A triumph of boys’ rock cinema
Christian Gudegast’s “Cave of the Robbers” shouldn’t have worked. At first glance, the film appeared to be little more than a copy of Michael Mann’s “Heat” and countless other cops-and-robbers thrillers. In fact, the film is a lot of variation – not only does it borrow heavily from “Heat,” but it even contains a last-minute twist that was shamelessly “borrowed” from “The Usual Suspects.” And yet… “Den of Thieves” ruled for some inexplicable reason. While no one could accuse the flick of being original, the end result was extremely entertaining and entertaining, and I don’t mean in a cynical “so bad it’s good” way. Violent, gripping, funny and outrageously cheeky, Den of Thieves is seedy and dirty stuff – a seedy, dirty action movie about angry men shooting loud guns. It’s not high art, it’s high trash, and I love it with all my heart.
It’s hard to hate a movie in which its hero, burly cop Big Nick O’Brien, snatches a donut from the ground at an outdoor murder scene and takes a big bite. Not long after this moment, Big Nick is seen chugging straight from a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. Big Nick, played by Gerard Butler, seems to be constantly hungover – if you told me that Butler drank half a bottle of Jack Daniels before filming his scenes, I would believe you. Big Nick was a swaggering, macho mess who constantly seemed to be on the verge of regurgitating. He was a flawed, rough beast, unfaithful to his wife and prone to bending the law he had sworn to uphold to get his way. And in the end, Big Nick lost.
In “Den of Thieves,” Big Nick and his crew were on the trail of a gang of bank robbers led by Navy veteran Ray Merrimen, played by Pablo Schreiber. As the gang began planning their latest film, Big Nick attempted to infiltrate the group by turning their getaway driver Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) into an informant. It all culminated in a major shootout that left several people dead, including Merrimen. However, in a final twist, Big Nick was shocked to learn that Merrimen wasn’t the gang’s mastermind. Instead, the entire heist was concocted by Donnie, who was secretly a criminal mastermind and ended up being the sole survivor, getting away with all of the stolen money. That could have been the end of the Den of Thieves saga, but there was also room for more – and surprisingly, the film ended up being a much bigger success than expected. A sequel has been announcedand now it comes in the form of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Instead of trying to recreate the crazy L.A. crime energy of the first film, Gudegast takes the story to Europe, creates something bigger, and creates a film that almost feels like a buddy comedy about big, beefy guys getting caught up in committing some crimes collude in crimes. It’s an absolute banger and a triumph of dudes rock cinema. Long live Big Nick O’Brien, one of the greatest characters in film history.
