Review: Den of Thieves 2 – Pantera

13 March, 2025 William Eguizabal 0 Comments 1 category

Title: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
MPA Rating: R
Director: Christian Gudegast
Starring: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad
Runtime: 2 hrs 24 mins

What It Is: Nick O’Brien (Butler) is back—only this time, he’s on the other side of the law. After losing his job and spending an extended period wallowing in self-pity, he crosses paths with his old nemesis, Donnie Wilson (Jackson Jr.), and the crew known as Pantera. They’re after a massive payday, but breaking into the safety deposit boxes they’re targeting will require an intricate and precise plan—two qualities Nick isn’t exactly known for.

Which should make things very interesting for Donnie and the crew.

What We Think: This isn’t some revolutionary action flick. It’s not even a particularly good one. What it is, though, is loud, bombastic, and exactly the kind of “dad movie” you’d expect your father to throw on while he grills some glizzys.

Gerard Butler drunkenly swaggers his way through the entire film. I can’t say for sure that he is actually drunk, but it definitely feels like it. Meanwhile, O’Shea Jackson Jr. is supposed to be from Côte d’Ivoire, but… his French accent is absolutely terrible.

O’Shea has always been capable of handling the material he’s given—the problem is, most of that material hasn’t been great. Outside of Straight Outta Compton and Ingrid Goes West, a lot of his films have been weighed down by weak scripts. And this one? No exception.

It’s loud. It’s silly. And that’s pretty much all there is to it.

Our Grade: D+, Mid as hell. Sure, it’s silly—and sometimes, you can have fun with silly—but Christian Gudegast just isn’t a particularly skilled director. This film suffers from the same issues as the first, except now it’s a French-soaked retread of the original.

Dispensable action nonsense.

This is a skip. Go watch literally anything else. Well… maybe not anything, but definitely something much better.