Den of Thieves: Pantera

Starring: Gerard Butler, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Orli Shuka
Directed by: Christian Gudegast
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
2025

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Nick (Gerard Butler) travels to Europe, where he flips sides and helps Donnie (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) with a nearly impossible diamond heist.

Review:

Tim: Christian Gudegast's Den of Thieves was a surprisingly effective action drama back in 2018. It had clear and obvious flaws, but I really liked the approach it took. The characters were interesting. It was still only "good", but much more effective than it first seemed. It took a too-long 7 years for us to get the sequel, but I admit I was excited to revisit these characters. Unfortunately, Den of Thieves: Pantera follows the typical sequel route. It's less effective in nearly every way. It's still a decent movie, but it feels disposable. It's the level of quality I expected from the first film. There's no real pleasant surprises this time around.

To start off with, the title is absolutely terrible. I had a hard time even remembering the subtitle, then couldn't remember why it was called Pantera. I had to look it up to remember it's the Panther crew of thieves? I mean, just overall an awful, forgettable title. They should have slapped a "2" there and moved on. The film itself at least attempts to subvert our expectations- although it does it significantly less effectively than in the original film.

I really did enjoy picking up the story of Donnie. I thought O'Shea Jackson Jr. was one of the biggest surprises in the first film and it was fun seeing him play this character again. I thought his performance was good- there's a few moments throughout where his talent level might get exposed a bit, but generally, he works. It was also great seeing Gerard Butler reprise the role of Big Nick. The big twist here is that he's been ostracized enough for his approach to police work that he decides to flip sides- now, the hunter of the original film becomes one of the crew members of the gang of thieves here. It's not a bad approach, although it felt somewhat rushed and unearned. I never quite believed why Donnie would so quickly and willingly partner with Nick. The script and direction from Gudegast needed to sell this substantially more effectively than it did. I had to go with it, but I never really bought it. That hurts the film. Still, Butler seems to enjoy playing this role, and the benefit is that Jackson Jr. and Butler get a number of scenes together, which is fun to watch. So, while the logic of the story didn't quite work, I did appreciate the outcome.

The actual heist scenes are fairly enjoyable. There's nothing extraordinary here, but Gudegast delivers some intense moments that are fun to watch. Heist movies always benefit from the tension and suspense that comes from the question- "Will they pull it off?" This movie leans into that and many of the best sequences arise from that question. Now, to be fair- none of these scenes are amazing. They are fun to watch in the moment, but this film doesn't offer new things that we haven't seen before. The sequences are entertaining, but none of them are especially memorable. While those sequences are mostly enjoyable, it's absolutely ridiculous that this film clocks in at 2 hours, 24 minutes. I do appreciate that these movies have always fought against the expectation that they are low budget, pointless affairs. However, 90 minutes is likely much closer to what this film normally would have been. It didn't need to necessarily hit that, but the movie is obviously too long.

The biggest issue I had with the movie is that the whole thing just feels significantly less effective than the first film. It's not as innovative, not as bold. It does take some big swings, but they result in singles, not home runs. I was mildly interested in everything, never really felt a great pull towards anything. There's too much suspension of disbelief required throughout. The ending is interesting. I didn't quite buy it, but I ultimately felt okay with the events at the end. It doesn't surprise or twist as much as it thinks it does, but it feels like the conclusion is decently satisfying. Den of Thieves: Pantera isn't a bad movie, and I think Gudegast gets credit for that. However, the first film felt like this pleasant surprise, a movie that exceeded our expectations. Even with lowered expectations for the sequel, this one doesn't quite get there.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Den of Thieves, Law Abiding Citizen, The Big Hit, The Italian Job