Den of Thieves

Agent Coulson

Gerard Butler does HEAT.

bunderoon

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Gerard Butler does HEAT.

Heat is to the Pope's Children, what Den of Thieves is to the latest millennials.

Agent Coulson

Pity about the director and the rest of the cast. In other news Heat related http://deadline.com/2017/07/mark-bowden-hue-1968-fx-tet-offensive-limited-series-michael-mann-michael-de-luca-1202124098/ this looks very interesting. Seems like Mann will direct too, although maybe just the pilot

restive

I saw this last night. Obviously inspired by Heat. It's a good film with an absurd ending.

Agent Coulson

I really enjoyed this corny and Butler being Butler hamming it up to the last.


But there was a good story with a good ending and and some good set pieces and shootouts and quiet a few nods to HEAT.



Plenty of room for a sequel

marklazarcovic

I actually really enjoyed it despite it's flaws,the chap that was in season two of the wire (the Polack) not racist mods it's what they call themselves in it,he's bulked up and makes a mean bad guy.

Mr E

Saw this last night and it was surprisingly great.

I'm not sure Nick's family drama added much to the movie (other than giving that character a bit of colour and padding the run time by 15 minutes) but it was very enjoyable otherwise.

The last 45-60 minutes were excellent and I loved the epilogue.

p to the e

Some great action sequences in this. As already mentioned, it owes quite a bit to Heat but I'm alright with that. I thought Schreiber was decent in the lead and expect more from him in the future. I was surprised to see a few well known MMA faces in there. The director must be a fan. The final shootout was LOUD!

gargargar

Is that Ice Cube's son? I'm gettin' old ....

Agent Coulson

gargargar wrote: »

Is that Ice Cube's son? I'm gettin' old ....

Ye it was junior he really is the spitting image of his old man.

Mr E

Sequel confirmed (with same director)

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/den-of-thieves-sequel-gerard-butler-1202697696/

Agent Coulson

Called it and delighted.


Butler just does great popcorn turn your brain off at the door big budget films.


Next up is Olympus/London sequel Angel Has Fallen.

Agent Coulson

Edit actually next up is Hunter Killer set on a sub with Gary Oldman.

An untested American submarine captain teams with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the Russian president, who has been kidnapped by a rogue general.

AMKC

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Edit actually next up is Hunter Killer set on a sub with Gary Oldman.

Sends a sub to rescue the Russian President.


Ha to rescue the Russian president. Feck that if its Putin I say leave him there the World would be better without him.

verycool

Some great twists and turns in this, it reminded me of The Inside Man.

What was that Northern Ireland accent going on though? Absolutely hilarious... "She toyld youi toi gyet oyt!"

Felt like they could have shaved 30 minutes off the running time. Dragged in a few places, and some I thought they could have taken out completely. I know the original cut went on for three hours, but the likes of Nicks personal life and the 50 Cent "intimidation" scenes added nothing.

A solid Sunday afternoon-er.

A Friday night VOD Heat, loud, obnoxious, aggressive and full on it's everything one could hope for from a less dignified take on Mann's masterpiece.

At 2 and a half hours long it does lag a little in the middle and the attempt to give depth to Butler don't really go anywhere but that final heist is a thing of beauty, simple, tense and small it manages to be one of the most thrilling onscreen robberies in years. That it is followed by an over the top shootout reminiscent of Heat and The Sweeney doesn't hurt.

Den of Thieves has its issues but all things considered it's action cinema at its best. Stripped back to the basics, it lifts from a dozen places all the while managing to be a genuinely thrilling and fun piece of escapism which leaves you eager to see the sequel.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

A Friday night VOD Heat, loud, obnoxious, aggressive and full on it's everything one could hope for from a less dignified take on Mann's masterpiece.

At 2 and a half hours long it does lag a little in the middle and the attempt to give depth to Butler don't really go anywhere but that final heist is a thing of beauty, simple, tense and small it manages to be one of the most thrilling onscreen robberies in years. That it is followed by an over the top shootout reminiscent of Heat and The Sweeney doesn't hurt.

Den of Thieves has its issues but all things considered it's action cinema at its best. Stripped back to the basics, it lifts from a dozen places all the while managing to be a genuinely thrilling and fun piece of escapism which leaves you eager to see the sequel.

Would have to disagree with you on this. Found this to be pretty flawed, although still entertaining.
If we are comparing it to Heat, you have one actor doing a decent job who is Butler, nobody else in the film is really acting. The likes of 50 cent are almost incoherent and simply there as a marketing gimmick. All the UFC fighters, again a marketing gimmick, and they stand out as poor actors. It takes away a lot from the flow when Max Holloway is highlighted in a close up, Bispings bar scene are the end is pure tokenism. Looking at Heat, every actor is memorable across the board.
The shootout scene has an amazing setup to be outstanding, but I was looking for some proper skill in the direction here, and really there was very little. Camera pan to a guy shooting a gun. Pan to another guy shooting a gun. Pan to a guy taking a bullet. Basic as hell. Theres was nothing in there that made me say Wow, compared to what Michael Mann did all those years ago which is a mesmerizing piece of directorial skill and technique with that bank robbery shoot out. This was by the numbers directing if you ask me. Surely given it seemed to be some sort of modern day effort at Heat they could of at least tried a few things to make that scene cutting edge.

I think Butler carried it with his charisma, otherwise not memorable at all for me

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Would have to disagree with you on this. Found this to be pretty flawed, although still entertaining.
If we are comparing it to Heat, you have one actor doing a decent job who is Butler, nobody else in the film is really acting. The likes of 50 cent are almost incoherent and simply there as a marketing gimmick. All the UFC fighters, again a marketing gimmick, and they stand out as poor actors. It takes away a lot from the flow when Max Holloway is highlighted in a close up, Bispings bar scene are the end is pure tokenism. Looking at Heat, every actor is memorable across the board.
The shootout scene has an amazing setup to be outstanding, but I was looking for some proper skill in the direction here, and really there was very little. Camera pan to a guy shooting a gun. Pan to another guy shooting a gun. Pan to a guy taking a bullet. Basic as hell. Theres was nothing in there that made me say Wow, compared to what Michael Mann did all those years ago which is a mesmerizing piece of directorial skill and technique with that bank robbery shoot out. This was by the numbers directing if you ask me. Surely given it seemed to be some sort of modern day effort at Heat they could of at least tried a few things to make that scene cutting edge.

I think Butler carried it with his charisma, otherwise not memorable at all for me

It's not really fair comparing it to Heat, as I said it's a pretty trashy and cheap take on Mann and feels a lot like his L.A. Takedown which was the dry run for Heat. If you are expecting Den of Thieves to wow you then you went in with expectations that the film was never going to match. It's a Friday night beer and pizza film that isn't trying to do anything other than entertain.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

It's not really fair comparing it to Heat, as I said it's a pretty trashy and cheap take on Mann and feels a lot like his L.A. Takedown which was the dry run for Heat. If you are expecting Den of Thieves to wow you then you went in with expectations that the film was never going to match. It's a Friday night beer and pizza film that isn't trying to do anything other than entertain.

I just don't buy into that philosophy of its not trying to be very good its trying to just entertain so just accept it. It could and should have been much better with a talented director at the helm and even a half decent supporting cast.

I wasn't expecting it to be as good as heat of course, but the plot was pretty good, the canvas was there to make this a memorable flick.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I just don't buy into that philosophy of its not trying to be very good its trying to just entertain so just accept it. It could and should have been much better with a talented director at the helm and even a half decent supporting cast.

I wasn't expecting it to be as good as heat of course, but the plot was pretty good, the canvas was there to make this a memorable flick.

Where did I say it wasn't trying to be very good, it clearly was but expecting Heat levels of quality from the film was never going to happen. It's a cheaply made VOD film that managed to be a hit, I had no problem with 50 Cent or any of the MMA fighters. I didn't once think that the film was cutting to them simply to show them there. Den of Thieves is pure unadulterated B movie fun, I went in with low expectations and it managed to exceed them. The heist is a genuinely thrilling piece of cinema, the biggest issue with the film was the need to try and flesh out Butler and make him more sympathetic.

TerrorFirmer

Watched this last night and have a mixed opinion. The opening hour or so was so promising that the fact that the rest of the film descends into a cliche, generic and painfully convenient narrative really disappointed me.

I felt like it was trying far too hard to portray itself as being a lot more clever than it actually is. It's essentially a straight-to-video quality production on the higher end of the budget scale, propped up somewhat by good actors and some very well handled action scenes.

The script is just uninspired (despite a very strong opening act), there's so much filler and so many lose threads that go nowhere, as well as empty characters, which very much artificially inflates the run time.

Still though, not a bad watch and a very easy one at that. More disappointed that it could've easily been a lot better, rather than it being inherently bad.

Interestingly, Merriman is Pornstache from Orange is the New Black and the Irish guy from American Gods. Couldn't place why I recognized him for ages.

stormthecastle

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Watched this last night and have a mixed opinion. The opening hour or so was so promising that the fact that the rest of the film descends into a cliche, generic and painfully convenient narrative really disappointed me.

I felt like it was trying far too hard to portray itself as being a lot more clever than it actually is. It's essentially a straight-to-video quality production on the higher end of the budget scale, propped up somewhat by good actors and some very well handled action scenes.

The script is just uninspired (despite a very strong opening act), there's so much filler and so many lose threads that go nowhere, as well as empty characters, which very much artificially inflates the run time.

Still though, not a bad watch and a very easy one at that. More disappointed that it could've easily been a lot better, rather than it being inherently bad.

Interestingly, Merriman is Pornstache from Orange is the New Black and the Irish guy from American Gods. Couldn't place why I recognized him for ages.

This exactly.....not one I would watch again to be honest. Started well enough and faded badly.

Agent Coulson

O’Shea Jackson jr just posted this saying filming is completed

Time for a rewatch of the first one think.