'Army of Thieves’: 3 fun facts to know about the prequel

Netflix has announced that Army of Thieves, the all-new prequel to Army of the Dead, is set to release on 29th October 2021 on the streaming platform.

The movie is directed by its star, Matthias Schweighöfer (in the role of Ludwig Dieter) and written by Zack Snyder and Shay Hatten. It centers around small-town bank teller Ludwig Dieter as he gets drawn into an adventure that takes him across Europe, cracking legendary safes considered impossible to crack with a team of infamous criminals.

Here are three interesting facts to know about Army of Thieves.

---

#1 Army of Thieves is declared to be very similar to The Italian Job

Before the release of Army of the Dead, talk had been going around about how the film was very similar to Ocean’s Eleven. Some even called this movie:

‘Ocean’s Eleven but with zombies’.

Similarly, its prequel is said to be more akin to The Italian Job. In an interview, Deborah Snyder herself compared the film to the 1969 crime thriller which centers around the story of a group of infamous thieves who pull off a spectacular heist.

---

#2 The zombie factor in Army of Thieves

The Army of Thieves takes place in the early stages of the zombie outbreak, where the dead are rising only in Las Vegas and not in the part of the world where Ludwig Dieter and his team of international criminals are pulling off the heist. Deborah Snyder described the move as similar to its predecessor but with:

‘Very few zombies.’

In fact, the plotline of the rising zombie outbreak that was the premise for its predecessor, Army of the Dead, has also been mentioned here when the group of thieves use it as a distraction to pull off the heist.

---

#3 Is the heist film a romantic comedy?

Deborah Snyder has hinted that elements of romantic-comedy can be expected in Army of Thieves. She has been reported as saying in an interview:

"This Safecracker story is sort of a romantic comedy heist film. It tells where he was before Scott and Cruz find him in the back of Gwendolyn’s Locksmith Shop. Ironically, you’ll learn that that means something. And the Götterdämmerung [vault] plays an important role in all of this, so that was really fun to do."

It may be concluded that Dieter will fall in love with Nathalie Emmanuel’s character. This could explain the name of the shop from Army of the Dead. Or maybe the romantic element is Dieter's obsession with a certain vault.

---

The Army of Thieves is anticipated to be one of the big releases this year. The curious combination of a heist with romantic comedy is something to look forward to. Catch the movie streaming on 29th October on Netflix.