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Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is the long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Den of Thieves, an absolutely storming cop thriller with Gerard Butler (Plane) in one of his finest roles to date.
Hence, I was so looking forward to seeing it reach the big screen. So, why in the hell is it debuting in the UK on a streaming service?!
Either way, it’s one of those films which opens with a flavour of the theme, as member of thieving team with whom we’re about to become accustomed, Jovanna (Evin Ahmad – Who Is Erin Carter?), steals a big, red diamond from a plane, while posing as a flight attendant, then checks in at an Antwerp hotel.
Following on from the first film, Big Nick’s (Butler) investigating back from when the Federal Reserve Bank was robbed, yet nothing was seemingly stolen, and the authorities want him to drop it.
Meanwhile, after the diamond heist, Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr – Cocaine Bear) finds it’s so nice in Nice, and in the World Diamond District, posing as the world’s least-convincing French man, and they’re going to rob the World Diamond Centre.
Yet, despite Nick apparently working with the French cops, once we see him breaking into Donnie’s house, having already made dinner for himself by the time the owner arrives, he admits he’s broke, and wants to join the clan to steal the diamonds, including a great big one that’s in the vault.
So, is Nick on their side, or still working for the cops? After all, the FBI don’t seem very enamoured with him, so has he finally had enough and turned to the dark side?
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera did keep me guessing as to which way it was going to jump, but while I did enjoy this during its running time, overall, it felt rather flat, since the entirety of the plot is merely about stealing those diamonds, and carrying out a load of ‘breaking into a vault’ derring do that we’ve seen countless times before.
Compare that to the first film’s chase scenes, as well as a shootout in the thick of traffic!
Okay, so there IS a good car chase in this, but nothing like the long chase after Ray Merrimen in the first film, leaving this sequel to be fairly engaging stuff, but it’s nowhere near as layered like last time. As such, this felt like a very low-budget sequel, even though the first one cost $30m to make, and this one cost $40m! Maybe that’s just down to inflation over 7 years.
A couple of asides: I found it odd when with different languages were spoken throughout, they sometimes changed language mid-conversation. Plus, there’s also some warped sound in the score at times. I can’t remember if that was the case with the original.
Still, if Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a success, further films in the franchise are planned. Time will tell, but I hope it at least gets a showing in the cinema, first.
NOTE: There is NO mid- or post-credits scene.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is on Prime Video now. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 144 minutes
Release date: April 25th 2025
Studio: Amazon Prime Video
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Rating: 7/10
Director: Christian Gudegast
Producers: Gerard Butler, Mark Canton, Alan Siegel, Tucker Tooley
Screenplay: Christian Gudegast
Music: Kevin Matley
Cast:
Nicholas ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien: Gerard Butler
Donnie Wilson ‘Jean-Jacques’: O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Jovanna ‘Cleopatra’: Evin Ahmad
Slavko: Salvatore Esposito
Dragan: Orli Shuka
Florentin: Cristian Solimeno
Chava: Nazmiye Oral
Kylian: Mark Grosy
Lambor: Joshua Gabriel Liege
Marko: Dino Kelly
Zamba: Fortunato Cerlino
Hugo: Yasen Zates Atour
Varane: Constantin Vidal
Doyle: Ignacio Herrarez
Connor: Michael Bisping
Moussa: Giuseppe Schillaci
Vigo: Rico Verhoeven
Vuk: Velibor Topic
Tamy: Antonio Bustorff
Clement: Emanuel Felix
Bob: Jordan Bridges
The Octopus: Adriano Chiaramida
Sokol: Damir Kustura
Holly: Meadow Williams
Milan Lovren: Swen Temmel
Slobodan: Dejan Acimovic
Pape: Ciryl Gane
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.