Army of Thieves | 2021 | TV-MA | – 3.5.10

Why is “Army of Thieves” rated TV-MA? The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board rating indicates that “this program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a kissing scene, some flirting, and a suggestive gesture, a man being shot during a bank robbery and blood is seen, threats with guns, several fights with bloody wounds shown, people lying unconscious after being drugged, several arguments and over 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A prequel set before the events of Army of the Dead. A nerdish, amateur safecracker (Matthias Schweighöfer) is recruited by a band of stylish international thieves when he’s charmed by their leader (Nathalie Emmanuel); his task is to open three legendary safes, whose combinations are based on Richard Wagner’s operas in “The Ring Cycle.” Also with Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Guz Khan, Jonathan Cohen, Noémie Nakai and Christian Steyer. Directed by Schweighöfer. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in German with English subtitles. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in French with English subtitles. A line of dialogue is spoken in Portuguese without translation. [Running Time: 2:07]

Army of Thieves SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A man tells a woman that he likes her, she kisses him and tells him she likes him too. A man touches a woman’s shoulders while she dances and another man seems upset. A man and woman hug and nearly kiss. A woman asks a man if he wants to, “Make out or something,” and he declines the offer. A man leans toward a woman as if to kiss her and she pulls away. A man tries to hug a woman and she seems confused by his behavior. A man and woman fight in the back of a van; she shoves him, he holds her, whispers in her ear, “I love you,” and she says “I don’t care”, and leaves.
► A man stands in front of a safe and says, “I too shall plunge your depths,” while placing his hands on two combination locks (it appears sexually suggestive). We hear that someone broke a woman’s heart when she was 16. A man describes a story where a young man and a young woman fall in love not realizing that they are siblings.
► Women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes. A woman wears crop tops in several scenes that show her bare abdomen. A woman wears a deeply cut dress that is slit up the front and reveals cleavage and bare legs to the upper thighs. A woman’s low-cut top reveals her deep cleavage and her breasts jiggle when she leans over. A woman wears a low-cut evening gown that reveals cleavage and her bare back and shoulders.

Army of Thieves VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A woman fights two security guards with punches and kicks and she hits them each with their guns after taking them away from them, one man is thrown into a table that breaks and one man pulls a knife that is kicked away from him (we see their bloody faces); the woman knocks the men unconscious using presumably a cloth soaked with chloroform. A woman fights two men in a truck, steals their guns and punches and kicks them; the driver swerves on the road and eventually stops the truck and we see the two men unconscious on the side of the road and wearing only underwear (their bare shoulders, chests and abdomens are seen). A woman punches a man in the face twice. A woman punches a man in the face and screams in pain while holding her hand. A man grabs a woman and pushes his thumb into her eye before another woman interferes; the first woman then shoves him and spits. A man punches another man in the face, he screams in pain and holds his hand and the punched man seems unfazed.
► A man wearing a Richard Nixon mask and carrying several guns enters a bank and orders people to the floor; he shoots several guards with tranquilizer darts and punches a few. A security guard holds a gun on a man wearing a mask and carrying a bag filled with stolen money in a bank; the man throws the bag at the man and jumps over a flight of stairs, he hides and when the guard approaches him, he grabs his hand and the gun fires next to the man’s ear (he hears ringing); the man punches the guard in the face a few times, runs away and jumps out a window, the guard shoots at him and he is struck in the shoulder (we see blood). A man holds a gun on a woman and threatens to shoot her; he does not shoot her, she pulls a gun on the man and he and another man are later seen handcuffed to the back of a truck. An Interpol officer holds a gun on a man and a woman, the woman draws her own gun and they threaten each (no one is shot). A man holds a gun and another man panics realizing that the man might use the gun during a bank robbery.
► A man in the back of a speeding van grabs the hand of a woman running after it and pulls her inside; he grabs the hand of another man also running after the van, holds him briefly and then drops him on the ground (he rolls and seems unharmed but shocked). Interpol agents and police officers speed in cars through a town chasing a man running and then riding a stolen bicycle after a bank robbery. Interpol agents enter banks in a couple of scenes looking for robbers. A man lunges toward another man when he is beaten in a completion and he yells, “I’m gonna kill you”; the man is pulled away by security. A young boy is shown being bullied and beaten up by an older boy and blood spurts from his nose and mouth (we later see him with a bruised eye). A man talks about another man having shot him and he holds a flask with a bullet in it (the flask apparently stopped the bullet). A man speeds on a stolen bicycle, he rides down flights of stairs and is thrown into a pile of pillows in a café, he screams when the crossbar hits him between the legs. A man and woman fight in the back of a van; she shoves him, he holds her and whispers in her ear, she says, “Get your hands off me,” and leaves. A man in the back of a speeding truck is tossed around and screams but is unharmed.
► Television news reports are shown with video of people being attacked by zombie hordes; one man is tackled and several zombies are seen tearing at his flesh (we see blood and tissue and the man screams). People mention a zombie apocalypse taking place in the U.S. in a few scenes. A report says that the virus that creates zombies causes a rabies like response. A man has a nightmare, hearing glass breaking in his apartment building, a car crash outside, and seeing a girl standing in the hallway of his building and when he approaches her, she reaches out for him and we see her blood-soaked mouth and teeth as other people (a zombie horde) move toward him and he wakes up with a start.
► A man chases a freight train and catches onto the back pulling himself up and riding away. A man speeds in a car, squealing tires and drifting through turns, he picks up another man and drops him off at another place before returning the car to the owner. A man spills hot coffee on himself and screams that his chest hair has been burned off.
► A couple of scenes show a man being yelled at by customers in an office. Two women and a man argue in a couple of scenes. We hear that a man’s wife and son died and that the man locked himself in a safe that could not be opened to commit suicide and that it was dropped into the ocean with the man’s body still inside. We hear that a man designed safes that would incinerate the contents if someone tried to break into them. We hear about a woman’s early life, that someone broke her heart at the age of 16 and that she is a renowned international thief; we see a flashback to her stealing a person’s watch and a car and she shoots a gun into the air in what looks like a bank robbery. A woman describes her parents being very rich and that her father stole from people that had nothing during the collapse of the housing market. A man talks about a myth about a man slaying a dragon and a dwarf before dying and that his lover threw herself on his funeral pyre.
► A woman places a watch, a ring and a gun on a table in a café and tells a man that she took them from other people seated around them without their knowledge. Several people in a room compete at cracking safes while other people bet on them; when they open the doors they shoot a toy gun that displays a flag that reads “Bang.” People are shown gambling in a casino.
► We see zombies with decayed and oozing flesh on their faces and bodies in a few scenes. A man is shown with scars on his face and tattoos on his chest. A man has tattoos on his arms and hands. A photo shows a man holding two urns and it is implied that both of his parents died. A house is shown with many cats living in it and a man’s eyes water from cat allergies. A woman explains that people often go into a bank to use their restroom (using crude terms).

Army of Thieves LANGUAGE 10

 – About 51 F-words, 2 obscene hand gestures, 34 scatological terms, 19 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid, Mr. Nervous Guy, Mr. Invincible, little [scatological term deleted], gross, criminal, extra old, lazy, dorky, old, dummy, trash, Mr. Scrawny, Mr. Big Hand, Mr. I Don’t Want To Make Out, Bambi, sacrificial lamb, strange man, Johnny New Guy, zombie plague, poor man, madness, odd bunch, villain, kindred spirits, crazy, idiot), exclamations (zip it, I’m gonna kill you, gulp, oh no, screw the zombies, woo-hoo, whoo, shut-up, oh wow, huh), 2 religious profanities (GD), 17 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, I swear to God, Holy moly, Jesus, Holy [scatological term deleted], oh God, Christ, my God, Holy mother of [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Army of Thieves SUBSTANCE USE

 – People are drugged with chloroform and lay on the floor unconscious, and a man with a gunshot wound takes pills (presumably for pain) in a few scenes. People drink liquor while watching a safe-cracking competition, and a man drinks a bottle of beer while watching security cameras in a bank. A woman holds a cigarette and offers to share it with a man before placing it behind the man’s ear, after she knocks him unconscious with a punch.

Army of Thieves DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Death of loved ones, Norse mythology, puzzles, anguish, misery, grief, greed, Valhalla, Valkyrie, deception, double-crosses, love, fitting in, legends, epidemics, obsession, thieves, self-doubt, inadequacy, trust, Interpol, loneliness, bullying.

Army of Thieves MESSAGE

 – Hoping for a life less ordinary can lead to unexpected consequences.