Den of Thieves

Starring: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., 50 Cent, Meadow Williams, Maurice Compte, Brian Van Holt, Evan Jones, Mo McRae, Dawn Olivieri
Directed by: Christian Gudegast
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A gritty detective (Gerard Butler) will stop at nothing to bring a gang of bank robbers to justice as they set their sights on the Federal Reserve Bank.

Review:

Tim: It feels like there's been so many generic action movies made the last few years. I went into Den of Thieves dutifully ready to watch the film, but I admit my expectations were less than lofty. Gerard Butler is a bit hit-or-miss and the film also starred 50 Cent. So don't blame me too harshly for anticipating I knew what to expect. Fortunately, writer/director Christian Gudegast completely subverted my expectations. This movie still has its flaws, but it was significantly more entertaining than I expected. I left this movie feeling pleased I watched it- it truly is an enjoyable movie.

The premise feels played out, but the execution of it is anything but. The movie is about detectives trying to catch bank robbers. I've seen that movie before. And yet, everything here felt fresh and distinct. For starters, I actually like the bank robbers more than I liked the detectives.This is a small twist, but a powerful one. Gerard Butler is the lead detective and truly, he is an unlikable character. I know he's the "good guy", but he engages in so much ill behavior that it really turned me off his character. The exact opposite is true of the criminals- despite being "bad", I actually grew to care about them. At a certain point it dawned on me, I wanted the criminals to pull off the heist and I wanted the bad guys to fail. Now, this isn't a movie like Ocean's Eleven, where it is obvious you're rooting for the criminals. You don't go into the film expecting to do that. The story here is presented just like all those others, but you slowly realize you care more about the criminals and less about the police. It was actually brilliantly accomplished.

I have to give the cast so much credit. Gerard Butler gets a bad rap for occasionally choosing bad movies to star in, but he's made a number of solid movies, too. He is in top form here. He embraces the darker side of his character but never lets him become the villain. His character is doing good work, it's just he chooses the wrong way to go about it. It's actually a fascinating performance- you don't like his character, but you kind of still root for him. I really appreciated how Butler pulled this off. I do have to say I was blown away by Pablo Schreiber. I was a fan of his smaller supporting role in "American Gods", but I loved him in this role. He's a "bad" guy, but you really identify with him and care about him. He gives the best performance of the film and it felt like a breakthrough performance to me. After seeing how good he was here, I'm eagerly awaiting his next role. I can't really describe how good Schreiber was in this role, but it's solid enough to be the biggest reason to see this film. I also have to give credit to O'Shea Jackson Jr. It's easy to dismiss him just as "Ice Cube's son", but he holds his own here. Now, I will admit that the film called upon him to do a lot and his talent isn't quite up to that challenge. There are a few moments when he doesn't rise to the occasion enough. Still, it was a big ask and I left the film appreciating how close Jackson got. He's still young and this was a good experience for him. Jackson isn't great, but he works. If you're looking for more indicators that the cast works, even 50 Cent was pretty decent here.

Now, I love the unexpected things Gudegast did with his script. The movie really takes the tired old formula and flips it on its head. That was amazing and it gives this film a fresh feeling. That being said, this is still Gudegast's directorial debut and there are flaws in the film, some due to his inexperience as director. I don't mean this as an overt criticism- I'm stunned by what Gudegast was able to accomplish his first time out of the gate. The movie is clearly too long at 2 hours, 20 minutes. There were definitely opportunities to cut out some of the fat. The other criticism is that Gudegast's film is ambitious, but it takes its cue from one of the all-time classic crime movie twists and it doesn't get close to that result. I won't share the movie because spoilers, but if you're going to follow a similar path to perhaps the greatest twist, you have to do slightly better than this. I was shocked and the movie benefits from it, but the homage felt a little too close.

While there are multiple areas that Gudegast could have done better, I still applaud him loudly for directing a cops and robbers movie that felt fresh, different, and memorable. I really enjoyed this movie and I am eagerly anticipating what he does next.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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