History Film / DenOfThieves

* BlackAndGrayMorality: O'Brien and his unit are ''charitably'' described as "elite"... but spend most of their time partying, drinking and making questionable decisions in the line of duty. Conversely, Merriman's crew is a band of thieves that has no compulsion about murdering cops by the dozens -- but when it comes to civilians, they take steps to avoid unneeded casualties.

The film is a gritty crime saga which follows the lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.

* {{BFG}}: When Merrimen is stuck in the traffic jam and sees the deputies advancing on him from behind, he pulls out a SAW from the back of the truck and sets it up on the bonnet. The deputies are taken completely by surprise when he fires through his own vehicle to attack them, killing one of them in the first volley of shots.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: The cops flout the law when the have to, and the crooks don't kill civilians, but they still mass-murder cops.

* ConcealmentEqualsCover: [[spoiler: While being chased by Nick, Merrimen sees a thin metal fence on his way and is forced to jump over it. He struggles with it a little, but manages to get on the other side just as Nick catches up to him. Then Nick just [[AvertedTrope shoots]] him throught it, seriously wounding him.]]

* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:The ending shows that Donnie was the real master mind behind the heist. He recruited Merrimen and his crew intending the set them up to take the fall, while he and his crew made it off with the $30 million.]]

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: During the final shootout the cops warn the bystanders in their cars to get down in such a way that the engine block is between them and the bullets, letting the audience know that ConcealmentEqualsCover is ''not'' in effect. By the end of the scene, Merrimen is shot through a thin metal fence.
* FlatCharacter: There is no character development in the film. The closest we get is that one character is different from how we thought.

* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: O'Brien and his cops grab Donnie after the robbery at the Fed, then handcuff him to inside of their truck and beat him till he tells them the location where Merrimen and the rest of the crew are meeting up.

''Den of Thieves'' is a 2018 American heist film co-written, directed and produced by Christian Gudegast. The film stars Creator/GerardButler, Music/FiftyCent, Creator/PabloSchreiber, Creator/OSheaJacksonJr, Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo [=McRae=], and Max Holloway.

''Den of Thieves'' is a 2018 American heist film co-written, directed and produced by Christian Gudegast. The film stars Creator/GerardButler, Music/FiftyCent, Creator/PabloSchreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo [=McRae=], and Max Holloway.

''Den of Thieves'' is a 2018 American heist film co-written, directed and produced by Christian Gudegast. The film stars Creator/GerardButler, Music/FiftyCent, Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo [=McRae=], and Max Holloway.

* GrayAndBlackMorality: The cops flout the law when the have to, and the crooks don't kill civilians, but they still mass-murder cops.

* ConcealmentEqualsCover. Averted. Merrimen jumps over a thin metal fence and then gets shot through it. Of course, Merrimen wasn't trying to use the fence as cover. He just jumped it because it was in his way.

* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:The ending shows that Donnie was the real master mind behind the heist. He recruited Merrimen and his crew intending the set them up to take the fall, while he and his crew made it off with the 30 million.]]

* BillingDisplacement: 50 Cent is placed center stage on his side of the poster, when Pablo Schrieber and O'Shea Jackson play more important characters than him.

* TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction: After a brutal argument with his soon-to-be ex-wife, Big Nick goes to a strip club. One of the dancers picks him up and takes him back to her place. It is only the next morning when Merrimen walks into the apartment that Nick realises that the woman is Merrimen's girlfriend and he has been taken for a ride (in multiple senses).

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Donnie. First, he spends years working at a bar that he knows is frequented by employees of the Federal Reserve, and uses his service job to eavesdrop on their conversations to accumulate enough information to plan the heist. Then he lets Merrimen in on the heist, holding out that Merrimen and his crew get to reap the lion's share of the cash. He plants his own people inside the Reserve to facilitate access to the Reserve, or enable lifting the prize out of the garbage dumpster. This trope most clearly shows when he deliberately allows both Merrimen's crew and Nick's posse to subject him to ButtMonkey treatment, causing both groups to grossly underestimate him. He seems to allow Merrimen and his crew to take the most active role in pulling off the heist, but in truth he is taking the relatively safest role for himself while allowing Merrimen's crew to take all the physical risks upon themselves. Once he's made it to the garbage dumpster, he switches out the prize cash to his own driver, and leaves Merrimen's driver with useless shredded cash. Merrimen dies without ever knowing he's been double-crossed, as it's Nick who opens the bags with the shredded cash. He has no issue with walking down the street from the Reserve to present himself as an easy nab for Nick, but the point there is that he's all too ready to give up Merrimen's location to Nick. Then he picks his handcuffs and escapes while Nick's posse is engrossed in an intense and extended fire fight with Merrimen and his crew. And to top it all off, he uses his cash to open a bar in London near the diamond exchange, so that he can gather intel for a heist on the exchange, and coincidentally setting up a SequelHook along the way.]]