Den of Thieves 2: Pantera Review — Decent Sequel is Exactly What an Early January Movie Should Be

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera has the — perhaps inauspicious — designation of being the first major release of 2025. It’s not usually an enviable position to be in for a movie. But this is exactly the type of movie that should be released right now. January doesn’t have to be just a dumping ground for projects studios want to get off their books as quickly as possible. Obviously they’re not going to release potential awards contenders, or even expected big box office hits, right now. But all it takes to exceed expectations is to give audiences something decent.

And that’s what Den of Thieves 2 is: decent. It’s okay; it’s fine. And to boot, Gerard Butler is in his element here, having a blast. The man is tailor-made for January action/crime movies. You could do a lot worse with the first big movie of the year.

O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Donnie Wilson and Gerard Butler as ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien in Den of Thieves 2: Panthera (2025)/Lionsgate

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera plot

Following the events of 2018’s Den of Thieves, Nick “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butler) is still trying to track down Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), the last remaining member of the crew who robbed the Los Angeles Federal Reserve. Nick finds Donnie in Europe, still running heists. The two end up forced into an uneasy alliance, as together, with Donnie’s new crew, they plan a heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera review

A big part of where the first Den of Thieves thrived was the collection of characters. Along with Nick and Donnie, there was the rest of Donnie’s gang. They all filled several standard heist/crime character roles, but they also had personality beyond that. They weren’t there simply to check a box. Den of Thieves 2 takes a different approach. With Nick and Donnie now working in tandem, it becomes much more of a buddy movie. Christian Gudegast, who returns as both director and writer, uses their dynamic to good effect.

Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr work really well together. Most of the movie is fairly serious, but when the script calls for its handful of sillier and funnier moments, they easily rise to the occasion. Butler especially is in his bag here, helped by the fact that Big Nick O’Brien is simply a perfect role for him.

But while those two are great, it comes at the expense of having any interesting supporting characters. It’s to the point where they don’t even need names. They could have just been called “Crew Member #1,” “Crew Member #2,” and so on. This is a bigger issue early on, before Nick and Donnie link up. But once they do, they’re in almost every scene together, which helps mask the weak collection of side characters.

Much like its predecessor, Den of Thieves 2 runs a little long. But at least with the first, it was one cohesive story. Here, there’s the main story — the diamond heist — plus a couple of side stories that don’t do anything but distract from that central plot. Well, one (without spoiling which, though it won’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out) also exists to set up a potential threequel.

And the heist setup is good! Donnie and his team have been casing The World Diamond Center (inspired by and at least partially based on the real-life Antwerp Diamond Heist), one of the most heavily guarded and secure places in Europe. It forces them to plan an intricate, risky heist with no room for error, with a minuscule chance of even working. That’s what we want from a good heist movie. Focus on that, cut out the unnecessary side plots, and you’ve got a comfortable 100-120 minute movie instead of the bloated 144 minute final cut.

There’s also the question of where Nick and Donnie’s true loyalties lie. Is one playing the other? Are they both playing each other? Or did they actually go from enemies to allies, maybe even to friends? That’s the most interesting part of Den of Thieves 2, and it doesn’t get enough time, with the other extra side plots hanging around.

But the heist itself? That’s cinema, baby! This is easily the signature moment for Den of Thieves 2. It’s well-planned and executed, from both an in-movie and filmmaking perspective. It’s pegged as a nearly impossible task, but the door is left open just enough where what they’re attempting to do still feels believable. You feel the tension from the moment the heist starts. There’s nothing especially exciting, no bombastic action. Just a team of criminals (and one cop-turned-criminal) doing their thing and doing it well.

A lot of the goodwill for Den of Thieves 2 comes from the heist, and that’s fine. That’s what the movie is and should be about. Anything else should come second. So even with a bit of a meandering story, it locks in when it needs to and manages to get the main things right.

Is Den of Thieves 2: Pantera worth watching?

Look, Den of Thieves 2 is not high cinema. It’s a sequel to Den of Thieves; you know what you’re getting yourself into. Gerard Butler is on one here with a performance perfectly befitting an early January crime movie. Bottom line, though: Den of Thieves 2 is a heist movie with a great central heist. That should be reason enough to get you to the theater.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is in theaters now.