Sometimes You Lose and Sometimes You Win: Crime-Part Two from IMDbGerard Butler From Wikipedia.com
Crime, Part Two
Part Two of these suspenseful crime dramas is ‘Sometimes You Lose and Sometimes You Win: Crime, Part Two’. It focuses on Den of Thieves.
But who or what is actually the ‘den of thieves’? Is it the lawmen or is it the thieves? In my opinion, it isn’t clear cut. This movie focuses mostly on big losses and a lack of good guy/bad guy distinctions. Ultimately, the ending is one huge surprise of ‘sometimes you win’. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
Sometimes You Lose
Similar to The Town, there is coincidently quite a bit of violence as well as a loss in the plot. Unfortunately my personal hero, Pablo Schreiber loses his life. Meanwhile, my personal villain, Gerard Butler wins the shootout with Pablo. But at the sametime he wrecks his marriage.
Pablo Schreiber from Wikipedia.com
Den of Thieves
Once again this brilliantly laid out plan could have been the heist of a lifetime. In the beginning, we are all led to believe that the target an ordinary suburban Los Angeles bank robbery.
Meanwhile the branch of a local Los Angeles bank where the thieves strike happens to have an underground tunnel with access to the Los Angeles Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank building. What a coincidence. Eventually the sheriff and his men discover this. But not before the heist is well under way.
Decoy
In the meantime, the bank robbers use this detour as a decoy that almost completely fools the Los Angeles Sheriff’s office headed by none other than Gerard Butler.
Winners and Losers
While he and his crew of lawmen may seem to be the winners, Pablo Schreiber’s den of thieves certainly seem to be the losers. But things are not what they seem.
Who’s the Biggest Loser?
Yes, Pablo gets shot down. And yes, Gerard Butler wins the shootout. Meanwhile, Gerard gets served divorce papers. Seen as hero of the law, he is a horrible husband. Even though he is a winner as a lawman, he is a big loser at everything else. He is truly a contradiction in terms of humanity.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. from IMDb
Sometimes You Win
O’Shea Jackson Jr, aka Donnie, ‘the driver’ played by Ice Cube’s real life son is the winner of this mostly losing but also winning plot. Hints of O’Shea’s cleverness pop up along the way. One major clue is the fact that Donnie’s job is at the bar by the crime scene.
Throughout the film, this bartender collects identity tags accidently left by bank employees. At times the viewer does not know if the target for this heist is actually his rather than Pablo’s or his sidekick played by the character, ’50 cents’ aka Curtis James Jackson III.
Who Really Planned the Heist?
At times it is impossible to conclude who really planned this heist, Pablo aka Merrimen or O’Shea aka Donnie. But the winner is clearly Donnie as he packs up the loot in old rubber tires, ships it somewhere and moves onto London to work in a bar across from the diamond exchange. No coincidence there.
Actor Pablo Schreiber, photo from his Facebook-Official Page
Pablo Schreiber, The Actor
Actor Pablo Schreiber often portrays the bad guy role on TV and in film. Sometimes I was not even able to watch an entire TV episode of Law & Order SVU because his acting was so believable as a very bad guy. In spite of that, I sensed that underneath his terrifying character portrayal there is a real-life nice guy. The following quote by Schreiber, explains it best in his own words and tends to confirm my gut feeling about him as a person and his outstanding acting ability.
“. . . . If there is a reason I’m able to make unsympathetic characters human, it’s because it’s my desire to find what drives the unsympathetic behavior. Almost always at the bottom of it is some deep insecurity. Putting your finger on what each individual’s particular insecurity is goes a long way to fleshing that person out.” Quote by Pablo Schreiber from IMBd
Pablo Schreiber Acting Projects
I have by no means seen all of Pablo Schreiber’s work. For an extensive list of his theatrical, TV and film acting, go to IMBd-Pablo Schreiber . To keep it simple, I will focus on two of his projects, one a TV series of several episodes that Schreiber is a guest actor in and the other, a recent film.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Seven Episodes in Season 14 and 15
First is the series of Law & Order SVU episodes based upon a man, William Lewis who was a “serial rapist, serial killer, serial kidnapper, and sadist (later a spree rapist and spree killer)”. Quote from Law & Order Pablo Schreiber in his terrifying role as William Lewis on Law & Order SVU
Schreiber is the organizer of a recently gathered crime gang composed of military buddies and athletic pals. The story is about a heist planned by a seemingly insignificant character, Donnie Wilson played by O’Shea Jackson Jr. Their target is the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles. The theme and precision timing action make for on-the-edge-of-your-seat entertainment.
Pablo Schreiber as Merriman,organizer of the gang, Den of Thieves in the movie by the same name, 2018
The story pits this gang against the Los Angeles Sherriff’s office, the bad guys versus the good guys. But the movie juxtaposes their leaders, ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien played by Gerald Butler, and Merriman, played by Pablo Schreiber to illustrate that there is little difference between them. Both are violent, adrenaline junkie action seekers festooned with beards and plenty of tattoos. They will stop at nothing.
Gerald Butler as ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien of the LA County Sheriff’s office in Den of Thieves, 2018
What’s Next?
“A psychotic oil matriarch leaves the whole industry exposed when she attempts to outfight a bullish farmer whose water has been poisoned.” Quote from IMDb description of the movie
Director: Edward James Olmos
Writer: Robert McEveety
Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Pablo Schreiber, Alfred Molina The Devil Has A Name, coming in 2019
Who do you think will play the “bullish farmer”? Will Pablo Schreiber be the hero or the villain? We will just have to wait until the movie comes out. I can hardly wait. How about you?
