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Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
                      review by Bobby Blakey

In 2018 London Has Fallen director Christian Gudegast re-teamed with Gerard Butler for the action thriller Den of Thieves. The film featured a great cast and did well enough to get the two to reteam once again for the sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera that also shows the return of O’Shea Jackson Jr. from the first film. Could this film bring the same gritty action that the first film delivered, or will it be a heist not worth watching?

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera follows Big Nick who is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange.

 

For some reason when I saw the original film I was kind of let down, but don’t know why. Upon revisiting it prior to checking out this latest outing I enjoyed it so I’m not sure what the issue was. With the end of the first film it served up a fun twist, but the perfect option to continue the story for this next game of cat and mouse. This new chapter jumps a head while keeping with the initial theme and taking things into a international scope in hopes to be bigger and better. For me it delivers, but not without its issues.

 

One of the things I love about the first film is that street level gritty tone making it fuse the action thriller with the heist and gang style tone. This time around it elevates itself to something less gritty and more sophisticated in the heist execution and world it is inhabiting. It still offers a great flick that fits in line with the previous film to push these characters forward and the heist itself is well executed and edge of your seat fun. I felt like there was less straight up action this time around but seemed by design for the direction they wanted to go. The action that is here is well done and a fun ride.

The chemistry between Butler and O’Shea Jackson is great and loved how they decided to fuse them together. This is less of a game of cat and mouse and straight up high-end heist team-up. That isn’t a spoiler as it’s in the trailer and how it all plays out is the real journey. The ending once again sets things up to another possible entry should they decide, and I am all for it. I love the direction of this series and hope it can find its way back to the gritty tone I love, but either way I would love to see these characters back in action.

Decide for yourself and check out Den of Thieves 2: Pantera in theaters now.

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