Den of Thieves - Review - Mind on Movies

R: January 19th, 2018 | R: 140 minutes | R: R

Den of Thieves follows an elite bank robber crew as they plan their ultimate heist on the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve. Along the way they attract the attention of law enforcement who will stop at nothing to bring them down. Is this bank heist worth watching or just a bust?

The film provides the information that Los Angeles is the bank robbery capital of the world against the background of an aerial shot of the city. The imagery quickly changes to a bank robbery in progress as a coffee shop’s parking lot is being taken over by the elite robbing crew that includes well known actors - 50 Cent, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Pablo Schreiber (which I must mention to Orange is the New Black fans, maybe this is why “Pornstache” went M.I.A.). They are not hesitant to take out the law enforcement that gets in their way and quickly it turns into a shoot out full of action and skill.

This is where the movie starts falling a bit short. The beginning was so action packed then the middle gets dull as film tries to humanize characters that are just plain...bad. The leader of the law enforcement team that wants to take down the robbing crew is played by Gerard Butler and he’s so good at playing a cheating, dirty cop that it’s difficult to choose who you should be rooting for. The plot taking several directions where some trail off into dead ends also helps the movie fall a bit short because many of them could have been left out. There were many times while I watching where I wondered when it was going to get back to the action instead of empty conversations and the abuse of women.

However, do not let this deter you from seeing it because the ending picks up where the beginning left viewers entertained by the action. It literally picks up with a bang and hits the ground running again and I could not figure out how it was going to end but when it did, I could definitely see a sequel coming for Den of Thieves in the near future. Without spoiling it, it is one of those movies that even the best movie end guessers might have a difficult time cracking .

Overall, I thought this was a good movie, despite the slower middle and would describe this movie like bookends. The beginning and the end literally hold this movie together with the middle being out of place at times adding unnecessary runtime but this might have been to throw viewers off for the great ending.

Were you able to figure it out before the end? Let us know!

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ashley (Senior Contributor) is an Orlando native who loves watching movies. Her favorite genres include comedies, thrillers and sci-fi.
Click Here to check out Ashley's Articles.

Den of thieves tells the story of Nick Flanagan (Gerard Butler), leader of the “regulators”, a group of cops who use any means to fight crime. They are up against the “outlaws” a group of guys led by Merriman (Pablo Tell Schreiber) who are fixing to rob a bank. This movie also stars 50 Cent and O’Shea Jackson Jr who I love! 50 Cent has one of the funniest scenes ever

I really enjoyed this movie. Lots of action and it was surprisingly funny too

I’m not too much into heist moves I mean Inside Man kinda set the bar WAY too high. This was a super entertaining movie, I think you can take your friends or partner and you will all enjoy it for what it is

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ashley K. (Contributor) is a frequent traveler currently living in San Diego. She's a super nerd who enjoys all kinds of movies and doesn't always think the book was better.
Click Here to check out Ashley K's Articles.