Nella tana dei lupi

If you're into this genre, you know the characters (cops and robbers), you know the storyline (a big heist), and what to expect (money and giant public shootouts). But with this movie, you can't tell where the intention is to honour the clichés, or if the movie is just so ripe with an overabundance of them that it's making a parody of itself.

It feels like the storyline pretty much just relies on the character archetypes to fuel the plot. The misfit hard edged cop with a rough family life. A crew of robbers with a of couple loose cannons and looser lips to play both sides of the law, lead by the "serious" guy in the group. It's all there. And if you're into the genre, you won't hate it but there's just nothing special about it. Nor original. As a matter of fact you'll just start to recognize patterns from good heist films like The Town, HEAT, etc.

The actors do a fair job with the script. Nothing great but no complaints. The plot has some twists and turns that are simple enough to follow, but probably could've been more enthralling with some better editing and plot development. You just never care too much about the stakes, nor any particular character's motivation. There are a few moments that insert themes of family and trust that feel a bit forced, but that's only because they were so brief. Had we gotten a bit more out of the robbers personal side of the story, we may have been more invested in the inevitable outcome for all of these characters when it came down to business.

Entertaining enough to watch and well paced but too much of it was wrapped up in an ending that was somewhat unsatisfying. Again, possibly could've been a better dit of this movie made. It will be a long ways down the list of epic heist movies. But you might still find it somewhere near the middle.

"Den of Thieves" is an entertaining crime film with the showdown of Los Angeles County Sheriff "Big Nick" O'Brien and his team, and the criminal Ray Merrimen and his skilled gang of bank robbers. The plot is full of action and twists and the identity of the mastermind is a great surprise. The pace is perfect and the viewer does not feel the 140 minutes running time. The shootout recalls "Heat" and O'Brien´s personal drama with his wife is pointless and only a filler in the story. "Den of Thieves" is not a film for intellectuals and the target audiences will be very satisfied. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Covil de Ladrões" ("Den of Thieves")

You can't enter a movie like this expecting some cinematic masterpiece. If you do so, you'll be obviously disappointed. Otherwise, it's a completely entertaining and fun ride through some surprisingly complex characters and an unexpectedly intricate game of cat and mouse.

There have been some comparisons of this movie to the movie Heat, and I think they may be somewhat warranted. OBVIOUSLY, this does not hold the gravitas of a mid-90's DeNiro/Pacino face-off, but plot structure, pacing, character development and the Los Angeles backdrop were all very familiar.

At the core, you have Pablo Schreiber, who is 1 or 2 decent movies away from being given a real shot at a career defining role. He led this film effortlessly and truly gives you a very raw sense of character. Gerard Butler plays Gerard Butler and convincingly so. The two square off for 140 minutes and it's surely fun to watch.

The 140 minute runtime seems to have garnered some attention from reviewers. Yeah, it's long, but it really doesn't feel that way. The pace of the film is stellar, and you never really feel any "look down at your phone" moments. The heist movie is often times full of overdone clichés and unconvincing "suspense" but for some reason this film was able to put a fresh twist on everything you see.

If you've seen a trailer for the film, you'll be very happy with it. I think this is a case of extremely good marketing and a trailer can make or break your audience's expectations for a film. From the trailer, you see a crew of goons led by some wannabe badass and a crew of cops trying to intimidate them and take them down. The trailer doesn't give you much of a glimpse at anything more than elementary storyline, which is why if you see this film, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Had more fun in a theater than I can remember in recent years.

8/10

In Christian Gudegast's directorial debut, he did better in directing, than what he's know for, which is writing. There were more clearly obvious holes in the plot than a brick of Swiss cheese. His screenwriting of Gerard Butler's character was way too overboard. It was still a fun flick to see, but lost much potential with the sloppy writing. What is more laughable are all the 8, 9 and 10 reviews for this film... are the producers that dumb not to think anyone can click on a user name and see this film was the only one they rated - clearly fake reviews. This film is a generous and honest 7/10 from me.

I went into Den of Thieves with low expectations, and walked out pleasently surprised with this movie! Im a huge heist movie fan and Michael Mann's 'Heat' is one of my favorite movies of all time. And while its true that Den of Thieves takes almost TOO MUCH inspiration from HEAT, it certainly delivers some unexpected turns that make the movie unpredictible and not generic. Sure, there are a lot of heist films out there, but I found Den of Thieves to bring some new elements into the genre that i have never seen, which i thought was pretty great. I was actually surprised with Gerard Butler's performance in this movie, he was actually REALLY good and played the role with commitment. The same goes for the other cast members, Great Acting! What really sold this movie for me, was the incredible action sequences. They are directed fantastically, and the firearms in the movie sound robust and authoritative, which gives the film a hard edge that i found to love. There are a few scenes in the film that feel out of place and some of the character development isn't really there, but overall i had a blast watching this movie and plan to see it again. Definately Recommend to anyone a fan of the genre.