January is a good time to pull off a heist. At least, that’s what the makers of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera hope people think right now. The action movie, a sequel to the 2018 sleeper hit, brings back original stars Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. in yet another cat-and-mouse game. It’s expected to do well at the box office, and will give the Christmas hits Mufasa and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 competition for the most popular movie in North America.
If you like either Den of Thieves movies and still crave the same action, don’t fret. We’ve rounded up three great heist movies that should satisfy your urge for more stealth action and complicated crime capers. All you need is the right streaming subscription and a willingness to watch people break the law.
The Lookout (2007)
Not a lot of people know about The Lookout, but it’s never too late to sample its low-key charms. In the best role of his career, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Chris Pratt (no, not the Guardians of the Galaxy actor), a one-time high school star athlete whose life was ruined by a car accident that killed two people and left him with a mental impairment. Now working as a janitor at a small-town bank, Chris is reluctantly recruited by some men (and a lone femme fatale) in a scheme to rob the bank one late night.
It’s not a spoiler to reveal that things don’t go according to plan, and The Lookout is at its best when Chris must deal with the fallout of a heist that goes terribly awry. The movie was written and directed by Scott Frank, who had already penned one of the best heist movies of all time, 1998’s Out of Sight with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, and would go on to co-write one of the best comic book movies ever, Logan. The man knows what he’s doing.
Here, he keeps the scope small and the suspense tight. Gordon-Levitt excels at playing a damaged, reluctant hero, and the supporting cast, which includes Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, and Carla Gugino, is just terrific. The ending falls apart a little bit, but that’s the only real flaw in this underrated thriller.
The Lookout is streaming for free on Pluto.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Before Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan was known primarily for being a very good writer of genre movies. The best one he ever wrote was Hell or High Water, a neo-Western with a tricky heist at its center. Toby and Tanner Howard (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) are working-class brothers who are knee-deep in trouble. Determined to save their West Texas family ranch, which is about to be foreclosed on by the local bank, they’ve robbed several banks to pay down the debt. Time’s running out, though, and they need to pull off one more robbery to save their ranch.
Yet their desperation leads them to make some pretty big mistakes, with a Texas Ranger, Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges in a terrific, Oscar-nominated performance), hot on their outlaw heels. Can they acquire enough money in time to stop the bank from reclaiming their home? Or will the law catch up to the men who have committed terrible crimes to make sure their family has a future?
Hell or High Water excels at suspense and gritty action, but it’s the characters they introduce us that make it stand out. The ending — a tense standoff that doesn’t involve any guns, just a battle of wills between two men on dramatically opposing sides — is unforgettable, and shows just how well Sheridan can generate drama out of macho posturing.
Hell or High Water is streaming on Paramount+.
Widows (2018)
Men don’t own the heist genre, at least not completely, as Widows showed in 2018. The crime drama was an uncharacteristic departure for writer/director Steve McQueen, who had helmed the disturbing dramas Shame in 2011 and 12 Years a Slave in 2013. After losing her husband, Harry (Liam Neeson), in a car explosion during a botched heist, Veronica (Viola Davis) decides to finish the job he set out to do. But to do that, she needs help, so she recruits the widows of his crime gang who died with him to aid her.
The three widows, plus a street-savvy babysitter (Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo), plan on robbing the safe of a corrupt Chicago politician (Brian Tyree Henry). But surprises are in store for the women, especially Veronica, who uncovers some facts about Harry that lead her to question the whole endeavor.
Like all great heist movies, Widows offers up a great mixture of action, suspense, and drama as the women plan and execute the heist while also dealing with problems that arise when things don’t go according to plan. The movie has one of the most stacked casts in recent years, with Davis, Neeson, Henry, The Crown‘s Elizabeth Debicki, The Penguin‘s Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, and Robert Duvall all turning in vivid performances. The city of Chicago itself emerges as an additional character, lending the movie an authenticity that really sells this complicated caper.
Widows is streaming on Hulu.
