This movie was pretty hard to rate. The first two acts were pretty slow, like watching a chess game between two unlikable chess geniuses. But the last act... it makes it all worth it, I think! I'd give the first two acts a 1, but the last act is like a 9! The action! The suspense! Do your best to keep an open mind in the beginning, because it really does pay off by the end. If you like movies like The Usual Suspects and Heat, I think you'll like this movie. Except the acting isn't as good and neither are the characters. I mean, I only gave it a 4!
Den of Thieves starts with stats about bank robberies happening every 48 seconds in LA (the bank heist capital of the world, apparently). We see a heist gone wrong as an introduction to the thieves and the officers who want to stop them. Sadly, all characters are a loser in some form or another, so there's no one really to root for. They TRY and make the cops the villains for a while (there's even a line where Gerard Butler says they're the bad guys), but then they try and make him more sympathetic. It's hard to care, though, cuz they really are all terrible people. Murderers, drug users, cheaters, abusive, and all-around terrible people. The only saving grace is that they are amazing at what they do. The maneuvering and positioning is intriguing and it pulled me in.
And then... everything goes sideways and bullets are flying everywhere! People are going down and it's a WAR ZONE! Moving and tactics and WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN NEXT?! Seriously, the last 40 mins of this movie are just worth the time and MoviePass's money.