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Heat is the greatest heist movie of all time (much in the same vein that Train to Busan is the best zombie movie ever, and if you disagree, you’re wrong). It’s got Robert De Niro and Al Pacino facing off in the ultimate game of cops vs. robbers. What more could you really ever need? If you haven’t watched it, please do. Dim the lights, get some popcorn, light a candle or two, and enjoy.
With the film’s success, a little over one-hundred and eighty-seven million dollars in the worldwide box office (( “Heat (1995) – Financial Information.” the numbers.com. March 10, 2021 )) and countless mesmerized audience members, it was only a matter of time before duplicates abounded trying to capture the film’s thunder, usually with little success. Den of Thieves is one of the more recent Heat duplicates and, despite its blatant impersonation, is actually quite a good film. This begs the question; is imitation in art, especially film, actually all that bad?
What Is Den Of Thieves?
Den of Thieves is an action-thriller that follows Ray Merrimen (played by Pablo Schreiber) and his crew of high-end bank robbers as they conceive and attempt to carry out a perilous heist. Their objective is to steal thirty million dollars from the Los Angeles Federal Reserve, but Big Nick O’Brien (played by Gerard Butler), the head of the Major Crimes Unit, and his band of cops become aware of the plan work to bring down and stop the thieves.
The opposing crews maneuver and work to one-up the other as the day of the heist draws closer and closer. The resulting film is one rich with gunfights, surprise one-ups, and stare-downs.
What Makes Den Of Thieves Great?
The pros of Den of Thieves are easily identifiable. The best qualities of the film are the all-out action, the refreshing lack of pretentiousness, and the sound design (with special consideration for the audio in the shootouts).
Great Action
Den of Thieves could be critiqued for many things, but being boring is not one of them. Within the first five minutes of the film’s runtime, Merrimen and his crew are in their first gunfight. The gunplay is craftily captured and well-choreographed for the viewer’s utter delight. There are true physicality and realism in every action scene that really adds to the film. To top things off, the final hour is explicitly dedicated to the big heist and the last twenty-five minutes are all about the showdown between Big Nick’s unit and Merrimen’s band of thieves. Does it get any better than that?
Doesn’t Take Itself Too Seriously
In what could be considered a departure from Heat, this film doesn’t feel concerned with telling an extremely grounded and realistically dramatic story. Big Nick, in particular, feels like a larger-than-life, and perhaps obnoxious, character. For instance, the first time seeing him, he eats a donut that had fallen at the crime scene.
This is utterly ridiculous but also helps establish the tone of the film. Ultimately, Den of Thieves is a movie that’s not worried about believability and being a “serious” film. It aims only to be entertaining, and while that could be a turn-off to some, it’s endearing to see a film know and embrace what it is.
Sound Design And Shootouts
Like Heat before it, Den of Thieves pays close attention to its sound design. Heat was considered revolutionary for its portrayal (both in the visual and auditory departments) of gun violence. Michael Mann, the film’s director, notoriously put his actors through a rigorous training course, so the actors themselves could film scenes handling weapons, and Mann meticulously placed microphones on set to capture the audio of guns being handled in real-time (( “Heat (1995 Trivia).” IMDB. March 9, 2021. )) )).
Clearly, Den of Thieves followed this precedent as scenes of glass shattering, punches landing, and (most importantly and impressively) guns shooting all feel and sound as thundering and forceful as one would expect. It’s an often underdeveloped component in film, but it’s a real achievement in Den of Thieves. Scenes of merit that come to mind include the confrontation between Big Nick and Merrimen at the shooting range and, especially, the final shootout.
Why “Copycat” Films Aren’t The End Of The World
When a single film that unabashedly copies another film is pretty good, what’s the big fuss? It’s an opportunity to point to a truly counter-intuitive and backward way of thinking in the arts at large, but especially in thinking of the film industry. Imitation is a natural phenomenon, and something shouldn’t be deemed less creative or less good simply because of how reminiscent it is to something else. And, with instances like Den of Thieves, what’s the point in complaining about its similarity to Heat when it means there’s now two good (though admittedly varying levels of good) creations where there was only one? Den of Thieves is a good movie that doesn’t reach the level of the source material that it is aiming so hard to replicate, but it is still produced an engaging and fun film. Is that really such a bad thing?