DBLurker

All I'm going to say, search for "The Movie Based on Lies GDF" on YouTube to see how this movie is based on lies from a psychopath white guy who got off on killing innocent brown people in Iraq.

Not only the "sniper" made up lies about how many he killed, but the movie depicted him as someone haunted by his kills, but in reality he got off on killing innocent people in Iraq.

I am a Ethan Hawke fan and have pretty much seen every movie of his (Sinister is my favorite). But I've felt like he doesn't go action movies much and if you've seen movies like Assault on Precinct 13 or Purge, you know he can do action.

So yeah, 24 hours might not be ground-breaking plot-wise, but it does action well. Story is cliched but well acted. Hawke plus other caste, all good, except for the Chinese actress who can't act and is there cause Hollywood movies are now funded by Chinese and need to make money over there.

I think action is definitely what keeps this movie flowing and makes it worth sitting through. A good popcorn flick.

So I saw this movie right after watching Heat for the first time few days ago.

This movie blatantly tries to copy Heat. Like REALLY copy it. Scenes, moments, shootouts, the director barely tried to do anything different. And in what he DOES do different, the result is.. average.

First things first. The acting is horrible. The only person trying to act is Butler, but that's to be expected. In Heat, you had two opposing factions, with actors like Pacino, Niro and Kilmer making you feel love/hate even for the criminals. Hell, eeven the families and love interests have a part to pay in Heat.

In Den of Thieves? The only character you care a "bit" about is Butler's. But even then, his character is mostly awful so there isn't much to like, compared to Pacino's character who was shown to be a mere human, despite being a dedicated detective machine. Meanwhile in DoT, you have awful actors like 50 Cent who can't act their way out of a paper bag.

Then the heist. It's alright. But relies way too much on luck and coincidences. You'd think that a movie 23 years after Heat, trying to copy it, would try to improve upon the formula. But they just settle for same and even less.

I think the biggest problem I had was that these "marines" felt like a bunch of amateurs when handling weapons. Remember the ending gunfight in Heat and how professional the robbers looked when handling weapons. Val Kilmer especially looked smooth and their handling felt so natural. In DoT? They feel so amateur, especially the cops. The ending fun-fight was just them shooting a bunch of cars instead of a bunch of people (which is a miracle since cars were still full of people in most shots).

Overall, I felt like the director could've gone beyond Heat and made it something more. Instead he just settled on copying Heat.. badly.

Going to give it 5/10 since I think this is still a step up compared to most such movies and it wasn't THAT bad that I would give it less than a 5. It's a popcorn flick. Will not leave a lasting impact like Heat did.