Cops and robbers. A power-struggle as old as the first bank and lawman – a way of enacting justice over those that thrive in thievery and criminality and in response, a byproduct of the never-ending struggle to claim unjust power over the weak. As society changes, so must the criminal. To keep up, authority must find ways to meet its adversary on equal ground; these days however, equal ground is hard to come by when it comes to stealing a buck or two. The meshing of these two warring parties for power can be too transparent through many a lens, with the blurring of good versus evil, and right versus wrong. Take Den of Thieves (2018) for instance – a heist film written, directed, and produced by Christian Gudegast; this may be a story we have seen and heard before, but a reimagining and modernistic take on just how high the stakes are for both parties on each side of the law. How far (in the modern age of HD cameras, motion sensors, GPS, you name it) is a criminal willing to go to steal, and how much is authority willing to break bad to stop them in the process?
TABLE SETTING/FIRST-ACT
Den of Thieves begins like any good crime drama – with ominous tones and overhead long shots of urban nightlife. Which city, might you ask; well, it’s a place where 2400 times a year, 44 times a week, 9 times a day, and every 48 minutes, a bank is robbed. The bank robbery capital of the world, otherwise known as Los Angeles, California. Den of Thieves never hesitates to entertain in its gritty crime-filled ways, as the fireworks pop off early on with a down and dirty gunfight sequence – playing out as a Grand Theft Auto 5-style armored truck heist involving masks, fully-automatics, bleach bombs, and (you guessed it) casualties. For what would have been a seemingly typical night of cheap coffee and donuts for the working man, unfolds into an early A.M. rendezvous with death, uber-violence, and good-guys in uniform getting killed by the truck robbers.
From this point onward, Den of Thieves follow these hardened “smarter-than-their-own-good” style criminals who operate together like a well-oiled machine – trained and skilled in cold-blooded quickness and spec-ops style execution. Upon returning to their den after gunning down cannon fodder in the heist, we get a closer, undisguised look at some of our more cinematically recognizable thieves: Donnie Wilson, played by O’Shea Jackson, Jr. (known for his astonishingly spitting-image resemblance to his father, Ice Cube, and his portrayal of him in the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton); Levi Levoux, played by the notorious rapper turned actor, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson; Bosco Ostroman played by 8 Mile‘s Evan Jones (aka Cheddar Bob); and the clear-cut alpha dog and heist leader Ray Merrimen, played by Pablo Schreiber (American Gods, 13 Hours, Orange is the New Black).
Their goal? Rob the Federal Reserve in LA. The bank of all banks, Los Angeles’ Federal Reserve is the only bank in the city that has never successfully been robbed, becoming the holy grail for the thieves and a true staple of glory for pack leader Merrimen (Schreiber), a Machiavellian crime boss unrelenting in his cleverness and ability to stay seemingly one step ahead of every move by his badged oppressors. It’s going to take everything Merrimen and his team can muster to stay out of danger. After making a mess during the armored truck heist and becoming full-fledged cop-killers in the process, the thieves find themselves directly in the crosshairs of LA’s Major Crimes Unit, led by Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien (played by Gerard Butler), an adulterous, rough around the edges, apex alpha-dog willing to bend laws to near shattering point to satisfy his primal thirst for what he considers justice to be.
DIRECTION, DISSECTION & VERDICT
As with any good adversarial urban throw down, both sides are pushed to do their homework to learn and establish just who and what they are up against. This becomes a narrative driver leading to the ultimate climax and the eventual Federal Reserve heist in the third and final act – unfolding into an unbearably elaborate scheme to steal from a place that is so heavily guarded that the infinitesimal window for success seems almost laughable in retrospect. Den of Thieves is truly the Mission Impossible of heist film – pushing believability to its own near shattering point all for a fun and gun, shoot ‘em up style ride. What proves to be one of the more interesting aspects of this film becomes the over-brimming of alpha-dog characters, involving member-measuring to the extreme, particularly with Butler’s “Big Nick” (a name already too on the nose itself), as well as from Schreiber’s Merrimen and the surprisingly convincing portrayal of Levi by Curtis Jackson.
Due to this cockamamie (pun intended) mentality by the nearly all-male cast, there are moments in Den of Thieves that as a result are in general too wanton and overindulgent for its own good; the shooting range scene highlights this attitude, as well as “Big Nick’s” weakness for prostitutes, which becomes an unnecessary exploit later in the film. These moments are intended to drive the leads (Schreiber/Butler) head-on into each other’s spheres of influence, and not necessarily to the film’s benefit. While these sequences are used narratively to raise the stakes, they backfire a bit and inevitably discourage Den of Thieves to stick with the simpler, more objectively realistic approach, which due to its basic premise, couldn’t succeed with even if it really tried. Clichés come too easy throughout the film in fact; however, Butler’s performance as “Big Nick” helps to override some of the all-too-stereotypical “guilty father” sub-plot stuff that ties up the story. In truth though, the hanging outside grade school playgrounds to see family doesn’t do the story any favors (unintentionally causing Butler’s character to look like a grungy pedophile to anyone who happens to pass by).
To be fair, there aren’t too many overt failures with this film aside from what has been previously addressed. Den of Thieves achieves a solid level of notoriety as a modern-day crime drama and heist film by doubling-down on the well-developed Machiavellian mentality it grounds itself in, resulting in a bravo-style ending smarter than its subject matter and reminiscent to The Usual Suspects within its final on-screen moments. All these guys bring their A-game, while not failing to mention an added tip-of-the-hat to Dawn Olivieri as pretty much the only female cast member (aside from the young actresses playing her and “Big Nick’s” daughters). Pablo Schreiber seems to improve as a performer every time I see him on the big (and small) screen; he clearly soaked in his experiences from previous roles, (particularly his 2017 portrayal as Wyatt Rivers in Thumper) and ran with the Merrimen character in this film, ultimately to a powerful and impressive result. Gerard Butler is at his best since 2009’s Law Abiding Citizen; his ability to play the hardened and morally-comprised police officer reminded me of a more youthful Russell Crowe from his role in American Gangster (2007), and I hope to see him in more roles like this from here on out (if only he would stop with the –Has Fallen “terrorsploitation” series).
Den of Thieves’ rug pool ending cracks the door for a sequel, and it turns out that writer and director Christian Gudegast is all for it – with talks commencing in mid-February for a London-style setting to continue the story. Truth be told, it seems to be a bit of a shame and a jarring reach; Den of Thieves is successful due to its turned heel style narrative and final big reveal after a much-earned, fight to the death finale – any repeat iteration or addition to the original will likely tarnish its already “somewhat-been-done” narrative (Heat, for instance, is not far from being an original to this film anyways). However, the fact that this is a brutal and gritty crime drama that takes classic cop versus robber tropes from the past and doubles down on the blurring of the two, becomes its true strength. The line of good versus evil is truly blurred to near transparency in this film; where on one side the public serviceman (policeman) are attempting to protect and serve through unlawful means, and on the other side former U.S. servicemen (marines) are fighting for what they believe to be is theirs through force and conquest. With a film like this, it’s a struggle to pick a side in which there is already no moral high ground to spare. At the end of the day, I suppose it is just another gun-totin’, head-bustin’ crime drama in the bank robbin’ capital of the world. Personally, I’m A-OK to leave it at that; too bad that it willingly insists on potentially condemning itself with a sequel.
Den of Thieves (2018) is currently everywhere, including Redbox.
Millennial Movie Man 