I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

World without Thieves (Tian Xia Wu Zei) is a film by director Feng Xiaogang. It involves a romantically involved pair of thieves. As the film begins they are extorting money from a rich man they have filmed trying to seduce the woman. Soon after this, the woman decides she has had enough of this kind of life and wants a normal existence. Her partner in crime, however, has no intention of quitting the business. She stops at a Buddhist temple to pray and there is befriended by a worker on the temple. The man, whose friends call him Dumbo, is returning home with his five years wages from working on the temple, 60, 000 RMB. Although his friends tell him to wire the money home and warn him about thieves he insists he is fine taking the money on the train with him and that they are too distrustful of people. In an attempt to prove to his friends that there are no thieves on the train, the young man has announces to the entire train that he has the money and that any thieves should show themselves. When they don't, Dumbo says, "see,there are no thieves here." On the train, he hooks up with the thieving couple, and the woman makes it her mission to try to protect the gullible young man from those who would steal the money, in particular from a gang of thieves on the train, and perhaps from her own partner. Like Bu Jian, Bu San, this film is not a light comedy, although it seems to start out as such. Instead, it is a serious and emotionally taxing film that can be alternatively thought provoking and hilarious, with the contrast between the gullibility of the young man and the sophistication of the world weary thieves providing the central moral focus Feng is a major Chinese writer/director. He traditionally releases movies around the Chinese New Year. A beautiful movie, highly recommended.

The story is about two thieves and the twists and turns they face while they rediscover themselves through the decisions they make.The movie itself, well... the directing was terrible. The cinematography was good but overdone. Why does there have to be so many slow-mo scenes that add no value to the movie? The director should have been more sparse with these effects. The music selection was strange at times, from a French song, to a Spanish song. As for the characters, I liked everyone except Dumbo. Couldn't they have found a better example of innocence then a hard working village idiot that talks to wolves? The movie deserves a 6.0 and no more.

a highly promising script of two thieves, wang li and wang bo who suddenly find themselves adopting a young and naive carpenter and end up trying to keep his life savings from being stolen by a rival gang of thieves on board a train. the film started off fine enough, with eye catching cinematography and a good soundtrack. however, someone must have lost the plot midway because as much as i wanted to fall in love with the film, it ended up a disappointment. a highly muddled ending probably spoiled it for me. dumbo's character was never fully dealt with towards the end and one feels empty wishing that this promising film would at least live up to it's promise.

Witness how Andy Lau comes across in two movies under two different directors. In the Zhang Yimou's cheesy impersonation of an art film House of Flying Daggers, poor Lau is reduced to almost laughing stock in a hopelessly crafted and lifeless character. In Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves, Lau is given a proper opportunity to act, and he responds with a creditable performance.Not as well-known to the world at large as Zhang who has achieved fame through shameless succumbing to cheap melodrama, Feng is nevertheless the biggest name in China. Make no mistake about it, Feng's films ARE commercial. But, on top of the commercial elements, Feng retains his unique blend of style, humor and heart. On the other hand, while Zhang still rules when it comes to cinematography, a film does not live by cinematography alone.And Feng does not suffer by that much even in that department. The opening shots of AWWT are simply breathtaking. The ensuring scene is equally impressive, with Wang Li (Rene Lau) praying in the open temple courtyard among the throng while partner Wang Bo (Andy Lau) engages in a duel of sorts with femme fatale (Li Bingbing). The rhythmic, rousing sound from the throng, the sincere penitence of prostrating Wang Li and the intimidating dexterity of the two dueling thieves blend together in a unique atmosphere created by Feng's ever attentive camera, bringing the audience right into the heart of the movie.The plot is simple and essentially predictable, set in a familiar, slightly claustrophobic train journey, pitching thieves against thieves and against law enforcers, over certain potential loot. This however does not prevent the movie from offering the audience a bit of everything: jaw-dropping feats, suspense and tension, interesting characters, a love story, struggle between good and evil. What I like about it is that it is unpretentious. Wang Li's (and later Wang Bo's) penitence simply as result of her pregnancy comes across much better than pseudo philosophizing, for example, as in Running on Karma (which incidentally also stars Andy Lau).The movie features an ultimate good guy character Fu Gen (Wang Boaqing) who, almost like an idiot, doggedly believe that there's no bad guy in this world (and hence the title). Wang plays it so well that even the most cynicism-stricken audience will find it difficult not to love him. Andy Lau, as mentioned, has given a solid performance, even when the character is somewhat stereotyped. Rene Lau, easily one of the best Chinese actresses around today, handles her part with ease. Watch for the last scene when she gulps down mouthfuls of food while a tear trickles down her cheek. And there is of course Ge You, sort of China's Lon Chaney, who appears in every one of Feng's films and never fails to give a delightful surprise every time.In sum, an unpretentious, entertaining, commercial but high quality film.