The Thieves

 

For the 1959 comedy film, see The Thieves (1959 film).

The Thieves is a 2012 South Korean heist film directed by Choi Dong-hoon with an ensemble cast.

With over 12.9 million ticket sales, the action comedy is the sixth highest-grossing film in Korean film history.

 

Plot

A cat burglar named Yenicall (Jun Ji-hyun) seduces the owner of Leesung Gallery (Shin Ha-kyun), and steals a rare artifact with the help of three other criminals: Popeye (Lee Jung-jae), the leader, Zampano (Kim Soo-hyun), the assistant, and Chewing Gum (Kim Hae-sook), a middle-aged conwoman. They are visited by a detective (Ju Jin-mo) shortly after, and realize that staying in Korea is too dangerous. They decide to join a heist led by a master thief named Macau Park (Kim Yoon-seok), a Korean based in Macau who is also Popeye's former boss. Popeye brings along Pepsee (Kim Hye-soo), a convicted safe-cracker who was recently released on parole. In Hong Kong, Chen (Simon Yam), Jonny (Derek Tsang) and Andrew (Oh Dal-su) are contacted by Macau Park and agree to enroll as the Chinese part of the team, along with a safe-cracker named Julie (Angelica Lee).

Macau Park reveals the target to be the Tear of the Sun, a valuable diamond in the possession of Tiffany (Yeh Soo-jung), the mistress of a powerful crime lord named Wei Hong (Ki Gook-seo). The plan is to steal the diamond while Tiffany is visiting a casino in Macau, and to sell it back to Wei Hong, a risky venture seeing that Wei Hong is known for murdering whoever offends him. Each team agrees, however, when they find out that the diamond is worth USD 20 million.

It turns out that Julie is really an undercover police officer hoping to arrest Wei Hong. Moreso, both the Chinese and Korean teams are mistrustful of Macau Park. Chen, Johnny, and Andrew plan to ignore the diamond and run off with Tiffany's money, while Popeye and Pepsee have purchased a fake diamond to swap with the real one. A flash-back reveals that Macau Park, Popeye, and Pepsee were formerly a team, but Park's cable snapped during an escape as he was rappeling and he ran off with the gold. Pepsee, worried for his safety, inadvertently exposed herself to a security camera, leading to her conviction.

With the help of Tiffany's step-sister, Macau Park lays out the plan. Chen and Chewing Gum are to pose as a Japanese couple and keep Tiffany occupied at the gambling table. Yenical and Zampano are to infiltrate Tiffany's private suite through a window and open the door from the inside. Popeye, Pepsee, and Julie are to enter the suite and open the two safes, one of which allegedly contains the diamond. As this takes place, Johnny and Andrew must enter the security room and hold the guards at gun-point. All of this has to happen within 10 minutes, after which the police will arrive.

Chen and Chewing Gum find common ground in the Japanese language and end up growing closer. They fall in love over the course of the evening and spend the night together. Zampano, meanwhile, unsuccessfully prods Yenicall for a confession of love. She avoids answering by setting the plan in motion.

As the plan is being executed, the team, to their dismay, discovers that neither of the two safes contains the diamond. As the police rush in, Chen and Chewing Gum try to escape in a car, but Chen is shot dead and the car collides with a wall, killing Chewing Gum. Johnny manages to escape, and so does Yenicall after Zampano surrenders to the police to buy her time. In the commotion, Macau Park, disguised as an old janitor, steals the diamond from a safety deposit box. Popeye, Pepsee, and Andrew are arrested but fight inside the police van. Popeye, Andrew, and the police jump out before the van plunges into a sea. Pepsee, however, is still hand-cuffed and nearly drowns, except that Macau Park suddenly arrives and rescues her.

Pepsee regroups with Popeye, Yenicall, and Andrew, and they force Tiffany's step-sister (who is in fact an actress hired by Macau Park) to reveal Macau Park's place of exchange: the Busan Grand Hotel, located in Busan, South Korea. While the step-sister distracts Macau Park in a cafe, the four break into Macau Park's apartment to search for the diamond. Macau Park reveals that it was Popeye who cut the rapelling cable four years ago because he too was in love with Pepsee. When Macau Park tried to find his way back to them, he discovered the two locked in a passionate kiss. Not realizing that it was Pepsee's way of dealing with his "betrayal", he left. Hearing this via earpiece, Pepsee confronts Popeye and then walks off of the job. Yenicall finishes it by taking the real diamond and replacing it with a fake.

Macau Park meets with Wei Hong, revealing that his main motive is revenge, as Wei Hong killed Macau Park's father. The meeting is raided by the South Korean police and SWAT and multiple gun-fights ensue. Popeye tricks Yenicall into giving him the diamond and then runs away with it, leaving Andrew and Yenicall behind. While running Popeye is hit by a car and the diamond breaks, revealing that this too is a fake, planted by Yenicall.

Pepsee is waiting at Busan Pier and spots Macau Park in the crowd, but Wei Hong arrives to kill him and Julie arrives to arrest Pepsee. After Wei Hong opens fire, Julie turns her attention on Wei Hong and shoots him to death, while Macau Park and Pepsee escape. Pepsee returns to Korea and learns that Yenicall has travelled to Hong Kong again, hoping to find another buyer for the diamond. Pepsee also finds a gift of gold bars left by Macau Park. The story concludes with Pepsee meeting Leesung Gallery's owner, whom Yenicall had seduced, and asking him to buy the diamond. Before the exchange can take place, Macau Park calls Pepsee and reveals that he has infiltrated Yenicall's hotel room and stolen the diamond, and he promises that Pepsee will reunite with him soon.

 

Cast

·         Kim Yoon-seok as Macao Park

o    Seo Young-joo as young Macao Park

·         Kim Hye-soo as Pepsee

·         Lee Jung-jae as Popie

·         Jun Ji-hyun as Yenicall

·         Simon Yam as Chen

·         Kim Hae-sook as Chewing Gum

·         Oh Dal-su as Andrew

·         Kim Soo-hyun as Zampan

·         Angelica Lee as Julie

·         Derek Tsang as Johnny

·         Joo Jin-mo as detective

·         Ki Gook-seo as Wei Hong

·         Yeh Soo-jung as Tiffany

·         Chae Gook-hee as informant

·         Choi Deok-moon as casino manager

·         Jang Joon-nyung as detective

·         Choi Jin-ho as One Eye

·         Son Byung-wook as Young-sik

·         Na Kwang-hoon as chief of criminal investigation

·         Shin Ha-kyun as art gallery owner (cameo)