Gerard Butler's 140-Minute Crime Thriller Is Officially Dominating Streaming

Published Oct 10, 2026, 7:53 AM EDT

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From 300 to the Has Fallen franchise, Gerard Butler has spent much of his career establishing himself as one of Hollywood's most reliable action stars. The Scottish actor has built a reputation for playing tough, uncompromising characters who are more than comfortable getting their hands dirty, while delivering great one-liners. Despite all this, one franchise seems to get a bit lost when people talk about his filmography. Den of Thieves remains one of the best crime thrillers Butler's been a part of and is still highly underrated within the modern action movie genre. Released in 2018, the film is now available to watch for free on Tubi, and it's dominating the streaming charts as more people decide to check it out.

Directed by Christian Gudegast, Den of Thieves takes the cops and criminals formula and transforms it into a surprisingly compelling crime saga. Gudgeast, who also directed the film's sequel, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, delivers a heist film that finds itself more in the vein of Heat rather than other cookie-cutter thrillers. The film also stars Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, and follows an elite sheriff's department unit in Los Angeles, led by Butler, who are attempting to stop an audacious crew of criminals who plan to pull off a highly sophisticated robbery. Den of Thieves received mixed reviews, but has developed a devoted following thanks to its morally ambiguous characters, intense action, and memorable performances.

Gerard Butler Delivers One of His Best Performances in 'Den of Thieves'

It should come as no surprise that one of the biggest reasons Den of Thieves elevates itself above other films in the genre is Gerard Butler's performance as "Big Nick" O'Brien. On paper, it's a cliché role: a hard-drinking, gruff detective with a marriage on the rocks, who is dedicated to the job above all else. His actions and the methods used by his unit blur the line between law enforcement and outright criminality, as O'Brien embraces the "by any means necessary" mentality in his attempts to stop criminals.

Butler takes everything that is unpleasant about the character and fully embraces it, knowing that he is delivering a performance that is essentially designed to make audiences uncomfortable. Big Nick isn't likable, but Butler makes him undeniably fascinating to watch. From his first scene, you understand what makes him who he is and why he is that way. His performance becomes even more focused when he shares scenes with Pablo Schreiber's Ray Merrimen. While Big Nick operates with reckless abandon, Merrimen robs banks with precision, a contrast that flips the usual battle between good and evil on its head. This reversal, along with Butler's performance, gives Den of Thieves its distinctive personality, forcing audiences to question which side they're actually supposed to support.

'Den of Thieves' Is Much More Than a 'Heat' Imitation

Image via Lionsgate

Big Nick and Merrimen share a DeNiro-Pacino dynamic that's reminiscent of Heat; both men struggle with the idea that they're bad men who are only good at one thing. Given that it's a heist movie set in Los Angeles that follows both the police and thieves as main characters, the comparisons between Heat and Den of Thieves are practically unavoidable. However, dismissing it as a pale imitation fails to recognize that while Heat approaches its characters with tragic grandeur, Den of Thieves is considerably nastier.

Both films have groups of cops and criminals with their own codes, but Den of Thieves gives no impression that these two opposing sides are anything noble. There is a certain griminess in this movie's approach which Heat doesn't use, with both styles working well for each film. Den of Thieves never tries to simply paint itself as Heat; it gets deeper in the mud and the characters know they belong there.

The film's success turned it into a franchise with the aforementioned Den of Thieves 2: Pantera premiering last year, and a third movie set to drop in the future. The films have developed their own audience that craves the sort of gritty action that they provide. With Den of Thieves available to watch for free, it's a great opportunity for audiences to discover or revisit one of Gerard Butler's most entertaining movies. It might not reach the near-impossible heights of Heat, but its ferocious performances, exciting heists, and clever storytelling make it more than a generic action thriller. Nearly a decade after its release, Den of Thieves deserves its rightful place among Butler's best films.

Den of Thieves