Den of Thieves
Directed by:
Christian GudegastCinematography:
Terry StaceyComposer:
Cliff MartinezCast:
Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., 50 Cent, Meadow Williams, Maurice Compte, Brian Van Holt, Evan Jones, Mo McRae, Kaiwi Lyman, Dawn Olivieri (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Set in contemporary Los Angeles, a city with the highest rate of bank robberies in the world, Den of Thieves follows the intersecting and lives of rogue police officers and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the largest bank in downtown LA. But Den of Thieves is reflective of the world we live in - people are complex, the lines between good and bad are not as clearly defined as we’d like to think, and often, the perceptions of wrong and right are not simply black and white. (Roadshow Entertainment)
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Reviews (10)
Yet another take at cops and robbers, or else Heat with a very likeable array of actors. Butler as the son of a bitch cop at last in his first great role for a long time. Schreiber makes a good opposite number. Top-notch action with a fantastic final shootout in the traffic jam. Great one-liners. Wow.
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In comparison with Butler’s movies in which he plays a Secret Service agent protecting American presidents, Den of Thieves is a revelation. It’s a gritty crime flick with tough cops acting like gangsters and bad guys who, though they look like prison thugs, know how to always stay one step ahead of the law. The main bank robbery (particularly its setting) is a good idea in the screenplay and the shootouts are properly realistic. The film borrows a lot from the classic Heat, but twenty years later. Mainly, however, if it’s a B-movie version of Mann’s classic, then it’s a damn good B-movie version.
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An utterly unoriginal film with very decent action and an insufferably macho Gerard Butler, whose "Big Nick" O'Brian, when not delivering macho one-liners or gesticulating in a macho way, makes chewing gum out of excess testosterone. I can get over the fact that the plot wasn't exactly original, my problem was more with the fact that the filmmakers didn't let me relate to the characters at all. So, I didn't care much about their fate and thus couldn't feel any suspense. And action films without suspense just don’t do it for me.
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The script has more holes than a Swiss cheese, which you can see especially during the well narrated heist and then the final twist, which is anything but clever, even though it wanted to be something like The Usual Suspects. And what do we have otherwise? A clash of two strong personalities and a story that relies on atmosphere rather than action, which we only see at the beginning and the very end. So it's a kind of second-rate Heat, and Butler is no Al Pacino, Schreiber is nowhere near a DeNiro-type personality and Gudegast can’t hold a candle to Mann. But if don’t compare, then the emphasis on the characters, the slower pace, the atmospheric realities of L.A., and the ultra-macho Butler as we want to see him, all sat well enough with me and I'll give the four slightly overrated stars, despite the botched twist.
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We finally know how Heat could have looked like if Michael Mann hadn't directed it. What's missing here is the precision of direction, the plot sweep, the feel of concrete, the neon of LA and above all the depth and fatality of the characters. Macho Butler is over the top and Schreiber as a villain, though contrived, needed a more resonant persona. The most interesting character is 50 Cent, thanks to his family background. The original is the materialised reality of everyday life, but this copy is "just a film" that also tends to repeat the classics in places. For example, in the end, and then in the opening thrilling ambush of the armoured car.
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