Crooks (2024) follows a former safecracker getting forced into a heist where he inadvertently steals a priceless coin, which a number of gangs across and beyond Europe want for themselves.
A locksmith whose days as a safecracker and a prisoner doing time for his crimes are way past him. But when his family is threatened to coerce him into pulling off a heist, he’s got no other choice.
After stealing, he learns that the object of their robbery is a golden coin instead of money. It’s especially worrisome because he knows it was stolen by Al-Walids, an Arab clan who runs the underworld in Berlin.
One of the Al-Walid family members ends up dead in the crossfire when they escape the place. The head of the Al-Walids begins hunting Charly down after most others in the gang are nabbed or killed.
Meanwhile, Charly is joined by an unlikely ally, the driver of the Austrian gang that had ordered the robbery. Joseph is also the bastard son of the head of the gang, and his uncle Red, the new boss after the death of Karli, wants him dead.
Charly and Joseph help each other with their issues as they become good friends and end up saving each other’s lives several times. Meanwhile, Joseph ends up with the coin till Crooks (2024) rolls the credits.
History & appraisal
Found by an amateur metal detectorist in a potato field, a Russian ruble made of gold is now kept encased inside Museum Island in Berlin.
It’s a half-imperial Catherine the Great from the year 1780. There are only two other coins like it in the world, and they are in the possession of a wealthy Russian mafia boss named Arkadij Zekeyev.
This makes the ruble very pricey, valued at over £3 million. Two men from the Al-Walid clan break into the museum and rob the coin in broad daylight, after which the coin triggers chaos across countries and continents.
The coin & chaos
The head of a gang from Vienna, Karli Bachofner read about the robbery of the coin in a newspaper. He knew when he read the story that the robbery had all the hallmarks of the Al-Walids, the Arab clan.
He describes the coin as an “old, sh*tty Russain ruble” made from gold. And yet, he knew it was very important. Karli promised Red he’d leave everything to him if he got this coin for him.
This is because he wanted Red to stick his hand in the wasps’ net like he used to do in childhood. And Red did just that, by hiring a gang of robbers to steal that coin from the Al-Walids, the new wasps in his life.
The hunt for the golden ruble
Meanwhile, he also knew that powerful and vicious creatures would emerge from the shadows to get their hands on the coin, alluding to the Russians.
He knew this would lead to unprecedented chaos that would spell doom for Red and his son Rio. He never wanted them to rule Vienna, as he deemed them unfit and too greedy and corrupt to do so.
He wanted his son Joseph to take over all his estate, and so he advised him to go into hiding amidst all this chaos.
However, Joseph ends up getting involved in this chaos, and the coin spends most of the time after the robbery inside his pockets.
Before Crooks (2024) ends, the coin is with Joseph and Nina, a police officer who wants revenge against Arkadij Zekeyev for killing her father. They’re heading to meet him to enact the plan and get her her revenge.
Also Read: Crooks (2024) summary and ending explained