Den of Thieves (2018) - Review

Den of Thieves shoots its way into theatres today - But is it worth its weight in ammunition?

In Den of Thieves, a skillfully-organized group of criminals attempt to rob the California Federal Reserve, while an unorthodox and unstable police unit attempt to stop them.

Christian Gudegast makes his directorial debut, which serves as both a positive and negative for this film. Gudegast mixes breathtaking wide shots of LA and its beautiful scenery, with visceral gun battles in the scummy streets that rattles the cinema. The opening scene is gripping, with the camera capturing the jarring motion of a rifle unloading. The climax is an even longer shoot-out - a 5-v-5 death match stretching from the highway to a seedy alley. It is the calm, quiet location shots between the action that I enjoyed the most, particularly a stunning shot of seagulls flying in formation overhead a beach.

However, you can tell how influenced Gudegast was by films like Heat and The Usual Suspects, so much so that Den of Thieves hardly breaks any new ground on its own. Entire beats are transplanted from Michael Mann's Heat, and while they still are a delight to watch, they are quite derivative.

Gerard Butler (the lead and producer) puts this film on his back. While many of the performances fall flat, Butler's is strong and convincing. The ultra-macho "Big Nick" is cool and in charge, yet seems liable to explode at any minute, to the point where you question who really are the "bad guys". I also appreciated Butler's range, going from extreme anger to sadness and regret effectively.

O'Shea Jackson Jr. on the other hand, is by far the weakest performance of the bunch. Given lots of screen time, Jackson is wholly unbelievable in his role, which is a real shame considering how we saw him embody his character in previous films like Straight Outta Compton.

Den of Thieves is a long one, at just about 2 and 1/2 hours, yet it never felt long. It had enough action or intriguing plot to keep me interested, which is to be commended. It can be too easy to simply throw action on the screen for action’s sake, yet this film showed restraint and kept everything toward furthering the plot.

I'm not sure if my tastes are changing, but Den of Thieves just didn't do it for me like I had thought it would. Exceptional action scenes, beautiful cinematography and a great Gerard Butler performance will bring me back to this one, but there is just not enough fresh ground being broken here that I don't see any reason to rush out and catch this one in theatres. This is a perfect home on a Saturday afternoon, with the BBQ on and the boys over flick - RENTAL.