In 18th Century Korea, ice is a much sought after commodity; initially controlled by the government, an unscrupulous businessman manages to take over the product and use it for his own ends. Meanwhile, ice guardian and soldier Dong-Soo (Ji-ho Oh) is arrested and exiled for a period of time after his crew dies in the takeover bid; and mild bookseller Duk-Moo (Tae-hyun Cha) becomes determined to take revenge when the same businessman has his best friend tortured to death. So Duk-Moo comes up with an elaborate scheme to steal all the ice from the businessman's warehouses, and soon he draw Dong-Soo into the plot. But they need to gather together the top specialists in the fields of information-gathering, tomb robbing, explosives expert, driver, master of disguise and money-man if they're to be successful in pulling off the plan.... Elements of a wacky Ocean's 11 type plot mix with some serious treatment about the class system in Korea in the 18th Century and a little bit of romance to sweeten the plot; this is very clever, with an excellent ensemble cast and a lot of funny moments mixed with action-packed suspense. I have to say that there were so many characters (I've only described a couple of the main ones here), at times I was kind of confused about what was going on, but it was quite a lovely experience just the same.

THE GRAND HEIST is a South Korean action comedy best described as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE meets OCEAN'S ELEVEN in a historical setting - this time the Joseon era of the 18th century. It's typically quirky fare, in which an ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters meet up to rob an ice warehouse, ice being a valuable commodity with the same intrigue as gold or oil during this era. On the downside, this is overlong and dragged out at times, and increasingly cheesy at the climax. On the plus side, it's always lighthearted and fun with it, with typically invested performances from an enthusiastic cast.

This Korean heist movie was a great discovery! Adventure, comedy, lovers of heist movies with a historical touch will love this one!