Den of Thieves (2018)

An elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and the state's most successful bank robbery crew clash as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.

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Main Cast:

Gerard Butler

O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Pablo Schreiber

Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson

Main Crew:

Directed and Written by Christian Gudegast

Cinematography by Terry Stacey

Score by Cliff Martinez

Stunt Coorrdination by Joey Box

With Den of Thieves 2: Pantera being released this weekend, I felt it necessary to pump this film's tires. 

I only caught wind of this film on a Rewatchables episode during COVID. And thank goodness I did. What an amazing heist film that was hidden in plain sight. For it to have performed so poorly at the box office is a blight on the reviewers and the movie-going public alike.

Christian Gudegast makes his directorial debut after penning some really good films prior... or at least entertaining ones. And from the jump, you can see he paid attention in "school" and knows the ins and outs of heist films. Dare I say he is a scholar of them. But what you'll also notice is some subtle flare usually associated with seasoned directors and some of his direction is a true masterclass in suspense and trickery. 

The opening shot, seemingly a helicopter tracking shot, of an armored truck weaving its way through empty and wet LA streets is insane. The chopper follows the truck, and then it gets closer... and closer... until it is street level following directly behind the truck!! What an opening scene to suck you in and have you grip your seat for the first of MANY times. 

And then we meet Merriman and immediately we know the type of criminal we are working with. "We're cop killers now" he exclaims exhaustively to his cohorts, a smattering of regret in his eyes from the words he just spoke. This leads us to believe that Merriman is an intelligent and calculated criminal... one that abhors mistakes. We know that he and his crew are good at THEIR jobs. 

Merriman and crew

Immediately after, we are introduced to "Big Nick" O'Brien of the LASD Major Crimes Unit and his gang of "regulators." From the jump, Nick looks as if he would smell like an ashtray and whiskey... even in the morning. He eats a donut from the crime scene and then tosses the remnants back into the crime scene. Not before we can see that he means business and is very good at HIS job. 

What ensues is a crazy cat-and-mouse chase throughout LA (Atlanta). There are flashbacks, twists, turns, heists, and one epic shootout paying homage to the king of heist films... Heat. 

Pablo Schreiber is at once endearing but also physically intimidating as Ray Merriman. One of my favorite portrayals of a heist lead in any film. 

Ray Merriman and crew before a heist.

And as Big Nick, Gerard Butler knocks it outta the park... I mean all the way out. He's the good guy, right? But we fucking hate him. He's a deplorable human BUT he has a badge. And Butler embraces this role and turns in a stellar performance. 

The more I watch this film the more I love it. The runtime flies by and I find little details in every rewatch. And if I had to judge this against The Town or Heat, I would have trouble not putting this at one over Heat.