Den of Thieves
starring Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Meadow Williams, Maurice Compte, Brian Van Holt, Evan Jones, Mo McRae, Kaiwi Lyman, Dawn Olivieri, Eric Braeden and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
screenplay by Christian Gudegast
directed by Christian Gudegast
Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
Called “The Outlaw” in Japanese, Den of Thieves is a story about bank robbery in Los Angeles. It reminded me a lot of Heat (1995) starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino because the thieves are very professional, heavily armed, and prone to have shootouts with police on crowded public streets in broad dayli ght. I want to say that Heat was based on the real life bank heist in North Hollywood on February 28, 1997 that saw exactly that - heavily armed, body-armor ed, masked men (military veterans) shooting it out with LAPD in broad daylight on crowded public streets. But I can’t, because that (failed) bank robbery happened two years after Heat was made. So maybe the movie inspired the 1997 bank heist.
One thing about these two movies is that they seem to teach us a lot about banks, bank procedures including security procedures, and how to rob them, police procedures and how to foil them, what kind of weaponry to have and how to use it, and how a crew of thieves should behave professionally: no women, no children, no unarmed civilians, no unnecessary killing. But if killing becomes necessary, wow! No reservations.
I felt soiled and dirty watching this movie. I blame Gerard Butler’s character, Nicholas "Big Nick" O'Brien, a corrupt LA sheriff who is hellbent on bringing down this bank robbing crew led by Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schrieber), who plan on robbing the Federal Reserve Bank in Downtown Los Angeles. I haven’t seen many Gerard Butler movies. I know that he had to exercise and buff up to play Leonidas, King of Sparta in the 2006 American period piece action movie 300, directed by Zack Snyder. In Den of Thieves he looks bloated, grossly overweight and gone to seed. I thought, hell, Gerard Butler must have a weight control problem, like Paul Lynde, or Aretha Franklin, or Jonah Hill, or someone. Later I read that Butler was required to gain 11-13 kg in a short period of time for his role in order to achieve this look.
I must admit, there is a twist at the end of the film. Ray Merrimen may be the leader of the crew of thieves, but the big heist is not his plan. He’s being played by another person who goes through the entire film being underestimated.
Incidentally, I did not recognize 50 Cent Jackson. I’ve seen this rap singer in other films, but when I saw his name in the credits I had to go back and look at him again.