Movie Review: DEN OF THIEVES: PANTERA Starring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad

If you missed the original Den of Thieves when it came out in 2018, well, you’re not alone. Although it did relatively well against its budget, it failed to win over most critics and pulled in about $80 million. I was part of the crowd that thoroughly enjoyed it, so when they announced the second film in the series (which felt rather inevitable given the ending of the first), I was a bit excited; sure it wasn’t perfect, but I was glad that an original film had done well enough to merit a sequel, as opposed to the hundreds of established series and franchises that continue to churn out entries.

The trailers for the film give away what would have been the biggest spoiler, so I won’t try to beat the bush around it. Shortly after the events of the first film, Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) pulls off another heist with a new crew, stealing a diamond from a plane. This sets the tone for the ultimate goal in the movie: the Marseille diamond district. On the other side of the planet, Big Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) is struggling even after his success in the first mission. Still divorced and perpetually broke, he can’t shake the feeling that Wilson beat him, he heads to Europe under the pretenses of apprehending him, but in reality seeking him out to be part of the heist. It’s a plot device that’s been used before, so it’s not a totally outlandish concept, but it is difficult to marry the idea of a dedicated LEO suddenly changing sides to make a bit of money.

Those who followed international news at the turn of the millennium may recall the real-life heist the film is based on, the Antwerp diamond heist. Meticulously planned over the span of 18 months (in the movie, this is condensed down to less than two weeks), the crew managed to make off with over $100 million and the leader was only caught after being connected to a partially eaten salami sandwich that was left near the crime scene.

There’s a bit more that happens throughout the course of the film that I can’t really give away without spoiling a part of it, but the bulk of the film is essentially Nick, Donnie, and crew planning and executing the actual heist as well as the aftermath. On paper, the movie has all the workings to be another hidden gem: the return of two of the three biggest characters from the first film, director/writer Christian Gudegast, a real-life inspiration to point to in case people think the plot is unrealistic, even a (slightly) larger budget to work with. And yet something just seemed missing. I still found myself mostly entertained by the film, but it wasn’t until after I left the theater that I realized what made the first movie gripping that the second was missing.

For me, it was the cat and mouse playing out between Big Nick and Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schrieber) in the first film that elevated the film for me beyond a standard heist film. The two clearly knew which side of the fence they stood on and they’d eventually be trying to kill each other, yet there was a level of begrudging respect as one tried to outmaneuver the other. Den of Thieves was more akin to Heat than Ocean’s Eleven, in which the good guys planned for every contingency and completely outwitted the bad guy (not to mention the shootout in a public street with assault rifles and automatic weapons). That element is sorely missing for me in Pantera, which adheres to the more standard “protagonists try to pull off the perfect plan” structure.

What DOES work in the film is the heist itself, which is played out remarkably well given the audience likely already knows the outcome. Based on what I’ve read regarding the real-life Antwerp heist, the film goes to great lengths to include several of the methods the thieves employed to beat the security systems. There’s still an air of tension and uncertainty to it, which is a testament to the production. Butler and Jackson Jr. both play their parts well, as do such newcomers in the film as Evin Ahmad, and MMA fans might be pleased to see several fighters with roles in the film.

Still, it’s hard not to feel a little let down in comparison to the first film. For me there wasn’t really a sense of mystery in trying to figure out each character’s next move, especially Donnie, who deftly outmaneuvered everyone in the original. There weren’t really any surprise plot twists that weren’t telegraphed ahead of time, and instead we’re left with a lot of deux ex machina moments where people with apparently unlimited resources come out of nowhere at the perfect moment. I’m not sure how much of an impact it made, but I did notice that one of the writers of the original film, Paul Scheuring, did not return for the second film.

Now let’s be clear: the original Den of Thieves wasn’t exactly a masterpiece. I compared it to Heat earlier, but it’s not quite on the same level. It was, however, an entertaining movie that at least had a certain wit to it. Pantera, on the other hand, lacks much of the charm of the first, instead leaving Butler and Jackson trying to hold it together while interweaving a very well-executed heist scene. Gudegast has mentioned in interviews that he’s hoping these films become a larger franchise, which I do think is feasible; the series has some star power attached to it, and it’s shown with the first two iterations that entertaining movies can be made on a relatively modest budget. I do think, though, if the vision of a large film/media franchise is to come to fruition, it’ll take a much stronger third effort. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera manages to hold the line, but barely.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera gets a C-