Den of Thieves

Gudegast has a real weakness for the duo of crime classics from the year 95. And he doesn't even try to hide it, in other words, he does his best to imitate them, from stylization to the course to individual twists. Yes, it is a “wannabe" tribute to the two classic movies made by a routine guy with no inventiveness more than anything else, but even such a second-rate non-original genre move can make you happy. And the movie is really good at it, because it hit exactly the pure essence of uncompromising macho rough crime movies. It just slightly slavishly copied scenes from the original movies, so you always know “what´s going on and what to expect". The movie should have been a little bit shorter and should have skipped Nick's family vicissitudes (they're not bad, but annoyingly clichéd and useless because nothing comes out of them), because they just obstruct an otherwise entirely nice and straightforward spectacle. It is exactly that type of manly movies, for which we used to go to video rentals in the 1990s. Moreover, this one is so good that it could almost keep up with the competition at the time. (06/01/2019)

An utterly unoriginal film with very decent action and an insufferably macho Gerard Butler, whose "Big Nick" O'Brian, when not delivering macho one-liners or gesticulating in a macho way, makes chewing gum out of excess testosterone. I can get over the fact that the plot wasn't exactly original, my problem was more with the fact that the filmmakers didn't let me relate to the characters at all. So, I didn't care much about their fate and thus couldn't feel any suspense. And action films without suspense just don’t do it for me. (24/06/2018)

The script has more holes than a Swiss cheese, which you can see especially during the well narrated heist and then the final twist, which is anything but clever, even though it wanted to be something like The Usual Suspects. And what do we have otherwise? A clash of two strong personalities and a story that relies on atmosphere rather than action, which we only see at the beginning and the very end. So it's a kind of second-rate Heat, and Butler is no Al Pacino, Schreiber is nowhere near a DeNiro-type personality and Gudegast can’t hold a candle to Mann. But if don’t compare, then the emphasis on the characters, the slower pace, the atmospheric realities of L.A., and the ultra-macho Butler as we want to see him, all sat well enough with me and I'll give the four slightly overrated stars, despite the botched twist. (16/05/2018)

Though the visible parallels with Heat cannot be denied, Den of Thieves stands firmly on its own two feet. Whereas Michael Mann, director of the former film, came up with a stylishly refined portrait of two antagonists with professional respect for each other and deals with the ethics of the world of crime and justice, Christian Gudegast offers viewers a precision heist flick with a clever screenplay that deliberately winds up the viewer’s attention. --- SPOILERS FOLLOW --- The story has three central characters, which are presented to us over the course of the film, but only so that we can reassess everything ourselves at the end. However, he gives us ambiguous indications during the film that perhaps everything will not be what it seems. The filmmakers surprisingly use elements of overwrought machismo, where they have sullen mastodons march past the viewers, without in any way depicting them as likable characters. Though, in accordance with genre conventions, we are automatically conditioned to simultaneously sympathise with the cop and appreciate the ingenuity and coolness of his antagonist, over time the film reveals both of them to be unlikable, obstinate assholes. Whoever at first appeared to be a great guy turns out to be a fanatical workaholic, the experienced and shrewd nice guy is shown to be a tragic pawn and revealing the brain of the whole operation shows that whoever can merely play stereotypical masculine roles will always have the upper hand over those who dully live them. (16/05/2020)

The film begins with an assault of an armoured car by a gang of masked robbers. Seems like the operation is perfectly conducted, until one of the blokes loses it and shoots one of the witnesses, leading to an uncontrolled bloodshed (doesn’t that sound familiar?). Then arrives on the scene a group of cops whose tough commander has family problems due to his zealous work, his wife giving him a hard time (is it ringing a bell already?). This is followed by alternating scenes depicting the characters’ personal lives, police pursuits, the robbery preparation and, at the same time, the peculiar relationship that develops between one of the thieves and the policeman. What comes next is the story-central perfect robbery, in which some loud and long shooting happens between cops and thieves, all culminating in a ruthless duel between the two main antagonists… and in the cringy realisation that we’re far beyond mere inspiration from Heat, we’re literally in a den of thieves! Finally, so as to spare the creators of being impacted and accused of complete duplication of one movie, there’s the last ten minutes which, for a change, steal from another notoriously famous thriller from the ’90s! But apparently, no one cares. Den of Thieves is still blessed by a good technical level, excellent action scenes and decent casting. But this outrageous cloning cannot just be overlooked. Gudegast is a plagiarist. (08/06/2018)