Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) Lionsgate/Action-Thriller RT: 144 minutes Rated R (pervasive language, some violence, drug use, sexual references) Director: Christian Gudegast Screenplay: Christina Gudegast Music: Kevin Matley Cinematography: Terry Stacey Release date: January 10, 2025 (US) Cast: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Meadow Williams, Swen Temmel, Michael Bisping, Orli Shuka, Nazmiye Oral, Yasen Zates Atour, Giuseppe Schillaci, Dino Kelly, Rico Verhoeven, Velibor Topic, Antonio Bustorff, Ciryl Gane.
Rating: ***
Was anybody clamoring for a sequel to the 2018 crime thriller Den of Thieves? If they were, I didn’t hear it. I honestly didn’t even remember a lot about it. Written and directed by Christian Gudegast, it’s essentially a retread of the much better Heat with its team of thieves meticulously planning and executing a robbery at L.A.’s Federal Reserve while a team of cops sets out to nab them. It’s a stylish film reminiscent of 80s-era Michael Mann. It’s also slow and overlong. It’s not a bad movie, just a forgettable one. I had to rewatch it to prepare myself for the sequel.
The first new release of 2025, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is actually a little better than the first. Right off the bat, I like that Gudegast resists the temptation to go bigger and louder with this one with a lot of unnecessary flash, dazzle and BANG. It’s another deliberately paced crime thriller, this time with an international setting. It’s set primarily in France where a new team of crooks plans to rob the World Diamond Authority.
Donnie (Jackson, Cocaine Bear), the mastermind of the L.A. robbery who got away with millions of dollars, has a whole new crew and another meticulous plan. He’s going to need it; the WDA is basically a fortress with a seemingly impenetrable security system. None of that matters to Donnie; he’s good at what he does and he knows it. What he didn’t count on was his old nemesis, LAPD sheriff Nick O’Brien (Butler, Olympic Has Fallen), showing back up in his life. Only he’s not there to arrest him. He has something else in mind.
Nick is still smarting over Donnie getting away with his crimes. Even worse, his superiors are content just to close the case because nothing was officially stolen. He heads to Europe after connecting Donnie to a diamond heist out of Antwerp. He tracks him down in France where he drops a bombshell. He wants to join his den of thieves. If you can’t lick ‘em, you might as well join ‘em. Surprisingly, Donnie agrees to it.
That’s not all there is to Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. It turns out the gem Donnie and his team stole in Antwerp is the property of the Mafia. The boss sends his guys to retrieve it. Let’s just say they don’t ask for it nicely.
While Den of Thieves 2: Pantera does have some action, including one nifty car chase, the focus is on the planning of the heist. It’s really more of a procedural. Gudegast really pays attention to detail. It’s like he has intimate knowledge of how to plan an elaborate crime. It takes a while for the actual heist to go down and when it does, it’s tense. You keep waiting for something to go wrong. While everything leading up to it is interesting, it feels dragged out. After a while, you just want them to stop talking about it and get on with it. Like its predecessor, it’s too long.
Gerard Butler is one of the few current action stars that I like. He’s an old school action hero, one who believes in solving problems with fists or guns rather than CGI-enhanced powers. He’s quite good in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Nick is an angry cop. He’s divorced. He has limited visitation rights with his children. He lives in his car. His career took a hit when Donnie got away. He’s got nothing left to lose. If he can’t get justice, at least he can get paid. It’s a good role for Butler.
Jackson is also great as Donnie, a smart crook who leaves nothing to chance which makes it puzzling why he lets Nick in so easily. Isn’t he afraid it might be a trap? Instead, the two men start to bond. They realize they’re not so different after all. They open up about their childhoods over shawarma in one scene. They still have solid chemistry between them after seven years. They don’t miss a single beat in their partnership.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera looks gorgeous, but why wouldn’t it? Nice is a beautiful French city. Also, international settings almost always make a heist movie better. There’s something about foreign locales that enhance excitement and tension. The only thing missing here is a fruit stand being knocked over.
I have to say that Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a pretty good movie. For a movie released in January, it’s quite good. Does it need to be 144 minutes long? No, Gudegast could have tightened the narrative a bit. However, it never actually gets boring so that’s a plus. It’s not a bad way to start the movie year.
