It would not be surprising to hear people believing Den of Thieves was a pandemic release, given the cult favorite it’s become among action fans within a fairly short time. Surely, this macho flick about cops and robbers became one of the many streaming sensations that arrived during lockdown. But no, the Heat knock-off arrived in theaters back in January 2018, scored mixed reviews, and made a decent but not impressive amount of money. However, with loose threads left to explore and what I can only imagine are solid home video numbers, writer/director Christian Gudegast and star/producer Gerard Butler have now delivered on their promise of a sequel. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera isn’t so much a step up from the first, but it’s an adjustment. The film still lacks discipline, yet presents less brooding and surprisingly more heart to amount to a good-spirited sequel amid the machismo and bloodshed.
Spoilers ahead concerning the previous film, but Pantera picks up some time after the first film’s events. Butler’s Detective “Big Nick” O’Brien is still irritated about the Federal Reserve heist that amounted to no record of any actual money being stolen officially. Still, mastermind Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) managed to get away right from under Nick’s nose with plenty of cash he didn’t have to share with his now-dead associates. Going on a hunch that leads him to Europe, Nick manages to find Donnie. However, instead of taking him in or even confronting him aggressively, there’s a different idea – Nick wants in on the next heist.
See Also: ‘Gladiator II’ Review: Ridley’s Rome
One of the stronger portions of the original film was a section that wasn’t taking a page out of the Michael Mann handbook and instead doing something different. Nick and his cop crew kidnap Donnie, who they only believe to be just a low-level wheelman at the time, allowing them to form a tenuous relationship. These were now the seeds of what we see in this sequel, as a lot more time is spent watching Nick and Donnie working together as they plan out the heist and deal with the ramifications of being in dangerous mob territory when planning jobs in a foreign land.
I’m not going to say Butler and Jackson have great chemistry together, as there’s something about the most macho cop alive and a young man deemed the “greatest thief in the world” that doesn’t quite sit right. However, it’s not an awful pairing, and the two are best either when in the midst of the heist or when sharing silent looks at each other. With that in mind, I appreciate that Big Nick has been turned down compared to the last film. He still has his way of being a smart-ass. That said, without the stress of divorce and a myriad of other clichés burdening him so clearly, we get a better sense of what this guy is like when having to think on his feet in a scenario where he’s going out of bounds to get his man. Or is he?
My issues with the previous film primarily centered around the script and Butler. I can handle a big, hammy performance, but it was more about some intended implications. The film was confident it accomplished tackling some greater themes, but I found it questionable. Namely, Den of Thieves seemed to want us to believe that Nick felt he was just a hair away from being just as bad as the criminals he goes after. I didn’t buy that for a second, but now we have a sequel that lets Nick taste the life of an outlaw. I do believe there’s something there to explore, but the surprisingly straightforward nature of the storytelling only allows for so much nuance.
At 144 minutes (with credits), this is a bit longer than the first film, yet neither justifies their runtime. This film repeats the same offense of spinning its wheels in the middle, confusing the time we spend with this crew as solid character development when it’s never as exciting as it needs to be. Granted, I didn’t dislike all of the time spent here, as cinematographer Terry Stacey makes the most out of the European locations used for filming (this movie looks gorgeous). Still, I did feel the length for a film that is ultimately eventful enough to be so bulky.
Once again, however, the heist does deliver. In the realm of European diamond heists, Pantera is no Rififi (few things are), but the film’s major centerpiece features plenty of tension and a series of events that either go to plan or fall through, leading to new developments. That it leads to a creatively shot shootout attempting to test Ronin lovers on how well this movie handles its high-speed chases through cities and the countryside is like playing with fire, but the results are still worthwhile.
As noted, on top of everything, there’s something about Gudegast’s screenplay that suggests he wanted to provide a brighter outlook for his characters this time. That’s less about who lives or dies and more about the film’s general disposition. For the most part, our leads are having fun doing crimes and bonding. By the film’s conclusion, we’re rooting against certain things happening, and the film seems to agree with that notion. While so many other sequels get bogged down in being darker and grittier takes on what came before, Pantera goes the opposite direction, which feels noteworthy.
While still serving as a space for alphas to thrive, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera does enough to serve as a sufficient heist thriller. I’m unsure why it gets bogged down enough to drag on for over two hours. That said, I appreciated how the film worked at feeling like a distinct entry, as opposed to merely more of the same. Butler stretches a bit more this time, which was also nice to see, and Jackson remains reliable enough. There’s not a ton of action in this film, but when it does get down to business, it brings a proper understanding of these kinds of things to make a meal out of stunningly shot locations filled with gunfire. These Den of Thieves movies may not achieve complete domination for me in the action realm, but they still arrive hot and heavy, with greasy masculinity to spare.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera opens on January 10, 2025.
