Pickpocket Bo (Andy Lau, INFERNAL AFFAIRS) and Li (Rene Liu, DOUBLE VISION) are on the run after their latest score. Li has grown tired of their lifestyle and wants to go straight (when they stop at a temple to pray, at her insistence, Li is disgusted that Bo has made off with the cellphones of several members of the pilgrimage). They run into a bumpkin construction worker Fu (Baoqiang Wang, also in Xiaogang Feng's ASSEMBLY), who is traveling back home with his entire life savings in a duffel bag and is not weary enough of thieves. Bo sees this as a chance for a last score, but Li wants to protect the peasant. Unfortunately, they are sharing the train they have boarded with a gang of thieves and arrogant Bo immediately clashes with their leader Uncle Le (Ge You, TO LIVE) - his skills are so honed that he can peel a raw egg with a fingernail - who also has designs on Fu's life savings. A WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES has a potentially interesting plot and set of characters, but the execution is flat thanks to one dimensional characters and a talky script that explains everything at length (Li's dissatisfaction with her criminal lifestyle, Fu's naïveté, etc), hence the unnecessary 110 minute running time. If you don't expect the film to be as deep as it wants to be and can enjoy the presences of Lau and Liu and some gorgeous landscape cinematography, A WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES may still prove entertaining.