Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, 2025.
Written and Directed by Christian Gudegast.
Starring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Meadow Williams, Jordan Bridges, Evin Ahmad, Swen Temmel, Bob Jennings, Michael Bisping, Salvatore Esposito, Orli Shuka, Cristian Solimeno, Nazmiye Oral, Yasen Atour, Giuseppe Schillaci, Dino Kelly, Rico Verhoeven, Velibor Topic, Antonio Bustorff, Yuri D. Brown, Birol Tarkan Yıldız, John West Jr, Ciryl Gane, Mark Grosy, Ignacio Herráez, and Stéphane Coulon.
SYNOPSIS:
Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange.
“Money flies the same flag,” as one career criminal puts it in writer/director Christian Gudegast’s Den of Thieves: Pantera (the numeric sequencing present in the marketing is noticeably absent every time the title is displayed, which could have several implications depending on how one interprets the ending and what could be next), a muscularity mounted but narratively wobbly sequel that sees “the cop go gangster” and force his way into joining the titular thieves on their next heist, a French job robbing from the largest diamond exchange (drawing inspiration from an actual shocking heist pulled off in 2003.)
With Gerard Butler’s Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien (a protagonist name I still can’t believe is real) having faced career setbacks and lost his family, now mostly living out of his car, from the events of 2018’s initial installment, it is logical that his next step wouldn’t necessarily be arresting thieving mastermind Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) if he ever picked up the trail again and located him, but to join him. Big Nick relentlessly pursued that group with reckless obsession and not only has nothing to show for it but seems to have lost everything that matters. If you can’t beat them, join them.
Through some rather convenient leads that come up (the same amount of time that has passed between films is equal here), Big Nick discovers that Donnie has now joined the elusive and skilled group of primarily interchangeable forgettable thieves with the usual unique traits (hackers, reconnaissance, getaway drivers, etc.) led by Evin Ahmad’s Jovanna, instructed to hit the previously mentioned diamond exchange. This also means that there is a heavy dose of enjoyable comedy here with Gerard Butler fumbling his way through French culture (his struggle to pronounce “croissant correctly” might be the same as his inability to catch criminals) and O’Shea Jackson Jr. putting on a French accent.
For a lengthy stretch, Den of Thieves: Pantera is enjoyably playful and humorous, allowing Bic Nick and Donnie to connect as dudebros and bond through exposition about what set them on their respective paths. Essentially, it’s the “you and I aren’t so different after all” schtick without explicitly pointing it out, coming with some subtle, more profound meaning that maybe law enforcement as an occupation is broken and doesn’t reward the so-called good ones. And while there are certainly sluggish bits amongst another unnecessarily long two-and-a-half-hour run time (the film deserves some applause for what it’s doing, but simultaneously there isn’t enough character depth or action to justify that), once the heist begins, it too plays out with a distinct plan taking advantage of brief dark periods in surveillance systems, tension from a situation where something could go wrong at any moment, and an additional (also overstuffed) element in that Donnie must retrieve a specific red diamond stone to return to another band of criminals he initially stole it from and are prepared to kill him and Big Nick over.
One also might be assuming that suspense might be derived from caution on behalf of Donnie and whether or not he feels he can trust Big Nick, but that isn’t a factor. Instead, the film leans into them connecting either through the mission, drunken buffoonery, and developing a mutual respect for one another. They also have each other’s back in a mildly exciting vehicular shootout along winding roads surrounded by mountains, gorgeously shot by cinematographer Terry Stacey, including one hold-your-breath overhead view of that scene.
Even the one significant issue (in that anyone who has ever seen a movie before will catch on to where the story is ultimately headed with its twists and turns) isn’t a problem until an ending that seems disinterested in sticking to its bleakness with heavy choices to wrestle with for one character. Instead, it’s quick to immediately undo that for something more crowd-pleasing and much less narratively weighty. Den of Thieves: Pantera is quick to throw out an idiom and just as fast to overwrite what the film is seemingly trying to say. One also wonders if it’s something Lionsgate mandated to keep sequel opportunities open. It also resembles a cheap mirror to the original film’s ending. On top of that, at least one character is written somewhat dumb throughout and unbelievably so, even amongst story beats that are otherwise solid.
Considering the quality craftsmanship and how charismatic Big Nick and Donnie are to be around, it’s reasonable to believe that there is a diamond in here somewhere buried under an avalanche of gripes, starting with a screenplay and premise that could have pushed further into paranoia, intensity, and unpredictability. The first film was also flawed, but it did have the element of surprise. That’s gone in Den of Thieves: Pantera.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
