Den of Thieves
Concorde Filmverleih | Release Date: January 19, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
13
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJan 18, 2018
Den of Thieves isn't a masterpiece by any means, but it's fun, exciting and hard-boiled, and the actors are doing solid work. Read full review
80
TheWrapTodd GilchristJan 18, 2018
Ultimately, Den of Thieves falls short of its goal, but it gets points for aiming high; there are worse things than trying to be the next Michael Mann when few others would dare try, especially if they lack the enthusiasm oozing out of every frame of your imitation. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 19, 2018
Den of Thieves delivers an above-average cops-and-robbers heist film. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJan 18, 2018
Gudegast's twisty, turny tale of heists and homies is an action-packed romp with a good sense of humor and self-awareness. It's rendered with a startling attention to detail, but one has to wonder if with that detail, he can't quite see the forest for the trees. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJan 18, 2018
It’s derivative and drowning in stagnant machismo, but stark enough to work. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJan 18, 2018
Gudegast is using the Heat homage the way a magician uses a flourish — to distract you from the other story he’s telling. I confess to getting a kick out of watching it play out. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJan 18, 2018
The plot thickens ... and thickens ... and thickens. Gudegast is clearly an avid student of heist pictures, and he layers this one with a lot of spectacular complications even while he muddles the average viewer’s potential rooting interest. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 18, 2018
It’s a sidewinding but often effective L.A. crime thriller saddled with the wrong leading man. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergJan 18, 2018
The film is generous with action and twists, even if some don’t track. For January, a month Hollywood reserves for dogs, this is an admirably weird movie. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 18, 2018
Den of Thieves is better at set-up than follow-through. The movie is clever enough, until it cheats. It tries to fill in its characters, until reducing them to plot devices. Read full review
58
The PlaylistWill AshtonJan 19, 2018
Gudegast does provide a good amount of grimy atmosphere to his L.A. setting, and the action sequences keep you involved even as the running time starts to get gruelling. But, at 140 minutes, Den of Thieves gets too caught up in its own indulgences, and that’s a crime it can’t escape. Read full review
50
IGNSimon ThompsonJan 18, 2018
Clichés combined with poor dialogue and badly drawn characters that lack dimension bog down the heist movie Den of Thieves, which fails to sustain, or generate, any real tension. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJan 18, 2018
Den of Thieves displays a reverence for the taut and moody tension-building tactics of Michael Mann's Heat, but without a single compelling character or backstory to speak of, it's unable to bring even a modicum of emotional resonance to action. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 18, 2018
What might have been a slick, smash-mouth, fast-paced piece of entertainment clocking in at 90 or 100 minutes somehow turns into a bloated, half-baked pie that drags on for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 17, 2018
I can’t say it wasn’t interesting to sit through, but Thieves never rises above a seriously long-winded B-movie, a shoot-em-up in which no matter how graphic the violence that the characters mete out and witness, nobody ever lets you forget they’re playing cops and robbers. Read full review
42
IndieWireJude DryJan 20, 2018
Save for a few clever twists and winning performances from O’Shea Jackson Jr. and 50 Cent (née Curtis Jackson), Den of Thieves is the kind of bloated crime thriller that could have been made in any decade — which is not to call it timeless so much as way past its time. Read full review
41
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaJan 18, 2018
Den of Thieves is such a dumb misunderstanding of the genres in which it plays, such a loud, interminable shart of unmitigated machismo, such a heavy-handed rip-off of Heat and The Usual Suspects and even Ocean’s Eleven (and maybe even The Fast and the Furious, but for scumbags) that it feels anachronistic on arrival, the kind of melodramatic, pulpy studio action flick that doesn’t get made anymore because it shouldn’t. Read full review
40
EmpireJames WhiteFeb 5, 2018
Slick and solid in moments, Den Of Thieves disappoints with its reliance on easy plotting and gruff, overcooked acting. One for Butler completists only. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJan 31, 2018
Although it has the smell of self-importance, like a Michael Cimino movie on steroids, Den of Thieves ultimately fools no one. It’s all about the guns. Read full review
40
Village VoiceDanny KingJan 20, 2018
Between the candy of the Federal Reserve robbery itself — which features a marvelous running bit about the process of delivering Chinese food in a government-surveilled building — and the merry nonsense of Butler chugging Pepto-Bismol during a strategy session, Den of Thieves earns a nice spot in the watch-forty-minutes-on-a-rainy-day canon. Read full review
40
Time OutZachary ShevichJan 18, 2018
This is poor-man's action cinema with zero characterization. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJan 18, 2018
Gudegast, a first-time director who wrote the script to Den of Thieves (and who has probably watched Michael Mann's "Heat" more than once) attempts to comment on humanity's complexities. But all he does with his soulless, hollow characters is make a solid case that men are violent sleazes. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJan 19, 2018
Despite its technical gloss and effective performances, Den of Thieves never manage to feel other than hopelessly derivative. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 19, 2018
Clocking in at two hours and 20 minutes, it seems intended to have been a crime epic in the vein of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” about two men of talent and spirit who happen to be on opposite sides of the law. And it’s sort of like that, if you can imagine a Michael Mann picture that has been set on fire and dropped from an airplane. Read full review
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