Den of Thieves 2: Pantera movie review: Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. duel across beautiful locations in serviceable heist movie

A scene from ‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’

Heist movies are excellent entertainers and Christian Gudegast follows up his 2018 film with another effort starring Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officer Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler). Starting with a slick, smart robbery from the cargo area of ​​a Brussels flight, we move to LA where Nick throws his wedding ring and divorce papers in the trash.

Nick Downey (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), the barkeep/mastermind who bested him in the first film, draws a line between his job and Brussels’ job. He somewhat convinces his boss’s people to let him follow Donnie to Nice, and soon Nick is off to sunny weather, coffee and croissants. In Nice he plays the big idiot American in France who mispronounces croissant and salmon, much to the dismay of police chief Hugo (Yassen Zets Atour).

A scene from ‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’

Meanwhile, Donnie has found a new Euro crew, Pantera, consisting of the long, pointy-eyed Jovana, aka Cleopatra (Evin Ahmed), Slavko (Salvatore Esposito), Dragon (Orly Shuka) and Marco (Dino Kelly). – The boys are simply referred to as Ronin 1, 2, etc. The task of the Brussels flight was to finance the main work, which is the World Diamond Center in Nice.

The Brussels caper involves a jolly pink diamond, which unfortunately belongs to the mafia don, “The Octopus” (Adriano Chiaramida), who naturally wants it back. Pink Diamonds and Pantera may remind you of The Pink Panther, but it’s a very different movie.

Donnie sets himself up as a businessman to gain access to the safe with all the loot with the help of Chava (Nazmiyye Oral), who appears to be a fixer extraordinaire. There’s also the doorman (Stephen Coulon) who has to be escorted around. There’s a big game that everyone talks about going to – I thought they were going to the stadium, but no, they were just watching it on TV at a bar.

The heist, the centerpiece of the film, is fairly well planned and executed, even if the distraction at the ball game is understandably inexplicable. The cars racing down winding roads and tunnels are delightful, as are the beautiful, sunny locations of Tenerife, which stands in for Nice – then again the Canary Islands. la palmaButler is reliable as always and his chemistry with Jackson Jr. elevates the action. Although approximately two and a half hours long, Den of Thieves 2: PanteraThankfully it’s not that fast, making you swoon with fast cuts and loud music. Despite some unfathomable plot twists, it is a sweet action film, and in short, the ideal January movie.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is currently in theaters