Den of Thieves (2018)

<< 2024

Gearing Up

>>

Jump to "Now Playing" Review for 'Den of Thieves 2: Pantera'

I tend to enjoy a good heist movie. These kinds of movies are those in which it's easy to route for the bad guy, usually sticking it to the man and becoming some folk hero in the viewers' eyes. I also like a good story in which the villains are more like antiheroes who can get away with things, a "Robin Hood"-type. The difference is that there's no giving to the poor; it's just robbing from the rich. It's always fun to live vicariously through characters like this and fantasize about what a grand heist might be like.

'Den of Thieves' may not be the best, but I still find it perfectly enjoyable for what it offers. Here we have an action crime flick with decent action, a bit of a sense of humour to go along with it, a solid twist ending, and to top it all off, I very much see this as a "dude" movie - full of testosterone, muscle-bound characters, high octane action, attitude, something you can throw reality aside for to watch something that may help one unwind and destress after a terrible day. Despite some bad reviews, this is a decent watch if one doesn't take it too seriously.

The film opens by letting the viewer know what they're in for. A handful of ex-Marines hijack an armoured truck, and that leads to a shootout right off the bat with a bunch of cops, leaving several dead in the crossfire. The heist backfires and prompts LA County Sheriff's Department Detective Nick "Big Nick" O'Brien (Gerard Butler), along with LA's Major Crimes Unit, to investigate. They finger the recently paroled Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) as the prime suspect in the attempted heist.

Nick, one of the crooked cops on the force, and his team eventually kidnap a bartender who works at a bar that frequently serves Ray and his team named Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) for questioning. He's eventually released but kept a close eye on as he continues to work with his team, planning their next big heist, the Federal Reserve, which involves intercepting about $30 million in old bills removed from circulation daily, before it all gets shredded. Nick hopes to put a stop to their heist, but soon finds himself in over his head.

Much of the movie is setup for the final heist, which is a good half-hour in itself, so I could see complaints about the film dragging or even a bit of unnecessary filler involving Nick's wife and kid. This side plot relates to Nick's renegade ways being too much for his family, but it's unnecessary for anything significant. It's there to allow for a bit of empathy towards Nick's character, but the film doesn't revisit it to resolve anything, and it did leave me wondering what happened with his family.

However, I might consider Nick's family a nitpick on my part, and I can see several other places where the film doesn't do so great. Things like seemingly endless ammo in the shootout sequences stand out, and perhaps a bit of the dialogue and even some of the more unlikable characters who don't feel like they really need to be there. That said, I liked how fleshed out Nick's character was and Butler's overall performance. The stunt driving was pretty sweet, and again, this can still be quite enjoyable if you turn your brain off for a bit.

As far as a heist movie goes, this is certainly no 'Ocean's Eleven' or 'Italian Job' or anything that one must see on a big screen to get its full effect. If one watches this with the same mentality as they'd watch a Sunday afternoon action movie, one might get more out of it. Nothing here will blow anyone away, including the twist that many, I'm sure, will insist they saw coming from a mile away. If this were something that came straight to streaming, it wouldn't have surprised me. But if you like a half-decent heist flick, give this one a shot.

3/5

---