Review – Den of Thieves

Den of Thieves is a frustrating movie.  It is frustrating in that it is a movie about nothing.  There are a lot of characters and actions happening, but it all culminates into nothing.  What is crazy about that is that the run time is nearly two and a half hours and within that two and half hours, we get little character development, a small plot, limited action, and an ending that just made me angry.

The movie plays out like the poor man’s Heat (1995), as an elite Los Angeles cop unit tries to track down and stop the city’s most dangerous and successful bank robbers as they attempt to pull of a heist at the Federal Reserve.

The cops are led by Nicky (Gerard Butler), an unorthodox, corrupt, hot mess of a leader who pulls the trigger before pulling out his cuffs.  The thieves are led by Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber), a recently released felon who can’t stay out of the game.  Like Heat, Nicky and Merrimen grow a bond with one another, but not as worthy advisories, but because they played football together at competitive schools.

We learn nothing about Nicky’s crew.  They’re essentially factory made, trigger-happy cops who will do anything Nicky tells them to.  Merrimen’s gang is full of star power and actors who are interesting to watch when on screen.  However but we only get know one of the guys, Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a bartended and driver who is kept in the dark on most of the happenings.  Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson is also part of the gang, but he only says about six words.  It seems like he was only directed to look big and buff and shoot a gun.  You’re better than that 50.

Honestly, for two and a half hours, there really isn’t much that happens in the movie.  The only thing this movie focuses on is the Federal Reserve heist and really showing the inner workings of how the robbers are going to pull it off and how the cops are trying to stop them.  The smaller scenes of them planning the heist aren’t very exciting and because of the undeveloped characters, it’s hard to care what about what we are watching.

I guess the coolest part is the actual heist, which we have to wait for two hours to get.  The scene is interesting to see how they pull it off and ends in a shootout that is very Michael Mann-esque, with a realistic shootout that is loud and full of bullets.

And then the final scene happens and it is obnoxious and unnecessary.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but it genuinely annoyed and was added nothing to the movie.  Some people will love, but it is incredibly reminiscent of a classic 90’s thriller that has one of the best endings ever.

Den of Thieves is a movie that doesn’t need to exist, but does.  The final heist/shootout is cool, but the other two hours and ten minutes are rather dull and the final scene is just stupid.  This movie adds nothing to the genre and wastes a talented cast and a whole lot of potential.

Did you see Den of Thieves?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.