Army of Thieves

 Ludwig  Diater Origin Story

 Ok so Army Of Thieves is a prequel to Zack Snyder's Army Of The Dead. Taking place 6 years before Scott Ward and his crew tried to steal $200 million from a Casino in Las Vegas we watch the origin story for Ludwig Dieter or as we learn he's really called Sebastian...sebastian unpronounceable last name.

Now I am just gonna be calling him Dieter in the review as it might get confusing just jumping back and forth but it's safe to say that he came out of Army Of The Dead as one of it's most popular characters. 

In this origin story we learn that he grew up interested in safe cracking and that he used to break Ludwig models in his own time. He created a comic book character named Ludwig Dieter and that's where the name originated from. 

THe Netflex Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder is pretty much creating a brand new Snyderverse centred around the characters that we saw in Army Of The Dead and it's great that Netflix gave him this opportunity. Warner Bros really dropped the ball in my opinion by shutting his vision down with the DC characters and I'm glad he's getting free reign to basically do what he wants with a brand new IP. 

Because these characters aren't really established names, there's no studio execs or parts of a fanbase that say they should be a certain way and it means that the director can tell the story that he wants to without people saying he got it wrong, forcing reshoots and basically getting into a position where they have to CGI out Brad Cage's moustache.

ARMY OF THIEVES Ending Explained

Now in this Post we're gonna be going over the plot of the film, how it ties into Army Of The Dead and also discussing what could be happening later on in the universe. Full Spoilers ahead so if you haven't had a chance to watch it and go beyond this point then it's gonna be too late to switch sides. 

How Army Of Thieves Links To Army Of The Dead And Easter Eggs 

Ok so as mentioned earlier, the movie takes place 6 years before the major events of Army Of The Dead. This actually aligns with the opening of that film which showed the undead overtaking Vegas and we then got a big time jump. 

So everything is kinda happening concurrently to the events of that film and throughout it we get news reports of Zeus rampage as well as little easter eggs for what's to come in the timeline. 

Not only is there key objects that appear throughout but we also see images of Tanaka who ended up hiring Ward to break into his Vegas casino in order to take his money back before the city was destroyed.

 In the first news report at the bank just before the camera cuts you can also see the news reporter who's killed later on running through what I believe is a casino. 

Behind the zombie Dieter focuses on we can also see what looks like a Bride and the Bride zombie was of course a big antagonist in Army Of The Dead.

ARMY OF THIEVES Plot Recap

We'll get into it later on but Dieter ends up joining an underground safe cracking tournament with the first code being that you don't talk about Safe Club. Keep your secrets safe otherwise you'll be locked out. Ey. What's a thief's favourite fruit? Strobberies. 

Now it's at this point that he meets Gwendoline, a career criminal who introduces him to her crew. This is made up of Korina, a master hacker that leaked Pirates Of The Caribbean 2.

ARMY OF THIEVES Ending Explained

Now Brad believes he's Gwendoline's boyfriend even though there's nothing between the two and when she and Dieter get close he ditches him during a job. Brad becomes the bad guy and after they rob the final safe he catches up to the pair and holds them at gunpoint. 

However we learn that the firing pin has been removed but if you're paying attention to the movie then you'll have already known this. During the first job when they're in the van, Dieter panics that Brad has a gun but Gwendoline points out that she removed the ammo and just lets him have it because he looks cool. 

This is because he previously shot an interpol agent named Delacroix who only survived because he had a hip flask that blocked the bullet. Korina is captured by Interpol who've been on the hunt for the thieves for years and she gives up their plan after her brother is used as leverage. 

Delacroix arrests Brad and Rolf and he then heads after Gwendoline and Dieter. The pair finally kiss and they almost ride off into the sunset together. However, just as they're about to escape, Delacroix catches up with them and both he and Gwen have a standoff at gunpoint. 

Because Dieter is the newest member of the crew and he just wants her, Brad, Korina and Rolf, she negotiates his escape. She promises to get out and find him and that the pair can crack the gotterdammerung together but as we know he does it himself. On the boat, Dieter finds a passport with his comic book name put in place and also a ticket to the same place that Gwen was going.

 It broke his heart thinking of all the adventures they could've had and shared together. He knew that of all the people in the world that he wanted to be with her the most and states that they'll be reunited in the vault of the gotterdammerung. This very much mirrors Wagner who locked himself away in a safe to be with his family.

Though Dieter says that they'll be together we of course know from Army Of The Dead that they don't meet up before that movie. The film ends with an extension of the scene from that movie in which Dieter is presented the job for the safe. 

Though we know he goes to this and seemingly dies, there are a lot of metaphors for it. The Gotterdammerung was seen as Wagner's final chapter and he describes it as a doorway to another realm.

 I kinda take this as being heaven for the character and should Dieter definitely be dead then when Gwen dies the pair will be reunited in the afterlife together at this location. 

There's also a weird code laced throughout the movie and shoutouts to Aaron S Bailey for sending me through some screen shots of it. I'm not sure exactly what this entails, whether it's a watermark or whether it's something more but it is quite strange. 

It appears in the scene in which Dieter says goodbye to Gwen and also the one where he's recruited for the safe so maybe it ties into their relationship somehow.

 - They missed out on so many things by getting caught but as we know Army Of The Dead has a lot of things going on with it. It is possible that the film somewhat ties into the time loop theory and that explains how Dieter is able to see his death ahead of time.