I fought the law
Den of Thieves (15)
Director: Christian Gudegast
The Plot: Los Angeles. A group of elite soldiers turned bank robbers led by Ray Merriman (Schreiber) steal an armoured car in a violent confrontation, attracting the attention of the Sheriff's Department Major Crimes unit, led by "Big Nick" O'Brien (Butler). The unit are no strangers to breaking the law themselves, and by targeting Merriman's newest crew member Donnie (Jackson Jr) they learn that the crew have planned a daring heist on the Federal Reserve. The leaders of the two groups begin playing mind games with each other as the day of the heist looms . . .
Review: I like a good heist movie. It's an exciting genre when done well, but modern heist movies face the same problem as many other genres - it's difficult to create something truly original. Audiences have pretty much seen it all these days, so I went into this not really knowing anything about the film and expecting a typical Gerry Butler actioner. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film, whilst suffering from some flaws and stereotypical moments, actually has a clever, shifting storyline with a twist at the end that I genuinely didn't see coming. So, let's take a break from Oscar season and dive in.
The story quickly establishes that Big Nick and his unit are not your typical cops, and this creates one of the film's biggest problems - it's not clear who the director wants you to root for. Whilst they're not shown to be fully corrupt, a scene where they're lounging around in a hotel room, smoking and drinking with hookers before threatening a kidnapped Donnie, paints a very muddy picture. This is carried forward throughout the film in several other scenes, and isn't helped by the fact that Gerry Butler's character Big Nick is inherently unlikeable - he's loud, quick to anger, has some of the worst dialogue in the film, and shows no remorse when his wife leaves him after discovering a text message revealing infidelity. Butler doesn't get to show any real acting chops save for one small scene where he breaks down after talking to his young daughter through the fence at her school, which is effective, but nowhere near enough to make us want to be on his side.
The robbers, on the other hand, actually come across as far more likable characters. As their leader Merriman, Pablo Schreiber puts in a charismatic performance despite also suffering from some poor dialogue. His character, as a former special forces soldier who runs his crew with military precision, is ice-cold and the complete opposite of the brash Big Nick. Where his character is let down is actually in the script itself: one of the plot threads centres on Merriman's refusal to be taken alive, which he makes clear to Big Nick as their mind games progress, but very little explanation is given as to why he feels that way - perhaps there's some PTSD involved, but the film doesn't take the time to explore it, despite it's long run time. There's also a rather odd scene where Big Nick sleeps with Merriman's wife/girlfriend, resulting in a tense standoff between the two, and the revelation that she did it on Merriman's orders has no discernible reasoning or impact on the story.
O'Shea Jackson Jr (who I keep calling Ice Cube Jr) actually has the best performance of the film and comes across as the most likable of the entire cast. His character Donnie is central to the twist of the film and he plays the whole thing very well. He's not going to win Oscars, don't get me wrong, but there's a lightness to his character that's welcome amongst the heavy rivalry of Big Nick and Merriman.
Where the film does get things right is the twisting storyline, the action itself and the presentation. There's only two real action scenes, and the one that opens the film is terrific. The theft of an armoured car goes wrong and quickly escalates into an intense and incredibly loud shootout, with the audio of the gunfire used to great effect. The same goes for the gunfight that closes the film which, even if the action of it was a little disappointing compared to the opening scene, is both loud and visually effective as the two sides battle amidst the traffic of a busy LA street. The story, as I mentioned earlier, is far cleverer that you'd expect, with the script constantly throwing curve-balls at you to keep you guessing at what the robbers will do next, all leading to the reveal of the twist that I didn't see coming. It was really very good.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
This is a surprisingly intelligent heist movie that keeps the audience guessing and finishes with a clever twist. It suffers from some poor dialogue and a lead character that's unlikeable, making it difficult to determine whose side the director wants you to be on, but it's well shot with effective action scenes. I enjoyed it.
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