Den of Thieves is just a bunch of boring clichés, says Rashid Irani

The characters, good and evil, are so flat and unidimensional, it’s hard to care what happens to any of them.

DEN OF THIEVES

• Direction: Christian Gudegast
• Actors: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber
• Rating: 1 / 5

A shoddy riff on Michael Mann’s Heat, this misbegotten mess doesn’t even bother to acknowledge the 1995 crime classic.

The plodding storyline follows an elite crew of criminals as they plan an almost-impossible heist in downtown Los Angeles. For the record, viewers are informed that the City of Angels is the bank robbery capital of the world.

Plot twists quickly pile up as a band of cops intervenes, under the command of a worldly-wise lieutenant (Gerard Butler).

Gerard Butler plays the worldly wise lieutenant. Tacked-on scenes of domestic discord between him and his wife border on the absurd.

The shootouts and car chases are ho-hum. The guns and body count make it feel like a cross between zombie horror and war extravaganza.

The characters, good and evil, are so flat and unidimensional, it’s hard to care what happens to any of them. Tacked-on scenes of domestic discord involving the lieutenant and his wife border on the absurd.

Even with an hour or so lopped off from the 140-minute runtime, the cliché-clogged Den of Thieves would still be a chore to sit through.