Article: Heist, Heist, Baby: Den of Thieves

They shouldn't be calling this Temu Heat. It’s understandable as to why Den of Thieves gets mocked. Gerard Butler-led movies can be a mixed bag. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson doesn’t scream must-see movie. The story feels derivative, and the director's lack of credits could easily be off-putting. The Blu-ray cover is ugly and uninviting. But no. They shouldn’t be calling this Temu heat. They shouldn’t be slandering the good name of this movie. 

With Den of Thieves 2 released earlier this year, I rewatched the original 2018. The first film is the reason for this mini-marathon of heist films.  Unlike the other movies I’ve written about this month, Den of Thieves barely sniffs at anything socioeconomic. However, like Face (1997) and Set it Off (1995), Den of Thieves is unironic in delivery and assured in its execution.

The assuredness starts from the first frames, giving the audience a statistic that is a delectable piece of glorious nonsense: 2400 times a year. 44 Times a Week. 9 Times a Day. Every 48 Minutes. A Bank is Robbed here. 

It’s an absurd, pretend factoid that gets you pumped for what you’re about to watch yet crumbles once you place any second of logical thought upon it. But there’s no time for rationality now. Den of Thieves follows through with an audacious camera shot, starting from the L.A. skyline before quietly swooping down to ground level. Filmmaking has become easier. It's saddening that such impressive camerawork doesn’t get the love it deserves. Listening to the Blu-Ray commentary, because I am old, I'm informed the shot is a helicopter shot that transitions to a drone shot that then shifts to a camera shot on a Russian arm. It’s seamless. If used in something a little more "high art,” there’d be no doubt that the shot would be fawned over by film students for years. It turns up however in a 2018 Gerard Butler heist flick. Occurring after a hilarious bunch of fake statistics. This opening is summed up in three words: Slick and dumb.

What Den of Thieves director Christian Gudegast has accomplished is no small feat. I mean slick and dumb as a compliment. There’s a lunkheaded elegance in what he’s created. This is hard to do. Constructing a large-scale crime movie which implies Machiavellian scheming and grand tragedy yet is silly enough to be boiled down to a bunch of toxic scumbags jousting with their appendages. The film taps into something primal. And manages to be disgracefully entertaining while doing so. There are no clear good or bad guys, just an unhinged clashing of brutes who wish to drag everyone into the dirt with them. It’s difficult to watch such despicable characters and yet have them remain engaging. To have you wonder how much damage they are willing to inflict on those around them.

Here's a smattering of plot. A group of ex-marines, led by Ray Merrimen, perform a hijacking of an armoured truck which leaves a substantial number of casualties. Detective Nick “Big Nick” O’Brian and his crack squad of deputies set out to investigate the case. At first, things don’t seem to add up. Why would this crew steal an empty truck? However, the plan soon materialises. It turns out that Merrimen is looking to rob the Federal Reserve Bank situated in downtown Los Angeles. It’s down to Big Nick and his team to stop Merrimen from performing a heist deemed “impossible”.

Den of Thieves is two and a half hours long. A running time anyone busy may baulk at. It’s not like we’re dealing with any heavy narrative here. Yet Christian Gudegast knows how to spin a yarn of noxious machismo. In between the crisply executed set pieces and solid performances, is a heist narrative that could be called Meathead’s Oceans 11.  Gudegast has a deft hand at not only building the characters but also framing them around the absurdity that the illogical elements of the narrative don’t matter. No one is likeable here, yet their stories are so engaging, there’s a perverse desire to watch them manoeuvre around each other. 

Comparisons to Heat (1995) are understandable, especially when considering the location, characters and aspects of the plot. However, thematically Den of Thieves would make a fascinating double bill with Gerard Johnson’s Hyena (2014). A British crime thriller which situates its characters in an equally grim, testosterone-fuelled world, where no one is “good”, and rooting for any character feels fruitless.  The only real sliver of politics seems to lie here. Merrimen’s crew, once a team of Marines, are now using the skills learned in warfare to steal money from their own country. This is done under the guise that “no one will see the bills” that they seize due to the intricate way the bills are removed from circulation. In the real world, this is nonsense. However, in this film's universe, it's a bit of poetic licence the audience should ignore to allow them to discover the unsubtle subtext of the American ex-military have yet again come home to an unjust and uninterested homeland and have to steal from the government to live.

 The film takes time to establish members of Merrimen’s team as pretty on-the-level family men despite their career in thievery. In comparison, Big Nick's complete wreck of a homelife is not unlike James Wood’s Lloyd Hopkins' in Cop (1988).  It would be easy to argue that the moral compass of either character has been tempered by principal magnets. Big Nick’s obsessive desire to catch Merrimen is less about it being the right thing to do, and more about being the only thing left in his life. He feels more interested in getting into his foe's head over being on the right side of the law. The concerning thing is that Merrimen is more than willing to match Nick’s rashness. 

This is my favourite Gerard Butler performance. As a performer, I find similarities to Jason Statham. They’re never cast for their range, although watching Butler in Dear Frankie (2004) is a good showcase of his ability to show sensitivity. The two actors both have a tactile ruggedness that often suits the roles they inhabit far better than they are given credit for. Big Nick is the perfect blend of rough, wide-eyed and reckless for Butler. A man seemingly designed to get under the skin of everyone he meets, but to disregard him seems equally as hazardous, and Nick wants to make sure you don’t ignore him. In turn, Pablo Schreiber is a superb foil as Nick’s adversary Merrimen. Bringing with him a quiet intensity. It’s more than a little pleasing to watch these two scummy peacocks’ posture at each other. Sometimes without a word being said. 

Despite its indulgent running time and ludicrous plotting, Den of Thieves is a solidly executed piece of gruff, gritty male thuggery. The film isn’t the balls-to-the-wall actioner that it was marketed to be, but this isn’t to say Gudegast doesn’t know his way around a violent shootout. The film’s finale is brutally effective. Some reviews have lambasted a supposedly needless earlier scene involving 50 Cent going full Bad Boys 2 on his daughter’s prom date. Yet Gudegast gives Jackson’s character a payoff that while it could have easily left on the cutting room floor, delivers a small moment of emotional significance that could have easily been lost. It’s no Val Kilmer and Ashley Judd, but then again, what is?  

Den of Thieves may have you question the freshness of Chinese food, security details and the reasonings behind hiring sex workers. Yet as the hare-brained scenarios get more fervent, the film is never dull. The centrepiece heist is an absurd plan, but I can’t say I didn’t have fun figuring it all out again on this latest watch. For all the film's frayed edges, the film builds to a satisfyingly silly finale. One which quenches the thirst for B-movie action, while delivering a finish which alters previous scenes upon watching a second time. Den of Thieves more than leans on its homages. But it never feels tacky while doing so. Nor does it have the self-seriousness which has derailed other crime movies released around a similar time. I’m looking at you Triple 9 (2016). I’m still upset that the star-studded crime thriller has seemingly landed John Hillcoat in director’s jail.

Den of Thieves has obtained a sequel, and there are talks that the now franchise will have two more entries in the pipeline. At the time of writing, I have yet to see Den of Thieves: Pantera. However, if Pantera is anything like its predecessor, I’m sure that the film is in more than capable hands. It just needs to maintain the tone—slick and dumb. 

Den of Thieves is available on Amazon Prime and Blu-Ray

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Article: Sleaze on the streets - A first viewing of Cop

 A grim neo-noir which is as blunt as its name. Cop (1988) is a morbid curiosity which only matches its bloody violence with absurdity. Roger Ebert’s review of the movie notes the film becomes an essay on the “Cop” genre; with its final shots slamming the book shut. Cop which certainly borrows from the likes of Dirty Harry (1971), certainly feels like a full stop on a certain type of cop drama. While of course, films like Cop have never stopped being made, its release coincides with the final Dirty Harry entry: The Dead Pool (1988). A film which had the cracks more than starting to show with the series. Cop also comes out the same year as Die Hard. Kathryn Bigelow’s Blue Steel appeared soon after in 1989. Looking back at this moment, it feels like subconsciously there’s a crossing of the guards. It might be harder to get away with films like this in the future.  Once Silence of the Lambs and Seven appeared in the '90s, it felt like the book Ebert talks about had been rewritten. Cop now feels even more like a relic. That doesn’t stop it from being an entertaining watch though.

The cop of the film’s title is deliriously played by James Woods, who portrays the role with the intensity and odious sleaze that only an actor like him can provide. Woods plays Lloyd Hopkins, an unorthodox police detective who, like Dirty Harry, doesn’t play by the rules, but damn sure gets results. However, while Harry Callahan's dubious morals are built towards a black-and-white view of justice, Woods Hopkins is a grubbier prospect. He is happy to rely on graphic stories of the scumbags he arrests/murders to his eight-year-old daughter, while his wife pleads with him to go to therapy for his troubled mind. The issues Hopkins has become quite apparent when he takes on a murder case of a young woman. He believes the murder is one out of a string of similar killings which have been occurring for almost two decades. Hopkins is a good detective, but his evidence in this case is flimsy. Therefore, Hopkins executes all the tricks of his playbook. Take note early one, Hopkins blows away a criminal suspect in a shower of bullets before making the moves on the dead man’s date before the split blood has even cooled. Lloyd Hopkins is a particular kind of asshole.

This is what makes Cop a fascinating watch. Hopkins’ talent as a detective is formidable. Shown early in the film’s second scene in which he shows a greener cop the ropes of what to pick up on when a call comes through. Yet why he’s a Cop seems to be for the sport, with little care for upholding the law. He puts on a front that he’s part of the thin blue line stopping L.A. from being overrun. Hopkins displays his little bedtime story to his daughter as something to prepare her for the scum she may have to deal with in her life. All the while, Hopkins’ objectification of women is as dubious as the hypothetical crims he claims that he is preparing his daughter for. Another litmus test for his values is his behaviour when canvassing a feminist bookstore for leads. Here he meets the owner, Kathleen; a woman who may hold the key to finding the culprit of the case. Here Hopkins pulls out his inner James Bond, putting on all his sleazy moves to seduce her. This is also while being wholeheartedly dismissive of her as a survivor of sexual assault. Seeing her as merely another object that can hurtle him towards his goal.

Woods’ ability to sink into Hopkins’ grubby nature makes the endeavour immensely watchable. There's a swiftness in how he fornicates with a sex worker witness. A brazenness to the obnoxious tone in his exchanges with his boss. Hopkins is, for lack of a better word, a sleazy prick. However, the amount of concern he gives to this case, along with the fact his hunches keep him on track of the killer, only makes him more compelling. This is Bad Lieutenant (1992) before Bad Lieutenant. The way the film cannily keeps focus away from the killer helps suggest that you don’t need villains around when you have cops like this. In an updated reference, Hopkins is no better than the killer he’s chasing. Seeing people, particularly women, as disposable. He would be a reason to choose the bear.

Despite this, the film applies a certain level of absurdity to the proceedings. Leslie Ann Warren, a feminist book owner comes across as a fierce activist for women’s rights. However, it’s surprisingly troubling how easily Hopkins puts the moves on her; and how swiftly she indulges him. It’s a dynamic that would be more interesting if Hopkins needed to chip away at her defences. However, the weakness within this character and her belief in white knights and happy endings feel underwritten. Although it does bring forth a dark humour to the situation. Albeit one that would perhaps get the stink-eye from folk today. Also, while Hopkins's cop credentials are established well early on, it’s a narrative in which Hopkins rarely seems to struggle in his investigative work. Hopkins is allowed to have some fiery exchanges with his head of department when he’s deprived of resources for the case. However, his hunches are unwavering, a small piece of detective is uncanny, and the conflict within the film never gets as hostile as Hopkins himself.

However, the brutally abrupt finale to Cop is such a ballsy slap in the face, that it’s lingered in my mind for a few days since my viewing. It’s not that the last moments are shocking in any grotesque way. But the film’s ending is so sudden that it forced me to think about the film, as well as parts of the subgenre. It’s commendable that the film's unromanticised finish ensures a sense of nihilism all the way up until the end. Cop starts and ends with a Detective on the edge; who’s so enraptured by sleaze that he’s become addicted to it. He talks a good game about wanting to solve the case, but the disillusionment and emptiness can be seen from the start to the final three shotgun blasts. Copagander this ain’t.  

Cop can be found on various streaming platforms.

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Review: End of Watch

Year: 2012
Director: David Ayer
Screenplay: David Ayer
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick, Frak Grillo, America Ferrera

Synopsis is here

I was quite bowled over with End of Watch. Its combination of the mundane and the visceral really appealed to me. My girlfriend was less impressed, frustrated by the film's running time. I was less bothered by this. The film is in no way as economical as it could be, with the films length allowing some of its narrative aspects to almost trip it up. However the film is less about its narrative and more about its characters. For me, the film is effective when we gain the sense of just how haunted these police members are as they battle against the grimness of their eco-system.

There is visual inventiveness within the film too. End of Watch's cinematographer Geoffrey Jackobsson, confines these two officers within their police car. Note that the ironic and unfortunate district number is often caught as we cut around the vehicle with abstract Micheal Mann like shots. It's within this car we get to know these men personally. We see them at peace, see them at their sanctuary. This ideal only intensifies as we witness the danger the officers’ face each time they pick up a call and exit the vehicle. 

Much has been said about the films "found footage" aspect; often a bane of contention with many, here, I found aesthetic to be one of the film’s best touches. It's easy to feel that such an element is a gimmick thanks to the consistent use of the tactic by horror films, however, in the same way a director like Martin Scorsese uses 16mm to capture a feel of nostalgia and history, Director David Ayer uses the "handy cam" footage to accurately convey a certain sense of relevance of our current culture. Its opening sequence, a car chase with downtown LA, doesn't have the pace that we often see in a crime thriller (such is the beauty of good editors), but it does have the realism. Take away Gyllenhaal and Pena and this could be any video lifted from youtube. Not all of it works. Like so many films which dabble in "user generated" footage; one may find it hard to believe that, say, hardened gangster would be filming some of their exploits in such a way. But while there's a feeling of the improbable, it's never impossible, and the film using the method as a part of the aesthetic and not the whole, allows an intimacy and immediacy that works well with the narrative and the genre. 

David Ayer (writer of Training Day) captures the distress of the situations so well it shows on the characters faces. Part of the film’s success with me is that; despite its somewhat generic plot, its grimness is boiled down to such a concentrated level you can feel it on everybody's skin. My girlfriend's aforementioned issue with the length of the film is an interesting one, mostly because I loved how the film happily spends much of its time with its main relationship, getting under the skin of these guys, seeing what makes them tick. We gain such a sense of these characters that when they are affronted with what they see, we can feel it in their bones as much as they can. We understand why they're so hardened, and we can fear and/or pity them accordingly. They remind me of coroners, having to place a shield between them and their subject to deal with their day to day harshness. It's compelling when the darkness breaks through.

You need a good cast for this, and End of Watch picks a strong bunch of talent and plays to all of their strengths.  Gynllenhaal is always at his best as a jaded, young recruit be it of the Army or Giant Time Travelling Bunnies and the choice of him being the main thrust of the narrative is a solid one. Pena is superb as Gynllenhaal's foil. While Gynllenhaal's Brian Taylor deals with the worrying conundrums of it all, Pena's Mike Zavala is the heart of the film. All emotions and hot blood, Zavala is the most instinctive and reactive out of the two. Pena's performance takes something that could feel stale and typical and injects new energy to it. The chemistry between the two is so engaging that one could easily just watch them shoot the shit. It's worth mentioning a sweet performance from Anna Kendrick as well as a nice turn from Frank Grillo, who places the perfect amount of weight to a small but important scene.

End of Watch doesn't do too much in way of fresh storytelling, but the films technique and performances bring forth a bold and riveting piece about two men trying to do good in a corrosive environment.  

Review: The Guard

Year: 2011
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Screenplay: John Michael McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong

Synopsis is here

As The Guard is an Irish film, it's no surprise to me that I have to scraper to an art house cinema chain in a small town in order to catch a screening. I didn't do too much reading into it due to a mixture of time and a general not-particularly-botheredness about it. However due to a Q & A screening for Red State being pulled and me managing to watch the film elsewhere, I took a plunge on the film as I had nothing else to do with my time. A couple of hours later and I come out of one of my favourite films of the year. A deceptively touching story, a character actor knocking his lead performance out of the park and a screenplay with dialogue as charming and witty as it is un P.C.

It's no surprise that the director John Michael McDonagh is the brother of In Burges director Martin McDonagh as The Guard features the same knockabout humour which made the 2008 hitman comedy a popular cult favourite. The buddy comedy aspect is also with both films however this film is much more interested in playing around with the particular sub-genre, turning aspects on it's head and casting a wry eye over the usual genre elements. Consider Gleeson here as an Irish Eddie Murphy to Don Cheadle's more straight edged Judge Reynold. The film merrily toys with the idea of a black Yale educated FBI agent full out of his element in gaelic, small town Ireland. It's important to see this compared to the Rush Hours, Cop Outs, 48 Hours or Last Boy Scouts within the genre. We see the "streetwise black guy" so often it's almost second nature. The simple act of turning this aspect on it's head makes way for some good humour (seriously worth watching for Don Cheadle's reactions alone).

We get racial jibes about swimming and growing up in the projects by Gleeson's character, but it's not at Cheadle's (or the audience's) expense in any shape or form as McDonagh has created a character who deftly balances the suggestion that his ignorance may all be a massive joke which helps him be a better officer...or not. Is he playing dumb as he knows more about the case than you think and all this FBI nonsense is getting in the way or is he just a naive, tackless old bugger who just not used to the situation he's thrown into?

Gleeson's Gerry Boyle is a wonderfully full-bodied character (gleefully embraced by Gleeson) who has relationships which germinate around him as the film goes on. Once again I like it when this happens and the film doesn't feel like a robotic reading of a script. The relationship between his dying mother (a wonderful Fionnula Flanagan) is gently humorous as well as heart-rendering, while the partnership with Cheadle's Wendell Everett knocks banter, misunderstandings and finally friendship like no bodies business.

The whole film is like this however; chocked full of silly character moments from a strong cast (short and sweet turn from Mark Strong) and a script which constantly plays with the idea of the buddy cop movie. We get lowest of the low criminals with extraordinary high taste in culture and philosophy, a kid so hooked on genre T.V he plays a conversation with Boyle as if he's that first edgy witness (you know the one that's ALWAYS in these things), while a characters first day on the job is the worst day of his life (consider those cops who don't to that last day of retirement due to a bullet related illness).

Ireland is gorgeously captured through the lens and the films gentle meandering pace and manner is held together with laugh out loud one liners and sharp asides. The film is also happy to shift tones in it's more quieter character moments giving the same emotional tap that In Burges was happy to provide.

Interestingly while In Burges comments on religion, guilt and sin, The Guard appears more focused on existentialism. It's low life constantly questions not the pointlessness of their job, but life itself while the films ambiguous climax could be lost on a first viewing, becoming clearer on a second glance. The clues lie within the relationships that Gerry Boyle has and loses. Boyle is asked if he's real fucking dumb or real fucking smart. We've seen the answer in his eyes throughout the movie and it's more than you think.