just oozes a certain kind of subtle sex appeal vibe and undercurrent throughout as a result of its stylized story arcs, character back stories, and star performances. It's also quite romantic at times, and, is not without its comedic moments. For what is essentially a 'popcorn action flick' with little room for excess, it does make a solid & effective effort to infuse a sexy/romantic/comedic aspect, which it pulls off quite well.This is by no means what I would consider a great film, but it is just a crap ton of fun, and I loved just about everything about it. It's solidly made and quickly paced (despite its 2.25 hour run time), and, it is often incredibly entertaining. There's really very little not to like here in all honesty…If you're looking for a high octane action caper with a decent enough amount of substance behind it, you might want to check this movie out pretty soon.So, from a reasonable and realistic prospective, this film should probably rate at about 7 out of 10 stars or so overall. But, I liked this flick way better than that, so I'm bumping it up to 8 out of 10 stars…Totally Recommended!

DICK STEEL The Thieves may look like Ocean's Eleven from the onset, with its star studded ensemble cast from South Korea and Hong Kong combining forces for the most parts in what would be a casino and jewel caper. But instead of having one primary heist as the central focus for all the characters, The Thieves present a whole lot more, used to introduce the different team's capabilities, and providing plenty of twists and turns as the story progressed. In short, it was a real treat and a wild ride to have the usual plot developments of the genre, with the betrayals and conflicting motivations all clashing together, and delivered with pin point perfection.In the South Korean camp, there's Lee Jung-Jae as Popie, de-facto leader, who had assembled his team consisting of slinky cat burglar Yenicall (Jeon Ji-Hyun), veteran and linguist Chewingum (Kim Hae-Suk), and cable operator Zampano (Kim Soo-Hyun), to fleece a rich curator. They get contacted by Macao Park (Kim Yun-Seok), one time ex-partner of Popie, who had dangled an opportunity for a casino and jewel raid, and for the job, Popie brings along Pepsee (Kim Hye-Soo), recently out on parole, much to Macao Park's displeasure. The complex job also requires the team work with the Hong Kong camp, whom Macao contacted for assistance, which means an expanded motley crew comprising of leader Chen (Simon Yam), safe-cracker Julie (Angelica Lee), and regular goons in Andrew (Oh Dai-Su) and Johnny (Kwok Cheung Tsang). But there's enough to go around, since the plan is to rob a jewel in the premises of a casino in Macau, then sell it back to its original owner, the mysterious Wei Hong (Ki Guk-Seo).The story by Choi Dong-Hun and Lee Gi-Cheol is kept extremely tight despite the myriad of characters involved, with director Choi expertly cutting through characters and their respective story arcs, with flashbacks used to introduce each and every one of them, coupled with surprises that throw up individual character motivations. This adds an extra spice to the proceedings, because like a poker game, we are the only ones who had a sneak peek into their respective roles, and what their intent is from the get go, with an expectation that things aren't always what they seem. We're lulled into complacency that we know it all, until another surprise gets thrown up to knock us off our balance. And doing so without cheating - which involves randomly or forcefully including unbelievable or illogical moments - was something of a feat.Which is pretty amazing, because the pace of the narrative is never let down, interspersing adrenaline pumping moments with quieter scenes, and the usual heist film montage expectation where the Plan gets played out as the team embarks on their surveillance and preparation work, before the real thing. And that only covers less than half the film, with the second half trading characters for more stunt work and action, and given that it's a Korean film after all, had its focus shifted back to the Korean actors. The way that characters come, go, and the narrative bringing up sub plots, work wonderfully well, especially in setting up what were to follow from surprising moments.But in a cinematic world where there is no honour amongst thieves, a romance also got thrown in to shake things up a little, especially when emotions play a key role in the building of various alliances and plans that each individual sets in motion in pursuing their self interests. It plays with what you know and have established, feeding you with new facts that would make you change your opinion about someone or some situation, and then decide who you would root for in this bunch of ten skilled professionals. They slag each other when there's opportunity to, backstab and form new partnerships, some even quite moving, especially when you know that Trust amongst the players is really a rare commodity.No effort got spared in designing the action and heist sequences in the movie, making it a delight to watch since things are kept relatively fresh. Tom Cruise's building climbing escapade is well documented in M:I: Ghost Protocol, and while they aren't scaling the highest building in the world here, the film more than made up for it in the frequency, number of people involved, and at a much faster pace thanks to technology being unavailable other than a strong cable, a threaded indication, and lots of guts.It's no surprise that this film has so far been South Korea's box office champion, given the slick execution of its action, and an all round good story involving boring cops and sexy/suave robbers. The handling of the languages here - Cantonese and Korean - in the way the characters interact, is a definite draw, as something that was handled close to perfection, because in the real world accents will come to play, and this one had attention to detail.

Harry T. Yung The incorporation of 4 women (three very pretty, one would have been very pretty twenty years ago) does give this flick considerable added appeal. The resemblance to "Ocean's" series, however, is limited. While both involve robbing a casino, the complexity of the job here is child's play compared with George Clooney's schemes. On the other hand, this one strives on relationships between the various people in the gang, present and past – betrayals, romances, policy undercover, double-crosses. The main stage is Korea while the action takes place is Macau, with planning and aftermath scenes in Hong Kong.I shall make no attempt to deconstruct the plot and sub-plots, the events, the roles, apparent and real. What follows is only an attempt to briefly outline the line-up, hopefully spoiler-free.The guiding spirit of the project is Macao Park (Kim Yun-seok) who brings together 9 people, 4 from Hong Kong and 5 from Korea, to help him steal a 20-million-US-dollar diamond currently kept at a casino in Macau. The idea is to fend the spoil to connoisseurs in the Southeast Asia. Among the potential buyers is the owner of the jewel himself, a powerful kingpin so mysterious that only two members of the gang claim to have seen him.The Hong Kong group of 4 is much simpler, comprising leader Chen (Simon Yam), safe-cracking expert Julie (Angelica Lee) and two gunmen Andrew and Johnny. Julie has learned her trade from her father, reminding you of Charlize Theron in the new "Italian Job". Andrew is the designated clown in the group. The only thing special about Johnny is that he is played by Derek Tsang, Eric Tsang's son.The Korean group of 5 has a much more complex history of relationships. The movie actually opens with job lead by Popeye (Lee Jung-jae) who worked with Marco a few years ago. His present 3 team members however do not know Macao, except by reputation. Gianna Jun, sassy as ever and sexier than usual, plays a sort of spider woman Yenicall. Chewingum is a middle-aged woman, veteran but bottle-addicted. Zampano is a young pretty boy fierce in combat. Together with Popeye, involved in the aforementioned job with Macao a few years ago is beautiful Pepsi (Kim Hye-soo), just released from a jail term for her involvement in the job while Macao and Popeye were not caught. While on the surface, the trio act as if they have forgotten and forgiven (not sure who should forgive whom at this point) the ominous undercurrent is stirred up by intermittent flashbacks.It is not difficult to follow the characters and their multi-dimension interactions are interesting. The good action sequences, including a couple of showy set pieces, make up for the lacking in subtleties. The two-hour-plus screen time will pass unnoticed, enjoyably.