Den of Thieves (2018) STX/Action-Thriller RT: 140 minutes Rated R (violence, language, some sexuality and nudity) Director: Christian Gudegast Screenplay: Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring Music: Cliff Martinez Cinematography: Terry Stacey Release date: January 19, 2018 (US) Cast: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schneider, O’Shea Jackson, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Evan Jones, Cooper Andrews, Jordan Bridges, Dawn Olivieri, Eric Braeden, Brian Van Holt, Maurice Compte, Lewis Tan, Meadow Williams. Box Office: $44.9M (US)/$80.5M (World)
Rating: ** ½
The new heist flick Den of Thieves, directed by first-timer Christian Gudegast, wants so desperately to be Heat that maybe Re-Heat would have been a better title for it. Like the classic 1995 Michael Mann film, it draws a parallel between a gang of thieves planning a major heist and the team of cops out to stop them. It even gets off to a good start with a bravura sequence in which a group of masked men rob an armored car. They’re not after what’s in it (it’s actually empty); they want the vehicle itself. Things go south quickly and a violent shoot-out ensues. Guards and cops are killed. They make off with the truck but, as lead bad guy Merriman (Schneider, 13 Hours) points out, now they’re cop killers.
The cops on the case are an elite squad from Major Crimes whose leader Big Nick (Butler, London Has Fallen) is the very definition of rogue cop. He and his guys have crossed the line so many times; there may as well not be a line at all. They track down one of the thieves, Donnie (Jackson, Straight Outta Compton), then kidnap and interrogate him. He explains that he’s just the getaway driver and knows nothing of their plans. It’s revealed to us that Merriman is targeting the only bank in L.A. that’s never been robbed, the Federal Reserve.
As long as Den of Thieves focuses on the heist, it’s pretty good. But true to the movie that inspired it, it delves into the personal lives of the major character and that’s where it runs into trouble. The screenplay by Gudegast (who also wrote London Has Fallen) is filled with half-realized story elements and underdeveloped characters. Nick’s troubled marriage to his soon-to-be ex-wife (Olivieri, Bright) is introduced but has no real bearing on the events of the movie. It only reinforces what’s already been established; Nick is a mess of a human being. We get a couple scenes with the wife and one where he talks to his young daughter at school. These scenes are just filler. They’re superfluous. They don’t need to be in the movie. Couldn’t the makers have just said that Nick is divorced and estranged from his family and leave it at that? Another scene involving the thieves intimidating the prom date of the teenage daughter of team member Levi (rapper 50 Cent) is completely extraneous.
One of the biggest problems with Den of Thieves is that it’s too damn long. Does it really need to be 140 minutes? I suppose Gudegast felt it did given how much he reveres Heat which runs nearly three hours long. The difference is that Mann gave us well-defined characters played by reliable actors (Pacino, De Niro, Val Kilmer, etc.) and interesting personal drama. He also did a better job showing the parallel between cop and crook. The coffee shop scene with the two leads is classic. We get nothing like that in Den of Thieves. The drama is clumsily handled. It doesn’t provide any sort of context; it only makes the movie longer. Had Gudegast tightened the narrative, it would have worked better.
Den of Thieves picks up in the final act with the actual heist. The plan is rather convoluted; I’m still cloudy on a few details. However, there is real tension in this sequence. The climactic shoot-out, while a pale imitation of Heat’s famous centerpiece, is still pretty cool. It’s almost worth sitting through the movie’s saggy middle section.
Butler is okay as Big Nick, a disheveled, burnt-out sort with questionable morals. In other words, he’s just like a lot of the movie cops we’ve encountered over the years. I was disappointed that they didn’t spend more time fleshing out Schneider and 50 Cent’s characters. As for other members of both teams, they’re basically just there. The best performance in Den of Thieves comes from Jackson (aka son of rapper-actor Ice Cube) who has definite star potential. As much as I’d like to talk about his character, I can’t as it would be a major spoiler. I’ll only say that he’s one to watch out for.
Den of Thieves isn’t a bad movie. It has many good points including editing, cinematography and score. I don’t even mind that it rips off Heat and other action flicks from the 80s and 90s (most notably, To Live and Die in L.A.). It’s the writing and directing that keeps it from greatness. When it focuses on the heist, it moves at a solid pace. When it turns to drama, it sputters and lurches. I would have worked better as shorter, more action-oriented thriller. Den of Thieves fails to live up to its potential and that, my friends, is the real crime.
