For those who didn’t want to dive into that original Den of Thieves review from years gone by, I can summarize it this way – when I first opted to check that first installment out on the Big Screen, very much on a whim, I’d gone in with next to no expectations.
However, much like my experiences with Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Crazies (2010), John Wick (2014) and The Creator (2023), to name a few, I came away genuinely and pleasantly surprised by what I’d seen, eager to see what else may stem from the content I’d just devoured. In some cases, like John Wick, there was a whole franchise waiting in store. Others, like The Creator, seem to be a ‘one and done’.
Luckily, that first Den of Thieves succeeded in making some bank at the Box Office, enough to warrant another entry into yet another of Gerard Butler’s many action franchises.
And here we are.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera picks up within months of the first flick’s twisty and awesomely violent ending, with us catching up to dirty LA Sheriff ‘Big Nick’ (Gerard Butler) after having finally gotten himself into shit that he can’t slime his way out of, losing his job while also watching his divorce situation come to fruition, furthering dropping him into a dark hole of depression and alcoholism.
In a last ditch effort to find out what happened to ‘Donnie’ (Oshea Jackson Jr.), the only one missing from the crew that hit the Federal Reserve, and seemingly got away with it, ‘Nick’ is able to pull key information from the tough-as-nails stripper girlfriend of his *SPOILER* recently departed nemesis and crew leader, ‘Merrimen’ (Pablo Schreiber), suggesting his slippery target may have headed for European shores, something we, the audience, know to be true, based on where we last saw ‘Donnie’ at the tail-end of the first movie. Nick heads to Belgium and through hard-assed attitude and surprising suspiciously-convenient resourcefulness, locates ‘Donnie’ and his new crew as they set their sights on the lucrative Antwerp diamond district. Only ‘Nick’ does not come bearing cuffs, instead opting to turn his back on law enforcement to join in on ‘Donnie’s efforts. What results is a cat-n-mouse game with not just the local cops and security, but also a dangerous group of Balkan mafia members who also have their eyes on ‘Donnie’.
Being that my current wifi set-up fucking suuuuccks, I’ve been finding myself diving headlong into my sizeable collection of physical media, while also adding new titles, even going so far as to…brace yourself…purchase some of them…MOVIE UNSEEN(!), breaking one of my long-standing rules for Blu ray collection!
I know, right?! Who does THAT?!!
But this is the man I now am, so I’m just going to roll with it. *shrugs*
Admittedly, taking the plunge has yielded some shit I now only keep from a completist standpoint, like the atrocious Bad Boys: Ride or Die (https://thekneejerkreaction.com/2025/11/29/bad-boys-ride-or-die-2024/), but this was not one of those, I’m happy to report.
I also reasoned that, since this sequel was again written and directed by Christian Gudepast, who’d very much impressed me the first time around, I was probably in ‘good hands’, should I opt to blindly added it to the collection.
So, it arrives, the wrapping is torn asunder and the usual ritual ensues on a stormy Friday night –
Sip sip…puff puff…*grabs pen and paper*…hits PLAY.
Scribbles happened again…
-Like the first, looks great. That was the thing that got my attention right off the bat in the first flick, was just how well it was lit, composed, shot and edited. Gudepast seems to effortlessly pick up where he left off, stylistically speaking, and it pulled me in. I always seem to fall back to this, when it comes to contemporary action films, but I can’t help but to wonder if Gudepast is another disciple of the Late, Great Tony Scott (True Romance).
In fact, I don’t wonder…I know.
There is definitely that ‘polished grit’ flavour that the younger, gone-before-his-time Scott brother undeniably pioneered, that has been emulated for years through the likes of directors like Michael Bay, Simon West, Dominic Sena and Peter Berg, to name a few.
– “ “ “ , slick opening heist. Den of Thieves opened with an awesome heist / gun fight / cop massacre sequence so, from a narrative-structure, it made sense to open the sequel with something in keeping. I was not disappointed, with another cool and sophisticated robbery playing out, only this time with less dead cops.
-Big Nick’s life sucks now. Kinda deserved. Gerard Butler (300) really hit it out of the park, where making ‘Nick’ an asshole was concerned, and we catch up with him reeling from the effects of his earlier choices, which was actually refreshing to see. There ARE consequences in this ‘universe’ and they’re catching up in the way that Karma seems to do.
-Dude eats the plans? Bit extreme. I know that eating secret messages and such is / was an espionage thing, especially in war time, but here it was almost funny when buddy, without hesitation, crams the secret info into his gaping maw, seemingly just for dramatic effect.
-Props to Jr. He’s making the effort. Cube must be proud. Just like his dad, legendary rapper / actor Ice Cube (Oshea Jackson), Oshea Jackson Jr. seems to be stepping up, embracing the potential that acting may unleash, and doing a pretty decent job. He’s not there yet…but if he keeps testing himself, like he does with this role, his future in Hollywood may go far.
–Loving the cinematography. NARRATOR V/O – “He did, in fact, love the cinematography.”
-Change in locale smart and cool. I liked how Gudepast shot LA in the first, again with that ‘polished grit’ look that I love so much, and he brought the same visual flavour to the new European locales.
-Slick, tecno-inspired score. As a former DJ (vinyl forever, baby!), to this day, I love spinning old-school progressive house, breaks and trance, so I’ll just say that this score, by Kevin Matley, spoke to me.
-Almost Mission: Impossible-like, just more ‘grounded’. A bit closer to Ronin. Not much more to add to this one. Except – Ronin (1998) is one of the coolest spy / mercenary flicks EVER, and should be seen by more people…and I’ll fight any muthafucka who disagrees. Just sayin.
-Nick needs a comeuppance. Asshole, just to be. The dude’s a dick, what can I say.
-Ok, c’mon! How the fuck did he find him?! In Antwerp! Very convenient. Scriptwriting laziness. Yeeeaaah, so as much I like both Thieves flicks, the scripts are not perfect, with a few very convenient conveniences finding their way into the narrative, bullshit like how easily they targeted ‘Merrimen’ in the first flick – “Hey, isn’t he, who we just happen to know by name, conveniently on parole? Oh, he is? Well then, he MUST be our guy!” Paraphrasing, but still. Here, ‘Nick’, a total fish out of water in the middle of Antwerp, Belgium, with no official means, just happens to find where a very resourceful and normally cautious ‘Donnie’ is holing up, something Interpol has so far been unable to do. My eyes did roll, but just a little.
-“Fuck tha police!” Jr. looks over. NWA shout-out? Yes, at one point, those famous NWA lyrics found their way into the dialogue and the immediate next shot is ‘Donnie’, looking over in response, something they had to have done deliberately in editing, as a shout-out to Oshea Jackson’s Jr’s cool dad.
-Obligatory European club / drugs / crew bonding scene. There is one of these in this movie.
-However, maybe not. Now there’s division. Good job, guys. But it’s not all fun and games, as simmering animosity / booze fuck up the party.
-Open water. That sucks. Nearly played for laughs too much, the banter. Pure nightmare fuel for this fella. ‘Nick’ and ‘Donnie’ find themselves kidnapped and interrogated by the Balkan mob, who does spare their lives, but also dumps them both into the Mediterranean, to swim their asses back to shore. Nope. No way, no thanks. But the part that disarmed the threat was a weird over-emphasis on humour, largely in their Lethal Weapon-wannabe bickering.
-More odd comedic hi-jinks. Music competition. This was actually pretty stupid, with each member of the heist team hijacking the stereo, each with wildly different tastes, each doing a stupid dance and explanation for why their style is better. *yawn* Should’ve been a Deleted Scene.
-Tense break-in scene. Good use of ‘quiet’. The 2nd Act is dominated by a very cool and extended heist / chase scene and the tension was built upon effectively, further enhanced by clever and restrained use of natural sounds.
-Ah, the ole car colour switcheroo. We’ve all seen this one before, most notably for me in the still-cool The Jackal (1998).
-FINALLY! Gun battle / car chase. This one is not as action-packed as the first, but when this one does pop off, it’s friggin cool. Turn it up!
-No music. Love it. That. Right there.
-Great attempt at realistic gunfire. Given how awesome the sound design in the first flick was, it was interesting to note that Gudepast seemed to be trying to scale back on the over-the-top gun carnage, instead opting for something that actually seemed more like how it would really go, out here in Real Life.
-No double cross? Somehow too easy. Anyone who’s seen anything resembling a contemporary crime thriller will see the signs.
-Gorgeous location shooting. Falls right back onto the cool visual flair Gudepast seems to deftly wield.
-You bastard. But…what’s the play? Yea, it fucking figures. And that’s all I’ll scribble about that. No spoilers. When you see what ensues…you’ll know.
-Cool chopper interception. Beautifully shot. Helicopters are incredibly cinematic machines and Gudepast gave us some gorgeous shots of two sleek choppers pouncing on a convoy of vehicles.
-So now what? Just fuck the rest of the crew?! Another plot-hole unaddressed.
-Definitely a bit cliffhangerish. And it worked…because I’m genuinely curious to see what this all looks like as a trilogy. But only a trilogy.
You hear me, James Cameron!! ONLY a trilogy! Move on!
*steps down from soap box
-Solid. But lacking key connective tissue. This is a legitimately good sequel to the surprisingly cool first flick, but like the original, the script is not air-tight. Convenience is used and when it is, it stands out in the form of crater-sized plot-holes. Luckily, roughly 85% of everything else is either clever, edgy, exciting and / or just plain cool, thus filling in the gap.
All in all, I really enjoyed this unlikely sequel.
It looked and sounded great, the cast stepped up and did what needed to be done, the script had a bevy of cool twists and turns, the action, while not as in-your-face as the first one, was sweet when it went down and the heists were clever and engrossing, in a lush and interesting locale.
Like any flick, it’s not perfect, as there are plot holes you could drive an armoured car through, a couple of the characters could’ve been fleshed out more, 10 or so minutes could’ve been trimmed, and some of the humour could’ve been dialed back, but by and large, writer / director Christian Gudegast effectively continued the attractive ‘polished grit’ style of the first while using that narrative as a springboard into this new adventure that both compliments that which came before while also doing it’s own thing. Taking that into account, I’m genuinely curious to see how it all continues, if the rumours about Den of Thieves 3 being recently greenlit are true. If you enjoyed the first movie, or love a good heist / action flick in general, then I firmly believe that you’ll be well served, should you choose to tuck into Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.
And that there…is my recommendation – that you should allow ‘Big Nick’, ‘Donnie’ and the rest of the crew to hijack 2 hours and 24 minutes of your life for a cool time at the movies.
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