One of the biggest sins in the first Den of Thieves was the sprawling 140-minute length that tried to emulate Michael Mann’s seminal Heat-style epic storytelling, only to come up short. It’s not like Christian Gudegast’s 2018 debut feature lacked ambition since he did show terrific range in handling muscular action set pieces, notably the opening and climactic shootouts that gave the technical prowess of Heat a run of its money.
The first movie, of course, ended with an unexpected cliffhanger after Gudegast pulled The Usual Suspect-like surprise twist, leading to the long-delayed sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera a longer-than-expected seven years later. There were multiple setbacks from the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic that halted many productions at the time, to the lead actor, Gerald Butler suffering from a torn ACL, and not to mention, a logistics issue.
Now that it’s finally here, is it worth the wait? I sure hope so, given that Gudegast chooses to widen his scope beyond the first movie’s Los Angeles setting by going international. Nice, France, to be exact where the elusive criminal Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) is now settling for a bigger score. This time, he’s collaborating with the Panthers, a team of professional jewelry thieves led by Jovanna (Evin Ahmad).
Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, Big Nick’s (Gerard Butler) personal life is ruined but he’s not giving up just yet to hunt down Donnie after the events of the first movie. With Donnie’s now in Europe, he has no jurisdiction to arrest him as a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department officer. But that doesn’t stop him as he manages to find his way and eventually travels to Nice, especially after the recent Antwerp diamond heist that made headlines on television.
Instead of teaming up with the local French police, he does the unthinkable: Join forces with Donnie after he claims he’s broke and his recent divorce wrecked his life. Here is where the story boggles the mind as it feels like a walk in the park for Big Nick manages to convince Donnie to let him join his team. The thing is, Donnie is the type of character who is always one step ahead, evidently in the first movie. He’s sly, cunning, and often careful in his meticulous planning. But somehow, I’m not sure why Donnie can easily buy the fact that Big Nick’s decision to go to the other side of the law is more than enough to allow the latter to participate in the heist.
Like the first movie, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera retains the lengthy running time clocking at 144 minutes as Gudegast, who also wrote the screenplay took a different route in the sequel. He ditches the gritty Heat-style narrative in favor of a slick Euro-thriller vibe, which is supposed to be a refreshing change of pace. I admire that Gudegast is trying something different here rather than sticking to the first movie’s formula and yet, his overall execution resulted in shockingly lower stakes. This obviously baffles me the most since the main point of the sequel revolves around Donnie, Big Nick and the European crew teaming up to infiltrate the impenetrable, highly-guarded World Diamond Center. They are going to steal the jewels and other valuable items stored in different deposit boxes. And that also includes the pink diamond, where Donnie made a mistake stealing it from the Mafia and now the organized crime wants it back.
The problem is, getting to the heist part would require your utmost patience and I don’t mind a slow-burn approach as long as the story justifies everything with a thrilling payoff. So, we have Big Nick and Donnie spending time together like they are in a buddy comedy of sorts and even talking about their pasts while having late-night shawarma on the street. The sequel even stretches with more drawn-out scenes, namely the drugged-out disco sequence after Big Nick feeling high and dancing with the sultry Jovanna. It feels like a chore to sit through all this, making me wonder if Gudegast knows a thing about a proper editing.
It goes on and on, even though Gerard Butler’s gruff performance and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s smooth-talking role do show some decent buddy-movie chemistry here that keeps me from dozing off in the cinema. Save for Evin Ahmad’s sizzling eye-candy role as Jovanna, the rest of the newcomers to the Den of Thieves franchise are disappointingly one-note that I hardly care about any of them.
When the heist finally arrived, I was expecting Gudegast to deliver the goods. Too bad that’s hardly the case with the World Diamond Center heist suffers from a series of frustratingly dimly-lit scenes of breaking and entering. Not to mention the stakes are surprisingly flat with none of the thrills that Gudegast shows plenty of promises in the first movie. It makes me feel like he’s holding back a lot during the elaborate heist sequence while the subsequent car chase sequence through the tunnel and around the long, winding roads of Nice isn’t as pulsating as I thought it would be.
Then comes the twist (yes, again!) but I figure those who are paying enough attention may already smell it from miles away and if that’s not enough, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera ends with another cliffhanger to set the stage for the third chapter.
