As the title will inform you, this is a movie about a thief. As for the righteous part of the title, this is a giveaway to the kind of thief he is. Of course, this is the English title. The literal translation would be, “The descendant of Hong Gil-dong.”

The movie follows high school music teacher, Hong Mu-Hyeok, played by South Korean actor Lee Beom-Soo, as he battles Lee Jeong-Min played by, Kim Su-Ro, the main villain of the movie. As you may guess it by now, Hong is indeed the thief and the main character of the movie. However, assuming that he does his job solo would be wrong.

Everyone in Hong’s family is a thief who, like Robin Hood, steal from the rich and corrupted and give to the poor. This leads to another interesting detail. Lee, in his first meeting with the character Prosecutor Song Jae-Pil, shows the he has an interest in western comics, shown in the scene in question with a poster of Superman and the Joker in the background. It’s interesting because of the way scenes involving Lee are shot so that the poster of the Joker or Superman is always in the background as a reflection of the villainous mood throughout the movie.

It’s also interesting to see the contrast between the main villain and the hero who Lee clearly worships, judging by the number of toys Lee has in his collection stored in his house. This is interesting to see because, throughout the movie whenever Lee is in his house, the backgrounds for his characters are always seen to have a Superman and Joker poster on either side of them.

Comedy is also present in the movie, although it’s not a surprise when it does happen but it is still fun to see how it’s incorporated. For example, Hong reacts to finally learning that his girlfriend’s, Song Hyeon-Hwa, brother is none other than Prosecutor Song Jae-Pil when they visit her place for dinner with her family.

I have to say that the comedy is beautifully built into the movie, as it doesn’t come off as out of place but is designed to fit the scene. However, some of the comedy does still come off as out of place.

Something else to take note of when watching this movie is the soundtrack, especially the main theme that is played at the beginning of the movie as Mu-Hyeok and his family perform their family business and rob Lee Jeong-Min of his money.

In all, The Righteous Thief’s a fun movie to watch and pass the time. It’s also well put together and worth a watch, however before you do so it should be pointed out that if you don’t like reading subtitles, you shouldn’t really be watching this movie.

The move is directed by Jeong Yong-Ki, distributed by SK Telecom, and available on Netflix to watch.