Release Date and Cast
Released in 2018, Den of Thieves is a heist movie done right. First of all, you have a great cast. Gerard Butler plays Nick ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien, the head of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department Major Crimes Unit. From the first time Big Nick comes across the screen, you know he is not your regular lawman.
Fans of The Wire will undoubtedly notice Pablo Schreiber, who plays Ray Merrimen. Merrimen is a former Marine turned bank robber who at some stage did time for robbing banks despite the robberies being ‘highly sophisticated.’ And you can bet you’re sweet arse (or ass for American readers) he would die before going back to prison.
Also, part of this stellar cast (no, I don’t mean that sarcastically) is Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, a former marine and Merrimen’s right-hand man, and O’Shea Jackson Jr, a getaway driver who can drive as good as any Fast and Furious character. You have also seen some people in other movies or TV shows, such as Brian Van Holt and Evan Jones. MMA fans will also notice Max Holloway, Oleg Taktarov and Michael Bisping in the film.
The Plot
The opening scene is an aerial view of an armoured vehicle, with some interesting statistics on the screen. The stats read: 2,400 times a year, 44 times a week, 9 times a day. Every 48 minutes, a bank is robbed. You can probably guess it is LA (I know I did).
The vehicle stops outside a doughnut shop, no doubt for some breakfast (I used to work nightshift myself, so I know the struggle). That’s when the Merrimen and his crew pounce, holding up the guards. Things are going smoothly until a guard reaches for his gun and gets pumped full of lead. The guard left in the car tripped the alarm before he got blown away. This leads to a shootout with LA’s finest, with the bad guys coming away with one casualty. Also, the vehicle is empty.
After the shootout, they return to their base, and there is a sombre mood. Merrimen address his troops, he’s not happy things went South. He’s a marine, and he’s lost men before, but that’s not what he’s angry about. They’re cop killers now!
Next we are introduced to ‘Big Nick’ and his band of not-so-merry men. They are lawmen who will do anything to get their man. Soon, they bring up Merrimen’s name, and bingo, they have their suspect! And so starts the dick-measuring match between Nick and Merrimen.
The target of the Major Crimes Unit is Donnie Wilson. Wilson is a barman who is an adept getaway driver. A former Marine, when looking at the group of robbers as whole, he is probably the least scary of the bunch. However, you will be surprised with what Wilson can do.
In movies like this, we know the robbers are going after that big score—the one that will make them all rich and set them up for the rest of their lives. Den of Thieves is no different, as the plan is to rob the Federal Reserve of the $30 million of old bills that get taken out of circulation.
Den of Thieves has high stakes and a twist ending that you won’t see coming (the movie isn’t just about Merrimen and ‘Big Nick’ trying to one up each other). Not only that, we get a set up for a sequel that is due out in January.
Performances
Gerard Butler is great in this role. You would swear that when Nick is hungover that Butler actually is. He plays the menacing bad boy (some say Gangsta) cop so well that you almost don’t want him to succeed.
Pablo Schreiber’s Ray Merrimen is different to what this author knows him for. It was a long time ago that he did play Nick Sabotka, but he is worlds away from that character (I’m still trying to catch up on some of the other shows he has starred in). As Merrimen, he’s a true leader who lives and dies by the sword and there’s no way he’s going back to jail.
This is probably one of the best performances of O’Shea Jackson Jr’s career. Jackson’s Donnie Wilson is just like the other’s in the group, but there is more to him than meets the eye. You will like Wilson’s story arc, and if you don’t, you didn’t read it here!
I will watch probably anything Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson is in or produces. This isn;t his biggest role but he is good as the robbers second in command.
Best scenes
I already knew about one scene because of an award from my favourite podcast, The Rewatchables. Big Nick confronts the band of robbers while they are having dinner at Benihana. This is where tensions boil over, and you think Donnie has been outed as an informant.
The shooting range scene is dick-measuring at its finest. Merrimen and two of his men are at shooting range when Nick shows up all by his lonesome. Showing them he’s not scared, he fires a round into his target. Before he goes for the second round, Merrimen just unloads shots like he back in the Marines.
Another good scene is when Merrimen and Nick come face to face. This is where a twist ending may have happened, but thankfully, everything is saved for the big finale.
I enjoyed the shootout scene but was kind of upset about who died when I realised they wouldn’t be in the sequel.
Finally, the robbing of the Federal Reserve is a high pressure scene that makes your heart pound hoping they never get caught.
Verdict
I love action movies, and this one has action, but not as much as I would like. I love the way things are set up, especially the details of how the heist is pulled off. I’m giving this a 3.5 out of 5.
Den of Thieves is streaming in Australia on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Stan.