The Thieves

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The Thieves

2012

2h 16m

Action

Crime

Drama

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Popcornmeter

71%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

70%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A cat burglar (Lee Jung-jae) and his gang are hired by a devious former partner (Kim Yoon-seok) to steal a $20 million diamond from a Chinese gangster's mistress.

Anton Bitel

Sight & Sound

11/30/2012

it's all very slickly realised... but the sheer number of mood swings, double crosses and narrative twists eventually becomes exhausting, while making it impossible to engage with the protean players or to care much who eventually comes up diamonds.

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Steve Macfarlane

Slant Magazine

10/12/2012

2.5/4

A dazzling heist film that can't help but come off as duly influenced by Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy, South Korea's number one box-office champ of all time is never less than clever.

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Gary Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

10/12/2012

3.5/5

"The Thieves" carves its own niche with moments of romance and stylish mayhem mixed with a more emotionally conflicted, winner-take-all sensibility than its American brethren.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

09/08/2023

... Asia’s answer to the Ocean’s films, a sleek, snappy heist movie with plenty of working parts, eccentric personalities, and convoluted plotlines complicated even more by a confusing flashback structure ...

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Jae-Ha Kim

Jae-Ha Kim (Substack)

07/31/2023

2/4

A blockbuster hit in Korea, it reunites Jun Ji- Hyun and Lee Jung-Jae, who had previously shared the big screen in “Il Mare” — the 2000 film that was later remade as “The Lake House” with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

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CJ Sheu

The News Lens International

12/02/2022

The heist film peaked with Choi Dong-hoon’s The Thieves (도둑들), released ten years ago this month.

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Steve C

@RT19610513 03/25/2023

Airplane movie. Not bad.

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Dick C

@Joshua19930826 06/29/2022

Choi Dong-hoon as director and co-writer with Lee Ki-cheol makes this motion picture, The Thieves, 2012 as his highest box office film... The casting is strong, including Korean actors and actresses, Kim Yoon-seok, Lee Jung-jae, Kim Hye-soo, Jun Ji-hyun and Kim Soo-hyun with excellent actors and actress, Simon Yam and Derek Tsang with Angelica Lee...

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12/02/2021

The best Korean movie.

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Emilio T

@MilloTPue 05/23/2021

Between 2.5 and 3 stars. Characters are very charismatic, but plot becomes a little anarchic, or that was my impression.

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02/02/2021

A little hard to follow initially. Watching it a second or third time made it even more enjoyable. I'll definitely watch it a fourth time!

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07/18/2020

There's a lot to like about this elaborate and fun heist movie from South Korea, though its screenplay and execution do lack polish at different times throughout.

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Choi Dong-hoon

Director

Kim Yoon-seok

Macao Park

Kim Hye-soo

Pepsee

Lee Jung-jae

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Synopsis

A cat burglar (Lee Jung-jae) and his gang are hired by a devious former partner (Kim Yoon-seok) to steal a $20 million diamond from a Chinese gangster's mistress.

Director: Choi Dong-hoon
Producer: Ahn Suhyeon, Lee Ja-jun
Screenwriter: Lee Ki-cheol, Choi Dong-hoon
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Production Co: Caper Film, CJ E&M Pictures, Sega Sammy Entertainment, Industrial Bank of Korea, Bakugan Zoobles Comics, Miracin Korea Film Company, Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company, Prosperity Pictures, Munhwa Broadcasting Company, Korea Image Investment & Development Company Ltd., Legendary Entertainment International (LEI), ISU Venture Capital, Hansol Venture Capital, Showbox/Mediaplex, Boram Entertainment, Sega Sammy Group, CJ E&M Film Financing & Investment Entertainment & Comics, Company K Partners Contents Investment Fund, KTB Network, Michigan Venture Capital, Frontier Works Comic, Hanwha Entertainment Fund No. 1, Sovik Global Contents Fund, KM Culture Co., KT Alpha, CJ Venture Investment
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Original Language: Korean
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 12, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 12, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $137.0K
Runtime: 2h 16m