Genre: Crime/Drama
Related Titles: Heat, Inside Man, Tower Heist (for the more comical side of the genre)
By Leanne Harragan
Nick O'Brien the head honcho of the Regulators, LA's elite Sheriff's department. Merrimen is the head of a gang of ex-military men using their knowledge and set of skills to avoid being caught by the cops. The two men find themselves soon to cross paths as Merrimen and his team plan an impossible raid.
Having seen the trailer quite a few times, it's safe to say I was barely interested in seeing this at all, it looked clichè and pretty standard for this genre but having said this I was very pleasantly surprised. The film opens with a fight: guns, explosions and excitement and this speed is maintained throughout the whole film.
Despite the lead up to the main robbery of the bank taking a while, it's worth the wait as once the heist begins you don't want to take your eyes off the screen for a second. Watching the film I felt that there was going to be a twist of some sort but I can safely say I wasn't fully on the mark with what happened next. One aspect that I particularly liked was that it turned villains and cops on their heads and made the cops unlikable and some of the villains a bit more likeable.
The acting was good, I particularly enjoyed O'Shea Jackson Jr who was charming and clever as Donnie. Gerard Butler reprised the role of rough cop that he plays so well and was decent, aside from scenes with his family. In an attempt to flesh out the characters we had a few scenes thrown in showing O'Brien and Merrimen with their families but they were just so pointless and unnecessary. For a film like this basic characters are enough especially as Rebecca said it's not like their family were under threat in anyway.
A nice surprise watching this one, a good contribution to the genre. I look forward to seeing where they take this in the recently announced sequel.
Rating: 7.5/10
By Rebecca Mannick
Den of Thieves was definitely a very surprising release this year. It went very under the radar and didn't get the exposure that it deserved. The opening scene was full of explosions, gun shots and adrenaline. These types of scenes are featured the whole way through this movie. Then as you start to get to know the rogue gang you are suddenly made to decide what side you are rooting for. At that time you follow Nick O'Brien (Gerard Butler) who is the confident and cocky head of elites at the Sheriff's department. He goes onto try to track down the gang who are planning a bank heist of the Federal bank.
I do not want to spoil this movie as it does have a big twist at the end which I must admit I didn't see it coming at all. The twist really made the movie be able to set itself apart from your average bank robbery gang movie. It really did make you keep guessing until the very end. It was funny because the character Merriman who heads up the ex-military gang is played by Pablo Schreiber who is 'Pornstache' in Orange is the new Black. You know when you see a particular actor and you can only picture them as a different character, and his role in OITNB is quite comical so was different to see him play this tough guy.
As the storyline focuses on Nick O'Brien, a bit of character development is attempted with scenes of his wife and family. I'm really unsure why this was included as it didn't really add to the plot. It didn't effect his decision making in the action sequences, the gang weren't targeting his family. It was pretty pointless if you ask me. Also a special mention to the relationship between O'Brien and his kids. As it was probably the worst parent/child relationship I have ever seen onscreen. It was cringe worthily awful.
Despite that, I still really enjoyed this film. I like the genre and I'm grateful that it actually made me think a bit which doesn't happen that often in movies much anymore.
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