Den of Thieves - an homage to HEAT
This bank heist flick is very reminiscent of Michael Mann's 19995 release 'Heat' - Los Angeles bank heist with epic gun battles. The good guys and the bad guys know each other, or at least of each other. Where 'Den of Thieves' is different is in the main character of Gerard Butler, Big Nick O'Brien. Nick is not a good person, he's kind of an anti-hero because you don't necessarily like him or his motives. He's not fully unlikeable, but he's certainly not the most sympathetic of characters.
O'Shea Jackson is outstanding in the film. He has a shy or weak persona, but looks are deceiving. Pablo Schreiber as Ray Merriman, looking much like he did in '13 Hours' is a great casting choice for the detail-oriented and calculating leader of the outlaws. 50 Cent is good, but he doesn't have a large presence in the film, save for a few scenes.
The rest of the Regulators, the "good guys", the members of the Los Angeles Sheriff Major Crimes are forgettable in the fact that there's not much interaction with them. We aren't told enough or introduced to them in meaningful ways to make us care about their characters.
The film clocks in at 2 hours and 20 minutes, and you can feel the time. A storyline that should have been cut is the relationship with Big Nick and his wife. There are a few scenes with them, but in the end, nothing is resolved and it wouldn't change the story one bit to not be introduced to the wife or even know of her existence. The relationship doesn't even have a bearing on the character of Big Nick or the outcome of the film.
The pace of the movie resembles that of 'Heat' as well. You have some fast-paced action/story-telling up until the day of the heist - and then everything slows down. You have Big Nick standing contemplatively at the ocean for minutes, Merriman slowly getting out of bed and slowly walking to his car, examining the sunrise, traffic, and neighborhood that surrounds him. This is not a detraction from the film at all, just one more way 'Den of Thieves' is an homage to 'Heat'.
Towards the end, I definitely felt the tension rising - thanks in part to the sparse use of soundtrack throughout.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I'm not sure I'd watch it repeatedly, but it was a fun watch.
My video review is posted here: https://youtu.be/zwuVenZReuk