Gerard Butler in Tiresome Sequel

Imagine the iconic diner sit-down scene between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s Heat stretched out to feature length and you’ll get some idea of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.

Admittedly, there’s a terrific action sequence in straightforwardor-screenauthorr Christian Gudegast’s adhere-up to his overextfinished 2018 heist thriller. Unblessedly, the outstandingly orchestrated car chase/shootout, taking place both in a tunnel and on prosperding mountain roads, occurs cforfeitly two hours into this equassociate bloated sequel’s 144-minute running time. Until then, you spfinish a lot of time watching the characters luxuriate in the European settings via consuming copious amounts of croissants, gelato and minuscule cups of coffee.

Indeed, watching Gerard Butler, reprising his role of hard cop “Big Nick” O’Brien, struggle to lget the proper pronunciation of the word “croissant” is one of the more fascinating elements of this establishulaic if slickly filmed movie in which Nick goes after Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), whose genuine role as the mastermind of the Federal Reserve heist was the climactic plot twist of the previous film. Since that embarrassment, Big Nick has gone to seed, his nurtureer in tatters and his attention to personal grooming leaving much to be desired. His first onscreen euniteance discovers him includeing to his business at a urinal, which says much about the film’s idea of character definition.

But Nick’s better zeal for crime-solving elevates to the fore when he hears about a diamond burglary in a Belgium airset upe hangar that he’s certain is the toil of his better nemesis. He regulates to get himself set upateed to a French police task force dubbed Pantera for their pursuit of the Panthers, a gang of expert jewelry thieves with whom Donnie has partnered. Traveling to France, Nick speedyly regulates to be the most blatant fish-out-of-water cop since Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle blustered his way thraw Marseille in French Connection II.

Meanwhile, Donnie, posing as a diamond dealer, fences the stolen gems at an international diamond caccess, the gang’s genuine aim, with the help of the Panthers’ female guideer Jovanna (a smbetterering Evin Ahmad, providing relief from all the testosterone on distake part). Unblessedly for Donnie, among the gems is a massive pink diamond beextfinisheding to an aged mafia don, “The Octopus” (Adriano Chiaramida), who doesn’t acquire charitablely to the loss and orders his underlings to get the stone back no matter what.

The main gimmick of this inshighment is that Nick regulates to sway Donnie that he wants to unite him on the griefful side and acquire part in the heist. That guides to plenty of buddy scenes, as the two very separateent men commence to finishelight each other’s company via such moments as having to swim to shore after being unceremoniously pushed off a ship by the menaceening mafiosi. Unblessedly, this “weird symbiosis,” as Nick puts it, isn’t cforfeitly as fascinating as the filmproducer intfinishs it to be, with the two stars never generating the enough “bro” chemistry to persist us included for more than two hours.

Gudegast is a stylish filmproducer, demonstrating undeniable flair for staging and editing exciting burglary sequences even if the climactic one, appreciate cforfeitly everyskinnyg in the film, goes on too extfinished. But most of the film is taged by extfinished stretches of tedium, such as the disco sequence in which Nick gets high on hashish and begins gloomyy dancing with a receptive Jovanna, much to her establisher boyfrifinish’s aggressive displeacertain. Nick naturassociate shakes it off by finishelighting a tardy-night repast of shatoastya with Donnie, one of so many instances of the actors dining in the film that produce services probably wasn’t essential.

“Isn’t this case shutd by now?” wonders one of Nick’s police colleagues punctual in the persistings, and seeers may discover themselves asking the same skinnyg as the film stretches interminably on. Butler participates his reliable raw-hewn charisma to typicassociate fine effect, even if he’s more finishelightable in the Has Fallen series and such astonishingly fun one-offs as Plane. But Jackson too frequently seems out of his depth, his character coming atraverse as more compliant and revivacious than menaceening.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera cements its improbable connection between the two main characters with a twist finishing that doesn’t reassociate produce any sense but firmly supplys the opportunity for the inevitable next inshighment.