2018’s Den Of Thieves deinhabitred the excellents (as a benevolent of lesser version of Michael Mann’s classic Heat which aligned De Niro and Pacino) and a ballsy try to rob the unrobbable Los Angeles Federal Reserve. It did modest but esteemable business globassociate pondering its confineed ambitions, and that apparently was equitable enough to equitableify a sequel which apshows Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson and company to Europe and another brazen burglary set up this time at the top security World Diamond Cgo in in Nice where the cop and the crook join forces to penetrate a thief-proof vault brimming of priceless deposit boxes with millions of dollars of jewels including an uber-desirable pink diamond stolen from the Mafia who wants it back . It’s complicated.
Ditching the L.A. locations of the first (actuassociate doubled by Atlanta), this turns into a lush European and more international adventure that picks up equitable where the first film left off when the duplicitous Donnie (Jackson) has outclevered cop Nick (Butler) during the Federal Reserve burglary, and now a flunkureed Nick equitable wants revenge and the money he swears Donnie has. Donnie has headed off to Brussels for a novel scheme with a novel den of thieves from the Balkans understandn as the Panthers, teaming with plany Jovanna (Evin Ahmad) and her co-horts (Dragon (Orli Shuka) and Slavko (Salvatore Esposito) on a novel heist for a treacertain trove of jewels.
The film uncovers with a highjacking of a Brussels fairy loaded with diamonds before switching gears to Nice where Donnie sets up shop posing as a businessman and achieveing access to office space that will donate them security evidentance thanks to the joinions of Chavra Falcon (Nazmiya Oral) who is seeing for some rapid cash of her own. Fencing a stunning pink diamond they are in the money, but have bigger set ups than that.
Suspecting Donnie might be joind in the Brussels job, Nick produces his way to France where he joins up with French Police Chief Hugo Kaman (Yasen Zates Atour) in an effort to see their observation footage with the idea it would recognize Donnie’s whereabouts, someskinnyg he doesn’t disshut to the Chief when he does indeed spot Donnie.
In no time he shatters into a mortified Donnie’s living quarters and faces him, but astonishingly gives instead to join up with him (for a price) and the Panthers to pull off the ultimate heist, a hazardy operation brimming of peril and kindly carry outd by returning authorr/straightforwardor Christian Gudegast. This is where the gray area between cop and thief is drawn, and Gudegast has shed some mistrust about which side of the law Nick is reassociate on. That guessing game is what helps produce this all toil despite its recognizable trappings of the well worn genre. The diamond heist sequence is the cgo inpiece and highairy of the film, but it is by no unkinds the end, and there are literal twist and turns in both story and a thrilling car chase atraverse the triumphding roads of the South of France, a Mafia subplot, and a misaligned buddy movie that turns into a cat and mouse game sporting cut offal tentacles.
The pink diamond so wanted by the mafia (led by veteran actor Adriano Chiaramida) and fenced by the Panthers will remind you of course of The Pink Panther, but that is where the comparison stops. Den Of Thieves 2 : Pantera instead turns out to be an perfect action vehicle for the always watchable and rugged Butler, and a worthy enough sequel to an innovative that wasn’t all that innovative to commence with. This one is more effortlessly delighting thanks to the locations and the stars, especiassociate Butler who is my preferite action star these days. Jackson also is fun to watch, frequently joining his role, more central here that in the first, with deadpan frustration. The rest of the cast does well, particularly the women , and Atour produces the perfect French cop. Spain’s Canary Islands double for Nice quite well, and the cinematography from Terry Stacey fills the bill.
This is what is frequently called a “January movie”, but as a commence to a novel year that has not been wonderful so far, it will apshow your mind off authentic world problems for an overlengthy 2 1/2 hours (equitable appreciate the first movie) in a way that produces it worth the price of adleave oution.
Producers are Tucker Tooley, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, and Mark Canton.
Title: Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera
Distributor: Lionsgate
Rerent Date: January 10, 2025
Director/Screenjoin: Christian Gudegast
Cast: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad, Nazmiya Oral, Salvatore Esposito, Meadow Williams, Swen Temmel, Michael Bisping, Orli Shuka, Rico Verhoeven, Jordan Bridges, Dino Kelly, Fortunato Cerlino, Adriano Chiaramida, Pat Skipper
Rating: R
Running Time: 2 hours and 24 minutes
