***
Though indebted to the likes
of Heat and The Usual Suspects, along with a few
missteps, Den of Thieves still comes
out – guns blazing, of course – as a kinetic frenzy and finely crafted heist
picture, as well as an exciting start to 2018.
An armored truck is robbed in
the wee hours of the morning. Equipped with military grade weaponry and
state-of-the-art tools, things seem to be going fine until somebody starts
shooting, resulting in a few dead cops. Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber), the head honcho,
is not pleased about this.
To top it all off, like some big joke, the truck is empty. A few hours later,
the cops are on the scene.
Gerard Butler stars as Nick, a
hardboiled detective that seems to have seen Bad Lieutenant a few too many times. He has no issues playing
cop on his own terms, complete with shamelessly bullying the FBI and torturing
suspects during interrogations. When investigating the crime scene at the donut
shop, he takes a donut out of a bloody box. When he’s off the clock, Nick spends
his free time with his posse of similarly no-BS cops, complete with hard liquor
and suggestively choice women.
The robbers move on and
prepare for the next gig: $10 million straight from the Federal Reserve.
At the center of the action is
Donnie (O’Shea Jackson), the young and wary but exceptionally experienced
getaway driver. When he’s not behind the wheel, he works as a bartender. One
particular shift, he finds himself having casual bartender-to-patron chit-chat
with Nick. A few moments later, after being tazed and knocked out, Donnie finds
himself in the clutches of Nick and co., complete with an interrogation
complete with a beat-down.
If Donnie’s not cautiously
giving out information bits at a time to the former, he’s prepping for the next
gig with the latter. Serving as a link between the two gangs, he’s easily the
strongest character in the film, made all the more compelling and likeable with
Jackson’s performance.
If the heist’s not being
planned, we’re bouncing back and forth between the cops and thieves. The latter
seem to be a group of decent guys, treating every get-together like a family
gathering. In one scene, the daughter of one of the thieves is awaiting her
prom date. The father takes the date for a…talking to, so to speak (and without
spoiling too much). Then the gang all share a hearty laugh afterward.
And then there’s Nick. The
first time we see him at home, his wife has discovered his vices and leaves him
in an instant, taking their children with her. I can’t blame her for leaving
him, considering most of his behavior consists of him being drunk and belligerent,
making scenes in public. I know there are corrupt cops out there, believe me,
but it’s kind of amazing this guy hasn’t had his badge taken from him.
These scenes never really go
anywhere, but they were well-done enough that I was rather welcoming of them.
That said, these can be an issue for others, as Den of Thieves is perhaps just a little too ambiguous as far as who
to root for. It is one thing if this were some sort of profound cinematic
meditation on morality, but that’s not what this film is, nor does it need to
be. Not that the film has to be crystal clear as far as who the heroes and
villains are. Take Heat for instance;
both Pacino and De Niro weren’t exactly a traditional good and a bad guy,
respectively, but they weren’t polar opposites like Butler and Schreiber are.
But like I said, this wasn’t an issue for me.
And besides, we’ve got bigger
and better things to cover here.
Den of Thieves knows exactly where heist thrillers shine
brighter: watching the heist unfold. There’s just a level of excitement that
heist sequences project that cannot be matched. Director Christian Gudegast
knows this, goes all out as far as heist scenes go, and nails it. The heist is
planned and imagined at every single detail. Then it’s time to pull the job
off. The heist sequence is pretty much the entire second half of the movie, and
not once does it lose its momentum. It’s like walking a tightrope that gets
tighter and thinner with each step.
Then BAM! All hell breaks loose in a frantic shootout that really wants
to be Heat. It got the job done, but
it still leaves something to be desired (then again, I doubt the magic of Heat’s famous shootout can be captured
again). The movie is on the verge of being over…but not before a twist ending,
the kind that make you re-think the entire movie. Unfortunately, it has a
hand-wave quality to it that leads me to think they wedged it in at the very
last minute (perhaps sequel-baiting?).
The crude machismo and skid
row vulgarity may be a bit too gratuitous for some. Others will cross their
arms at the film’s attempt (granted, an admirable one) at its more human
dead-end side stories. Capped with a runtime of 140 minutes (a very common criticism,
I’ve noticed), I can understand how Den
of Thieves could be a grueling watch for some. Nonetheless, it’s a
wonderful tribute of sorts to the Hollywood heist picture that results in a
bloody good time.
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