Den of Thieves 2: Pantera — Gerard Butler heist sequel is better than original, but just slightly

I wasn’t actively writing about movies when Den of Thieves came out in 2018, so it was one I opted to skip at the time. However, I became aware that a bit of a cult following started to grow around the Gerard Butler heist movie, so with Den of Thieves 2: Pantera being among the first 2025 new movies to hit big screens I made sure to catch up with the original so I can weigh in this time around.

Quickly on Den of Thieves (FYI there will be some SPOILERS as it’s hard to fully discuss the movie without), it felt like a Heat wannabe with Butler chewing the scenery as a rogue cop that is more unpredictable than the bad guys, the latter led by Pablo Schreiber and including O’Shea Jackson Jr. It featured a bloated story that didn’t really do anything to stand out until a final big reveal about how Jackson’s Donnie pulled a fast one on everyone.

So what about the sequel? The good news is that Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is an improvement in most areas from its predecessor, but it still suffers a few of the same fatal flaws, including a bloated runtime (all told the movie comes in at two hours and 24 minutes) that saps energy from the proceedings. It also trades its defining quality — Butler’s big, brash performance — to become more of a buddy picture. All in all, it’s a better movie, but it’s no more than average in the realm of heist movies.

Once again directed by and featuring a script by Christian Gudegast, the story picks up a few years after the events of the first movie. Donnie is working in Europe, pulling off diamond heists. Meanwhile, back in the States, Nick (Butler) continues his dogged pursuit to figure out what happened at the Federal Reserve. That eventually leads him to track Donnie down in France, where he is preparing to rob the World Diamond Center. But Nick isn’t there to stop him, instead, he wants in on the heist.

I liked Butler and Jackson as allies instead of enemies; the two have solid chemistry and it was interesting to see the more constrained Donnie and the boisterous Nick work together. We also get more of Donnie’s backstory while Nick’s internal struggles of changing sides from a cop to a thief play better than his deteriorating marriage in the first movie.

The negative to these deeper explorations of character is that Nick becomes less edgy. The man who interrupted his soon-to-be ex-wife’s date in the first movie is gone; the closest bit of the old Nick we got was him arguing with French police about the pronunciations of words. So Nick’s character may be more sympathetic, but he is not nearly as interesting to watch.

There’s a similar trade-off when it comes to the movie’s heist sequence. I would say the actual heist is much better executed this time around, but the subsequent chase and shootout take a back seat and won’t really get your blood pumping.

Also, it doesn’t feel like there’s a whole lot at stake here. There’s no clear, single opposing antagonist now that Nick and Donnie are working together; we also don’t have the indication that the pair’s intentions are ever really at odds. They’re just going about preparing and executing the heist, with little challenges standing in their way throughout.

This really plays out with the movie’s runtime. When you really boil it down, not a lot actually happens. Ultimately, the payoff ends up being only minimal. If it was a brisk hour-and-a-half, that can be forgiven, but Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is nearly an hour longer than that, and honestly I wouldn’t blame anyone whose mind wanders a bit over that time.

I do believe that Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a better movie than its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean it’s anything special. Looking for something mildly enjoyable to kill some time or have on in the background, go for it. Beyond that, don’t expect much more.

Watch Den of Thieves 2: Pantera exclusively in US movie theaters; a UK release date for the movie has not been confirmed at this time.