A World Without Thieves Blu Ray Review (Shout Studios)

A World Without Thieves (Tian Xia Wu Zei) is a 2004 crime drama co-written and directed by Xiaogang Feng (Sigh, Cell Phone, Be There or Be Square, Aftershock, Assembly, Back to 1942, and Big Shot’s Funeral). It was co-written by Chia-Lu Chang (The Message), Lisheng Lin (Croczilla), and Gang Wang (T-Guardians). It’s based on the novel from author Benfu Zhao. It’s produced by Kuo-Fu Chen (Detective Dee franchise). It grossed $662,164 at the box office. Wang Bo (played by: Andy Lau from the Infernal Affairs franchise) and Wang Li (played by: Rene Liu from Thunder Cop) should have made the perfect criminal combination. Bo is a seasoned con man and master pickpocket from Hong Kong. Li is a grifter femme fatale from Taiwan. Partners in theft and passion, the couple swindles their way across China. They meet an easy mark that’s wealthy “Dumbo” Sha Gen (played by: Baoqiang Wang from Kung Fu Jungle) at a train station. When the three of them board a train full of thieves which includes Uncle Bill (played by: You Ge from Let the Bullets Fly) and Xiao Ye (played by: Bingbing Li from Resident Evil: Retribution) prowling after Gen’s savings, Li takes it upon herself to be his protector. Bo is forced to choose his natural instinct of taking advantage which betrays his girlfriend or become a hero by saving the gullible kid from all the shady thieves around him!!!! A World Without Thieves is a crime drama about a group of criminals trying to get the same money on a train with an easy target. It’s honestly more of a drama than crime but it does have it’s moments. The script loses it’s main story at times and it tries to make characters look better than what they actually are. I wish it had more theft and action rather than the leads trying to face their moral situation. Andy Lau is excellent as Wang Bo. He just wants the money so he can move on to something else. Rene Liu as Wang Li is a surprise as the thief with a heart of gold. She’s going through a major change in her life so it’s starting to make her rethink everything. Baoqiang Wang as Dumbo is the simple minded guy that believes every person is good. He never expects anyone for corruption during this trip. He just wants to build a house and find a wife since he has all this money saved up. The rest of the supporting cast includes You Ge, Bingbing Li, Wei Fan (The Long Season), Fusheng Chen (Fearless), Biao Fu (Qing Yi), Ka-Tung Lam (IP Man), Fan Xu (Echo), and Hanyu Zhang (The Captain). A World Without Thieves doesn’t really have a good pace or solid flow to it. It really drags at times, it should have been cut down by at least 20 minutes. It has some interesting action and fights with the thieves on the train but there’s not enough of that here. A World Without Thieves is decent but it could have been so much better. It looks fantastic and the cast is really good at every role in this. It doesn’t have much replay value to it and it’s kinda a chore to get through at some point. If you enjoy slower dramas then you might enjoy it for all that it delivers which is full of character development. Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Shout Studios! This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer blows away the 2007 DVD from Tartan Video, that’s the last time A World without Thieves was released in the states. It’s been available overseas on blu ray in several different countries, the restoration is mostly likely from one of those restorations because it’s not a new one. Regardless, it’s still a major upgrade compared to what was available before here in the states. It has an Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the disc. The audio is excellent, it might be the best one from this newer limited edition batch from Shout Studios. All of the dialogue is very clean, the con is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!