Den of Thieves

Director: Christian Gudegast
Year Released: 2018
Rating: 2.5

Rogue Detective "Big Nick" (Gerard Butler) - he don't play by no rules! - faces off against former Marine Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber), who has a plan in place to rob the Federal Reserve in Los Angeles: much shooting and domestic disharmony follow. Although it's all too easy to spot where Gudegast 'borrowed' (cough ... cough) his ideas from (Michael Mann, Ocean's 11, etc.), and I'm not entirely sure why he devotes so much time to matters like 50 Cent's parenting skills (criminals have families too?) or Nick following around his ex-wife (cops go through nasty divorces too?) when he has no intention of wrapping those storylines up, it's a better-than-average caper, full of slick technique with no originality, with Butler's I-don't-give-a-damn bravado leading the way (he even tells the FBI to back off, and they do). There's a nice little 'twist' at the end (Ice Cube didn't raise no damn fool) that doesn't totally make sense but I'll go with it; the practical side of me wonders who's going to cover the insurance for all those vehicles shot to bits with a SAW. Hope everyone had Allstate ... Mayhem played a part in all this.