Den of Thieves

⭐⭐

Directed by: Christian Gudegast

Written by:  Christian Gudegast Paul Scheuring

Gross Revenue : $34.4 mil

mis·lead·ing

giving the wrong idea or impression:

I WAS IN FACT  MISLEAD!! When I went into Den of Thieves I was expecting an action packed "cops and robbers"  type of situation. I mean, that is what the trailer LEAD me to believe as it did everyone, now I'm no stickler for action, its like my 6th favorite genre I think. However, when you show me something like this, which is what I have a soft spot for.....you know heist films. I expect just that! Not some half baked idea that sluggishly got off the ground. The trailer had me under the impression this would be a gun fighting non stop race against time type of movie and IT WAS NOT! One thing I hate most is when they edit trailers in a way  that totally contradicts the entire film.

Its starts with guns and ends with guns. But the middle is filled with lengthy character development and scenes that serve no purposes. Like the prom date, what exactly was that for? The divorce? It was personal but Gerard's character seemed unaffected by it, it didn't have any psychological ramifications. In my opinion, this film had no business being 2hr and 13 minutes. A good 3 scenes could have been easily thrown out. This entire story could have been done in 90 minutes. There was entirely too much of nothing going on for a good chunk of it. I enjoy the story, the premise is exactly the kind of thing I'd watch. However the execution was riddled with flaws and the directing even made the movie seem more boring then it could have been.

As far as performances go? Well Gerard Butler for me, was the only saving grace and he even seemed a bit off center in this role. Assuming you'd get a decent performance from  50 cent or  O'shea is like assuming you can squeeze water from a rock. I've seen 50 shine more in his show "Power" then in any movie he's ever done. As far as O'shea is concerned, well I'd rather watch his dad, Ice Cube in "Are We There Yet?" (which for me is the worst movie he's ever done) three times in a row rather then watch him ever. 

It was my fault for jumping to conclusions and thinking Den of Thieves was going to be the high grossing year opener. Word of mouth is powerful and chatter surrounding it was nothing short of disappointing, It dragged over the 7 day finish line with a $20 mil in the bank, which would surprise me if the month of January wasn't a nightmare for all releases. Let me just say that for fun, for entertainment and for a "okay" heist movie this would be a good choice, more so if you were really bored and stuck in the house with nothing else to watch yeah.