Den of Iniquity

I'd heard that Den of Thieves (2018) (and especially it's sequel) is a cool, modern action movie, and it maybe even sets a new standard. So I was psyched to watch. Ms. Spenser, of course, was not interexsted. 

It starts with an immaculate heist. A gang dressed in full coverage suits with googles and gasmasks attack an armored car. It's going smoothly, when someone gets antsy and a gunfight breaks out, leaving many dead, including one of the crew. They get away with the car - but empty.

We meet the gang, and it's leader, Pablo Schreiber. This plan is all part of a scheme to rob the Federal Exchange of all the cash that is to be destroyed (and is therefore in no databases) before it is destroyed. OK, not bad.

Then we meet Gerard Butler. He is a hard-drinking, womanizing, soon-to-be-divorced piece of shit cop. He and his gang of Regulators make Schreiber their main suspect, and round up O'Shea Jackson. Instead of "taking him downtown", they hold him incognito and threaten him until he breaks.

So the movie is split between the gang, who are cool, ruthless and smart, and the cops, who are sloppy, ruthless and arrogant. I'm afraid the first group didn't really grab me, and the second were repulsive. Jackson seemed to be too stupid to live, etc. Then my DVD started skipping (it happens, especially on older library discs). 

It worked ok for the scene where Butler's daughter is being taken on a first date by a young man. Butler takes him to the garage for a short man-to-man. All his Regulators are there, and they threaten him with dire consequences if Butler's precious daughter gets hurt. He leaves and then they all laugh and laugh.

That scene is so overused, so cliche, that you just can't take it seriously - but I think the movie did. I think the brutal, amoral Regulators were supposed to be cool, not alarming. The Regulators are/were a real thing, and not a good one. So I bailed, just quit there.

I might have finished this if it wasn't skipping. I understand there are some good twists and better heists. But I have no regrets. The sequel is supposed to be a little more self-aware, but I doubt I'll watch it, either.