
A significant step-up thanks to the buddy-buddy blend of Gerard Butler’s “Big Nick” O’Brien and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie Wilson, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a breakneck fun time, so long as you can turn your brain off. Even if you can’t, there is still more logic and character depth this time than in Pantera‘s 2018 predecessor, Den of Thieves. Set soon after the original’s events, federal reserve thief Donnie Wilson gets mixed up with the Panther Mafia in Europe, stealing diamonds and diamond shipments for black market selling. Hell-bent on finding Wilson after playing him previously—losing his job, wife, and seemingly life because of it—demoted-to-sheriff Big Nick tracks Wilson’s overseas ventures down and follows him. The pair catch up with each other just as stakes for Donnie rise: the Panther Mafia is planning to steal from the world’s biggest diamond exchange. To stop Donnie once and for all, Big Nick decides to team up with him and get him from the inside—so long as he doesn’t fall corrupt to this risky diamond endeavor himself.
Pantera steps up the action and chemistry by pairing the original film’s enemies together in this new heist. While there’s not much in terms of logic (especially in buildup to the last hour), the characters aren’t well defined beyond their current endeavors aside from a few scenes of Big Nick wallowing in his miserable failure, and dialogue could be fleshier at points, the pair’s relationship is deepened. The way they reunite interlocks them: “You and I are part of this… weird symbiosis. You only exist, fraulein, because of me. And I only exist because of you,” a disheveled Big Nick exerts, shoving his badge in Wilson’s face. With that symbiotic relationship at center focus, director-writer Christian Gudegast slightly elevates the film’s longevity and believability. Last go-round, their relationship was central but scarcely explored, so pairing them together—and watching their chemistry constantly flourish as it sometimes did before—and throwing them into a heist is electric fun.
Once the granular, nitty-gritty detailing of the heist’s planning is past, the film is tightly edited and choreographed as well. The detail-oriented first half isn’t necessarily wasted, but there’s a reason a majority of action films skip over or montage the planning process. Thus, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is an upgrade of this franchise’s formula, even if there’s a lot more room to grow in Den of Thieves 3 and beyond. For action fans, Jackson Jr. and/or Butler Fans, or those looking for a time-passer in January’s brisk temperatures, Pantera is dumb fun. Hopefully it won’t take another 7 years for this den to expand!
2024
dir. Christian Gudegast
124 min.
Now playing in theaters everywhere
See Den of Thieves (2018) on Max