Author/director Christian Gudegast’s Den Of Thieves isn’t a movie that significantly appealed to my private sensibilities, but it surely did permit me to enter the sequel with an open thoughts and affordable hopes. My dislike of just about each character within the 2018 launch held me again from partaking with the story, however I can subsist on normal heist film machinations, and I’ll admit to being stunned by how breezy I discovered the 140-minute runtime.
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera
Launch Date: July 10, 2025
Directed By: Christian Gudegast
Written By: Christian Gudegast
Starring: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Meadow Williams, and Swen Temmel
Ranking: R for pervasive language, some violence, drug use and sexual references
Runtime: 144 minutes
I went into Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera with probably the most primary of expectations – extra of the identical – and but it nonetheless managed to depart me disenchanted. There may be consistency in that I nonetheless don’t like several of the characters (that goes for each the established ones and the brand new faces), but it surely shortchanges within the story division. As a lot because it tries to decorate issues up with a brand new setting and a brand new treasure, the movie’s story machinations are far much less compelling and thrilling, sapping it of the unique’s enjoyable and rendering it a sleep.
Gerard Butler returns as Nick O’Brien, who stays devoted to discovering Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) after letting him slip by way of his fingers within the aftermath of the Federal Reserve ordeal within the first film. When he hears experiences of an armed theft at an airplane hangar in Antwerp, he turns into satisfied that Donnie was concerned, and he rides the hunch to Good, France the place his suspicions are confirmed. Breaking into the felony’s residence, Nick makes threats and waves round a defunct U.S. Marshals badge, however as a substitute of creating extradition plans, the protagonist as a substitute says his legislation enforcement days are completed and insists on being part of Donnie’s crew, the Panthers, for his subsequent job: the heist of a diamond vault.
Nick is built-in into the work-in-progress alongside his nemesis-turned-friend’s vaguely drawn felony colleagues, and so they slowly work out a approach to circumvent the varied safety units hindering their path to an awesome treasure. This isn’t the one drawback, nevertheless, as the previous cop alienates two members of the crew, turning them into enemies, and it seems that Donnie stole a high-carat diamond from the mafia within the hangar job and has to get it again.
Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera underwhelms with bland characters and an uninspired plot.
All the existence of Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera is based on the concept that audiences need to see the continued tête-à-tête between the drunk/edgy detective and the smarter-than-he-looks thief – however if you happen to didn’t actually click on with the characters within the first film, you’re A) not going to seek out your self reassessing whereas watching the sequel, and B) not going to make any satisfying discoveries throughout the supporting ensemble. No depth is added to the characters, neither is there any suggestion of progress or growth, and whereas heist films characteristically present alternatives for attention-grabbing personalities that come paired with particular abilities, it’s a style staple that’s whiffed at.
The movie does present a brand new dynamic for Nick and Donnie, who grow to be buddies amid their felony collaboration (a transfer taken proper out of the Quick & Livid playbook), however the characters working towards a shared purpose is the one unique factor that is dropped at the desk. Whereas the previous is now working outdoors the confines of the legislation, it’s hardly a stretch from the sunshine wherein he was introduced within the first film: an alcoholic, womanizer who alienates his household and bucks up towards any type of authority. As for the latter, probably the most attention-grabbing factor about him was the Keyser Soze Lite twist included within the last minutes of the earlier story highlighting him as a secret mastermind, and the follow-up fails to seek out any approach to additional outline him past “good criminal.”
Past Den Of Thieves 2’s major characters, the truth that it doesn’t characteristic any tried scene-stealers in its ensemble isn’t one thing that’s significantly stunning on condition that it’s additionally a missing high quality in its predecessor, however I nonetheless can’t say that I’m not disenchanted. I’m a common sucker for the small clashes that unfurl between smart-aleck tech geeks, exacting protected crackers, low IQ bruisers, and many others., however this can be a sequence that has now twice did not scratch that individual style itch. Neither robust personalities nor notable abilities make themselves obvious throughout the roster of the Panthers, and it additional provides to the film’s dullness.
There’s a full failure by the movie to reap the benefits of its European setting.
An analogous degree of laziness might be perceived in its utilization of setting. It doesn’t appear to be unreasonable to count on a taste change when motion is moved from downtown Los Angeles to Southern France, however the closest that Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera will get to this concept is a operating joke about how Nick pronounces the phrase “croissant.” There isn’t any sort of geographic specificity within the manufacturing design, cinematography or set items; it finally looks like a easy play to artificially add scope to the world, and like a lot of the movie, it’s extraordinarily shallow upon reflection.
Getting one’s hopes up for any film launched in January is usually a idiot’s errand, because the month is famously a theatrical dumping floor for studios – however even with correctly adjusted expectations, Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera continues to be a letdown. I needed some dumb enjoyable, however all I received as a substitute was the dumb, and it units a really low bar for a second sequel that the tip of the movie very clearly units up.