The term “action star” gets thrown around rather haphazardly, but Gerard Butler certainly fits the bill. Not only that, Butler is probably the most understated and underappreciated contemporary action star, headlining all sorts of action movies in recent years ranging in quality from somewhat watchable to B-movie fun to surprisingly quite good. One of the films situated on the more positive end of this spectrum is Den of Thieves, a 2018 heist film and passion project from Butler that proved to be an unexpected box office hit and gained quite a sturdy fan base, despite middling critical reception. Now, after several years in development, the awaited sequel to Den of Thieves arrives and sees Butler and company craft a suspenseful and crowd-pleasing, albeit overly long and somewhat convoluted, film.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera comes once again from writer and director Christian Gudegast and picks up after the events of Den of Thieves. Gerard Butler’s gruffled-voiced, donut-eating Sheriff Nicolas “Big Nick” O’Brien is hot on the pursuit of O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie Wilson, the secret mastermind behind the film’s first heist. Wilson has fled to Europe, where he plans to execute an even greater heist, if he can outsmart (and outrun) Butler’s Big Nick.

Detractors of Den of Thieves (erroneously, in our opinion) reductively labeled the film as a rip-off of Michael Mann’s Heat, arguably one of the greatest heist films of all time. Obvious narrative and structural similarities in the films aside though, Den of Thieves proved to be far more entertaining than it had any right to be. Admittedly not of the same quality as Heat, yet enthralling nonetheless. With the Den of Thieves franchise already establishing a willingness to lean into previous heist flicks to craft their own, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera trades in the Heat-esque L.A. heist flick for a more sleek, European heist thriller. As a result, the sequel lacks the kind of gritty, grimy atmosphere that contributed to the first film’s success. However, although the sequel isn’t as atmospheric as the original, it surpasses the original in more ways than one.
Despite its difference in setting, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera follows an almost identical narrative structure of its predecessor. Both films begin with a smaller scale heist that is integral to the execution of the larger heist at the center of the film. Both films are entirely absent of action, gunshots, and explosions for the bulk of the middle of the film, with dialogue and exposition setting up the final heist. Both films’ third acts are characterized by large-scale, action-heavy, suspenseful heist sequences. And both films conclude with a fairly predictable, yet still serviceable, twist. The filmmakers employ ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ logic to structure a movie that isn’t trying to rewrite the rules of the heist genre nor unfold entirely different than its predecessor. Again though, Den of Thieves is not a franchise known for novelty and, if one is able to overlook this aspect, there’s plenty to enjoy.
Contrary to the original, Den of Thieves 2 takes quite a bit of time to get going. A prolonged, inter-continental set-up and first act including unconvoluted and under-explained plotting could definitely have done with some trimming. The film kicks into gear though when it unites its two leads – Butler’s Big Nick and Jackson Jr.’s Donnie. After this point, the film regains the charm of its predecessor, focuses on the central heist, and features a team-up of an unlikely and enjoyable duo.
The plot develops to where Big Nick trades in his law enforcement past in favor of (seemingly) teaming up with Donnie to complete the big heist. In doing so, the film positions its two leads together for virtually every scene after they are initially united, which is a contrast to how the first film kept Big Nick and Pablo Schreiber’s Merrimen at a distance until the very end. And uniting Butler and Jackson Jr.’s characters is a great call as it fosters one of the film’s greatest elements – the magnetic chemistry between its two leads. Big Nick and Donnie share an excellent banter, with the kind of back-and-forth you’d find in some of the best buddy cop or action comedy films. There are plenty of witty one-liners exchanged between the two as the cop and robber initially team up reluctantly, before becoming closer as the film progresses.

Having Big Nick and Donnie work together, rather than against one another, poses an intriguing question to the audience: is Big Nick actually teaming up with Donnie to rob the diamond exchange OR is Big Nick teaming up with Donnie as a means to gather evidence against him and, eventually, arrest him? The filmmakers opt for a more subtle approach to showcase Nick’s plan to the audience, as there’s no exposition scene in which Butler lays out exactly what he plans to do and how he plans to do it. Instead, Big Nick’s true motivation is left unspoken and up for the audience to ponder until it is revealed at the end of the film. Although the ultimate answer to this question proves to be a tad predictable, the mystery of Nick’s motivation manages to captivate throughout.
Both Butler and Jackson Jr. play these leads with more openness than in the original, as the two understand each other’s inner nature on a more intimate level after the events in LA. The Playing for Keeps star is a police officer with a rough exterior, equipped with a never ending supply of cigarettes and aggression towards almost everyone around him, but there’s far more to Nick than that. Underneath is a surprisingly caring, vulnerable individual who is down on his luck and feels he needs the win of getting back at Donnie. Donnie, meanwhile, is in an opposite position to Nick; he’s a criminal rather than a member of law enforcement, hot off the success of a whopping heist of the Federal Reserve and desperate to execute an even more daring robbery this time around. The duality of these two characters, their surface-level differences and more deep-rooted and surprising similarities, makes for an engaging viewing experience that intelligently plays off tropes of cops and robbers tales.
Butler in particular shines in this good cop-bad cop role. The Scotsman isn’t as famous as Arnold Schwarzenegger, as charismatic as Tom Cruise, or as prolific as Liam Neeson. Still, he establishes himself once again as an impressive action hero for the modern age. Butler is unexpectedly transformative in this role. Nick looks the same, talks the same, and is wearing the same kind of clothes, but Butler conveys, without words, that his character is in a different “mode” than before. And as Nick delves deeper into the criminal underworld, a valid question arises: will the viewers continue to sympathize with and root for a character moving more and more down a villainous path? The film’s script leaves the film vulnerable to such a scenario, but Butler ensures that this doesn’t arise. He’s able to convey to the audience that his character still holds the same values and set of beliefs that he did before, which allows the film to still have a lead hero that the audience will attach themselves to.
Also of note here is O’Shea Jackson Jr., who has largely played side roles in projects previously. The Straight Outta Compton and Obi-Wan Kenobi actor shows that he has a charming leading man in his acting repertoire, and we hope that the actor is given more opportunities to exhibit his versatility in future projects.

Surrounding our leads are a fun, albeit under-developed, set of side characters that make up the rest of the team. Each has their own unique quirks, like a taste for romantic music or an affinity with aggressive partying, just as they have their own important roles in the heist. Although none of them are scene-stealers and many of them feel left behind by the time the film wraps up, they are serviceable elements to the film’s story.
More success with the supporting cast is found with the film’s secondary antagonists. Secondary antagonists often add little to movies, although this is not the case here. The side villains in Den of Thieves actually inject the film with quite a bit of added suspense, action, and intrigue.
The middle act of the film, meanwhile, provides all the sort of tense and intricate set-up one would expect from a heist film. While more impatient viewers may find this set-up for the heist to be a bit dry, it is offset by the aforementioned chemistry between the leads and the ultimate payoff in the third act. Den of Thieves 2 backloads all of its action with an adrenaline fueled finale (machine guns, car chases, and jumping from building are just a few of the frantic things that happen in the last 45 minutes or so). Those willing to go on this journey with the characters and enjoy their chemistry will see that the third act feels like a deserved payoff. When the final heist kicks into gear and the action begins, director Gudegast once again shows off his filmmaking capabilities with some gripping action and a nerve-racking heist. In contrast, less success is found in the heist as it is often difficult to distinguish between characters given they all wear similar outfits and masks.
While lacking the Heat-esque atmosphere that made Den of Thieves so much fun, the sequel’s final heist is also superior in being less convoluted. When trying to rob the Federal Reserve in the first film, the story featured all sorts of little question marks and under-explained elements. Pantera’s heist, on the other hand, is simpler than the last, while remaining similarly enthralling and suspenseful. One of the best elements of heist films is their immersion, their ability to foster in the audience the same kind of anxiety of being caught that the robbers are experiencing. If that is a metric by which heist films are judged, then Den of Thieves 2 triumphs unreservedly.
All of the film’s loose ends are nicely tied up by the end and make Den of Thieves 2 a more complete and cohesive viewing experience than its predecessor. Plot conveniences leading up to this final heist are scattered throughout, although they are all forgivable and do not detract from ultimate enjoyment of the film, which nicely concludes with an M83 needle drop and a fun set-up for another sequel.
While not re-envisioning the heist genre with much novelty, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera makes for an enthralling, suspenseful, clever, and funny crowd-pleaser. Gerard Butler’s enduring leading man capabilities continue to shine, while O’Shea Jackson Jr. proves that he also has what it takes to be a charismatic star. Although the film takes a while to get started, is overly long, and lacks the Heat-esque atmosphere of its predecessor, there is still plenty to enjoy about this well-crafted and intense European heist thriller. Like the thieves in the movie, audiences will be in for a score of their own after coming away from a movie that, in many ways, is the definition of a crowd-pleaser.