Old_Swampy
Joined Aug 2010
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Reviews11
Old_Swampy's rating
Multiple different plots, none of them interesting. They try to cram a bunch of stuff in, but don't focus long on any one thing. There's the kid who can't play baseball real good, bernie and his dead wife, the guy whose cancer comes back, the wife who gets hit by a car, the other two old people who are pregnant, wilford brimley and his wife are having doubts about leaving, gutenberg and welch's relationship, an earthquake releases cocoons, an alien gets captured and they have to rescue it, and more. Why are there so many plots, all of them maudlin?
It is laugh out loud funny when the alien looks at courtney cox. It looks like someone in a lumpy vacuum-sealed garbage bag.
I would recommend this to people who want to see a shirtless steve guttenberg in the best shape of his life and people who really like side plots.
It is laugh out loud funny when the alien looks at courtney cox. It looks like someone in a lumpy vacuum-sealed garbage bag.
I would recommend this to people who want to see a shirtless steve guttenberg in the best shape of his life and people who really like side plots.
Helpful•20
Helpful•05
Den of Thieves is a great heist, action, and character movie. It's well shot and well acted. For the most part it does a great job of show and don't tell. Lots of scenes have little dialogue or let the viewer take in what's going on before the action begins. Most of all it's really good at creating tension. There are many, many scenes that give a real feeling of suspense. It was awesome. He lets tense situations build up slowly, taking his time so the suspense keeps growing. He was great at using silence to do this. He really was smart about letting the scene develop.
The director doesn't ask too much of his actors, except the two that can handle it the best, Butler and Schrieber. They were both really good. Butler has a good American accent and just chews scenery throughout. It was weird, his first scene is probably his worst and most hokey. It left me dreading the rest of the movie but he's great the rest of the way. Schrieber likewise is excellent playing his opposite, a smart, stoic thief. He also looks super cool, like a legit tough guy who doesn't feel a need to prove anything. Jackson is good as the most prominent supporting actor, very believable in his role as the gang's newest recruit.
The 3 heists in the movie are all awesome. Like I said earlier, they all are really tense and leave you feeling like you don't know how they'll turn out. Importantly, they're smart. The characters' actions make logical sense and there's nothing incredibly unbelievable about what they do. It perfectly straddles the line of suspending disbelief. It also doesn't take itself too seriously. It doesn't try to have a message or get really dark with crazy violence or horrible backstories. It also doesn't go too far the other way and try to be really funny or have a comedic relief character. It stays in its lane as a solid heist movie; no more, no less.
It's incredible to me how much better this movie is than Heat, especially considering that Heat had DeNiro and Pacino. I don't blame DeNiro and Pacino at all for that, it was all the script's fault. It was just so blah. The first heist in Heat was great, but the main one was so dumb. It wasn't intricate or interesting and ended up being a super unrealistic street shootout that just went on and on. It also took itself way too seriously with the slow-mo and super dramatic music during said gunfight without the necessary build-up to make me care about the characters involved. Obviously the reason it took itself so seriously was that they had DeNiro and Pacino in the same movie, but that's not a reason to include slo-mo opera scenes. You can practically hear them singing 'DENIIIRRROOO', 'PAAACCINNNO' when they go to slo-mo. They tried to make it as epic as it should have been, but they didn't give Bobby and Al anything to do. One dumb scene in a coffee shop where they congratulate each other on their status in life and tell each other they're not backing down, they're both the best. THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT THEIR REAL SELVES, GET IT??? And then one incredibly boring, drawn-out scene where one middle aged guy slowly jogs into an airfield at night and another middle aged guy slowly jogs after him. That's it? Heat had nothing. Den of Thieves, on the other hand, stars a Schrieber I hadn't heard of and a guy best known for being a Scottish Greek thong-wearer, and delivers a fantastic heist movie with actual chemistry and tension between the main characters without ever having them sit down to tea together to spell things out for the audience. It's all the power of a good script with good direction.
The director doesn't ask too much of his actors, except the two that can handle it the best, Butler and Schrieber. They were both really good. Butler has a good American accent and just chews scenery throughout. It was weird, his first scene is probably his worst and most hokey. It left me dreading the rest of the movie but he's great the rest of the way. Schrieber likewise is excellent playing his opposite, a smart, stoic thief. He also looks super cool, like a legit tough guy who doesn't feel a need to prove anything. Jackson is good as the most prominent supporting actor, very believable in his role as the gang's newest recruit.
The 3 heists in the movie are all awesome. Like I said earlier, they all are really tense and leave you feeling like you don't know how they'll turn out. Importantly, they're smart. The characters' actions make logical sense and there's nothing incredibly unbelievable about what they do. It perfectly straddles the line of suspending disbelief. It also doesn't take itself too seriously. It doesn't try to have a message or get really dark with crazy violence or horrible backstories. It also doesn't go too far the other way and try to be really funny or have a comedic relief character. It stays in its lane as a solid heist movie; no more, no less.
It's incredible to me how much better this movie is than Heat, especially considering that Heat had DeNiro and Pacino. I don't blame DeNiro and Pacino at all for that, it was all the script's fault. It was just so blah. The first heist in Heat was great, but the main one was so dumb. It wasn't intricate or interesting and ended up being a super unrealistic street shootout that just went on and on. It also took itself way too seriously with the slow-mo and super dramatic music during said gunfight without the necessary build-up to make me care about the characters involved. Obviously the reason it took itself so seriously was that they had DeNiro and Pacino in the same movie, but that's not a reason to include slo-mo opera scenes. You can practically hear them singing 'DENIIIRRROOO', 'PAAACCINNNO' when they go to slo-mo. They tried to make it as epic as it should have been, but they didn't give Bobby and Al anything to do. One dumb scene in a coffee shop where they congratulate each other on their status in life and tell each other they're not backing down, they're both the best. THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT THEIR REAL SELVES, GET IT??? And then one incredibly boring, drawn-out scene where one middle aged guy slowly jogs into an airfield at night and another middle aged guy slowly jogs after him. That's it? Heat had nothing. Den of Thieves, on the other hand, stars a Schrieber I hadn't heard of and a guy best known for being a Scottish Greek thong-wearer, and delivers a fantastic heist movie with actual chemistry and tension between the main characters without ever having them sit down to tea together to spell things out for the audience. It's all the power of a good script with good direction.
Helpful•14