Den of Thieves

This was a weekend at the movies that I could have easily -- and almost did skip -- because there wasn't much that interests me right now. 

In an effort to better balance what movies I see with my ever shrinking precious time, I'm less inclined to see the final Maze Runner, for example, as it was my least favorite book in the series and it's kind of too late (unfortunate reason, but still). 

In the end though, Den of Thieves won out because of surprisingly stronger reviews than expected, a trailer that at least had me curious, and some decent word of mouth for a January film. 

Would Gerard Butler's latest be better than the heavily-botched Geostorm?  

That's a pretty easy "yes" to earn, but even still I was impressed with what I got out of Den of Thieves for the most part. It's not without its issues but it works well within the genre it knows it resides in: cops vs. robbers. 

The first thing you may notice about DoT is the cast is a bit of a hodge-podge of "Hey, I know that guy from somewhere!". Butler is the film's biggest star, but even he's fitting into that crowd a bit lately given the time its been since 300. The film also stars a wildly underused 50 Cent, a wonderful O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), and co-star Pablo Schreiber who you may know as the worst guard ever from Orange is the New Black and he's shockingly jacked here. While that cast may not have those "wow" names in them, they all do surprisingly well other than 50 Cent because...well...he's just not given that much to do. Butler is a tad annoying as a total a**hole to literally everyone in his life and his character seems almost cartoonishly ridiculous at times. Butler does his best in the more somber moments and gunfights and he was a good, likely money-conscious choice as the lead. O Shea Jackson Jr. is decent throughout and his character arc is the most intriguing by a mile. Schreiber is the secret weapon here though and he's pretty phenomenal as the film's villain. Again, I was taken aback by how huge he is (relative to how dumb his OitNB character is) but he has a commanding screen presence and leads the film just as good, if not better than Butler. They're opposite of one another as Butler is the "bad cop" and Schreiber is the "robber mastermind" so their tango remains interesting throughout. 

I feel like they should be starting a new rap group given the talent...

Gerard Butler doin what he does best

My complaints with the film are pretty much one in the same in that it's entirely too long. This is January and this is a cops vs. robbers film. There's no reason it needs to be nearly 2.5 hours in length whatsoever. Moreover, there are glaring places where the film could use a trim and entire segments could be cut. With Gerard Butler's character alone there's an utterly useless look into his fractured family life that goes nowhere, provides his characters most-hateable scenes, and tacks on nearly 10-15 minutes to the runtime. Similarly, there are several "Get to know the guys!" backstory moments that don't really have any point and it becomes clear that the film could have existed as a 90-105 minute crime film and been tight, well paced, and better. Other than that, the film doesn't do anything bad, but does have some moments where it's abundantly average. Combining those two aspects results in a film that I admit I enjoyed quite a bit, but one that takes a lot out of you. Especially in these winter months where you enter the theater with the sun still shining and leave when its dark.

Den of Thieves does impress from what you'd expect though. It has moments of stunning cinematography (again...moments...not the whole thing), is well paced and has some truly tense scenes, a pretty darn good soundtrack with a suitable original score, and some LOUD firefights. The latter in that list are like the rest of the film: they go on for entirely too long, but they feel realistic and disturbingly intense. Not quite Sicario level, but they get the job done. And when I say loud, I mean LOUD. I'm almost certain it wasn't just our theater because these gunshots were as boisterous as almost anything I heard in Dunkirk (just to give you a frame of reference). 

No joke: I have skiing balaclava that looks very similar to these

By the time the credits roll, you'll likely be a fan of the "twist" ending and holding Thieves in high-regard. I didn't have much issue with the ending other than it was basically just tacked on for wow factor, but I was impressed by Den of Thieves because my starting expectations were low and it's legitimately a strong film. It unfortunately doesn't know when to quit, which is a curse upon many films these days, but if you can stomach the epic runtime, it's got some benefits to give.

CONS

• Way, way too long
• Highly-obvious places where nearly a half hour could have been trimmed
• Gunfights are too long
• Family drama for each of the dudes was unecessary
• Some aspects are fairly average in their ideas/execution
• 50 Cent being useless
• Butler's character becomes annoying at times

PROS

• The film has two strong leads in Butler and Schreiber who play well off each other in the cat-and-mouse game
• Captivating story throughout and even with a "surprise" ending, I enjoyed it for what it was worth
• Some great cinematography
• Well-chosen/composed music
• Action scenes are often tense, well-paced and edited, and LOUD

Rath's Review Score | 7/10