In 2018, Den Of Thieves delivered the products (as a sort of junior model of Michael Mann’s traditional Warmth, which matched De Niro and Pacino) and was a ballsy try and rob the unrobbable Los Angeles Federal Reserve. It did modest however respectable enterprise globally contemplating its restricted ambitions, and that apparently was simply sufficient to justify a sequel. In Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera, Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson and firm head to Europe for an additional brazen theft, this time on the top-security World Diamond Middle in Good, the place the cop and the criminal be a part of forces to penetrate a thief-proof vault filled with helpful deposit packing containers with tens of millions of {dollars} of jewels together with an uber-desirable pink diamond stolen from the Mafia who desires it again. It’s sophisticated.
Ditching the L.A. areas of the primary (truly doubled by Atlanta), this turns right into a lush European and extra worldwide journey that picks up the place the primary movie left off, when the duplicitous Donnie (Jackson) has outsmarted cop Nick (Butler) through the Federal Reserve theft, and now a defeated Nick simply desires revenge and the cash he swears Donnie has. Donnie has headed off to Brussels for a brand new scheme with a brand new den of thieves from the Balkans generally known as the Panthers, teaming with artful Jovanna (Evin Ahmad) and her cohorts Dragon (Orli Shuka) and Slavko (Salvatore Esposito) on a brand new heist for a treasure trove of jewels.
The movie opens with a hijacking of a Brussels flight loaded with diamonds earlier than switching gears to Good, the place Donnie units up store posing as a businessman and having access to workplace house that may give them safety clearance due to the connections of Chavra Falcon (Nazmiya Oral), who’s searching for some fast money of her personal. Fencing a shocking pink diamond, they’re within the cash, however have greater plans than that.
Suspecting Donnie may be concerned within the Brussels job, Nick makes his strategy to France the place he joins up with French police chief Hugo Kaman (Yasen Zates Atour) in an effort to see their surveillance footage with the concept it will establish Donnie’s whereabouts, one thing he doesn’t speak in confidence to the chief when he does certainly spot Donnie.
Very quickly Nick breaks right into a mortified Donnie’s residing quarters and confronts him, however surprisingly affords as an alternative to affix with him (for a worth) and the Panthers to drag off the last word heist, a harmful operation filled with peril and properly executed by returning writer-director Christian Gudegast. That is the place the grey space between cop and thief is drawn, and Gudegast has shed some doubt about which aspect of the regulation Nick is de facto on. That guessing recreation is what helps make this all work regardless of its acquainted trappings of the well-worn style. The diamond heist sequence is the centerpiece and spotlight of the movie, however it’s in no way the top, and there are literal twist and turns in each the story and an exciting automotive chase throughout the winding roads within the south of France, a Mafia subplot, and a mismatched buddy film that turns right into a cat and mouse recreation sporting a number of tentacles.
The pink diamond so needed by the mafia (led by veteran actor Adriano Chiaramida) and fenced by the Panthers will remind you after all of The Pink Panther, however that’s the place the comparability stops. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera as an alternative seems to be an excellent motion car for the at all times watchable and rugged Butler, and a worthy sufficient sequel to an unique that wasn’t all that unique to start with. This one is extra effortlessly entertaining due to the areas and the celebrities, particularly Butler who’s my favourite motion star as of late. Jackson is also enjoyable to observe, typically taking part in his position, extra central right here that within the first, with deadpan frustration. The remainder of the forged does nicely, notably the ladies , and Atour makes the proper French cop. Spain’s Canary Islands double for Good fairly nicely, and the cinematography from Terry Stacey fills the invoice.
That is what is commonly referred to as a “January film”, however as a begin to a brand new 12 months that has not been nice up to now, it should take your thoughts off actual world issues for an overlong 2 1/2 hours (similar to the primary film) in a approach that makes it definitely worth the worth of admission.
Producers are Tucker Tooley, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel and Mark Canton.
Title: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
Distributor: Lionsgate
Launch Date: January 10, 2025
Director-screenwriter: Christian Gudegast
Solid: 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
Ranking: R
Working time: 2 hr 24 minutes
