Den of Thieves

Den of Thieves (2018) follows a robbery crew in Los Angeles and the sheriff's unit chasing them. It opens with an armoured truck robbery that goes wrong. Then the real target emerges: the Federal Reserve branch in Los Angeles. The building destroys withdrawn banknotes every day, and that money has already been written off the books; stolen, nobody would know it was missing. Nick Flanagan and his unit are after them. The unit does not work by the rules: they follow suspects, threaten them, apply pressure for information, and use methods close to the robbers' own. The film presents the two sides as alike, and that is deliberate. The shootout in traffic in the final section is the best of it: two groups firing across four lanes among civilian cars, and it runs long. Real instructors worked on the weapons and drill; the actors trained for weeks and the reloading, cover and communication are shown accurately. Christian Gudegast wrote and directed; his first film. Gerard Butler and Pablo Schreiber star. O'Shea Jackson Jr. plays the crew's driver. It follows Heat openly: the same city, the same structure, the same two sides. The explanation in the last scene makes you reconsider it, and a sequel followed. It is long and the middle section slackens. It runs 140 minutes. Good for: heist films, gunfights, and crime drama. Less good for: it is long, the violence is harsh, and nobody in it is likeable.