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The Preview Reel: 12 Strong and Den of Thieves

Scott Davis
The Preview Reel

Welcome to the “Preview Reel” column, where we look at this week’s upcoming wide-release movies. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle continues its hot streak at the box office, and with two soft contenders entering the ring this week, we don’t see why its reign won’t continue. There’s the based-on-a-true-story war flick 12 Strong and Gerard Butler’s Den of Thieves, neither of which is premiering with much fanfare. Is either of these worthy of the price of admission? Let’s see.

 

12 Strong

What we are excited about: The cast, no pun intended, is strong. Chris Hemsworth has proven to be good leading man with the “Thor” and “Avenger” franchises, and he has plenty of talent surrounding him too. Michael Shannon, Taylor Sheridan, Michael Pena, and William Fichtner are all great supporting actors. Combine the acting talent with a strong true story, and this has the potential to be a January hit much like Lone Survivor and American Sniper were recently.

What we are worried about: There aren’t too many alarm bells with this movie, but one cause for concern might be its director—Nicolai Fuglsig. Fuglsig is making his directorial debut here and, not only that, but it doesn’t seem like he’s been involved with too many films prior to this either. This kind of seems like a big project to cut your teeth on so we’re curious to see how he handles the story and action sequences.

The Buzz: There isn’t much buzz around this movie, which is a little cause for concern. As mentioned before, they were certainly hoping to hit at the same time as Lone Survivor and American Sniper did a few years ago, the only problem is that those movies had awards buzz, this movie does not. With no reviews and next to no buzz, look for around a $15 million opening.

Final Thoughts: We’re not quite sure to think about this one yet, which probably makes it a rental in a few months.

 

Den of Thieves

What we are excited about: Oh boy, not much. The trailer sets the stage for the movie, and we’re not sure if we’re here for this kind of story. This could be a movie with fine action and a decent story to string the sequences together, but we’re not confident given those involved. If you ask us what we’re excited about, we’ll reluctantly say the action sequences.

What we are worried about: Oh boy, a lot. First, Gerard Butler has had a bad string of movies lately. Although this writer did not see last year’s Geostorm, I have heard nothing good about it. He keeps trying to be a leading man akin to Bruce Willis in his heyday, but keeps failing miserably. The only decent action movie he was in recently was Olympus Has Fallen, which was essentially Die Hard in the White House. Den of Thieves is directed by the man who wrote London Has Fallen (far worse than its predecessor), Christian Gudegast, making his directorial debut. Add all of this to the fact that the listed runtime is 140 minutes, and you can almost certainly count us out.

The Buzz: This feels like a January dump for the studio, and with no buzz and no reviews, it looks like it might be a small flop too. Look for an opening around $5 million.

Final Thoughts: There are some awards movies you probably need to catch up on before you see this.

Scott Davis

Scott Davis is a recent graduate of Oakland University where he earned a degree in journalism. He worked for the student newspaper on campus, The Oakland Post, where he became the paper's managing editor. He also earned a minor in Cinema Studies at OU. Scott enjoys all things film and TV related, especially the blockbuster kind. He might be the biggest Christopher Nolan fan you know.
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