REVIEW: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera Compares Thieves To Anti-Heroes – Essence

Filmmaker Christian Gudegast’s sequel to Den of Thieves seeks to add more emotional depth to the master thief, Donnie Wilson played by O’Shea Jackson Jr. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is speedy, luxe, global, and bigger in scale compared to its predecessor. With a disgruntled attitude on life, the often inebriated yet invincible Robocop-like figure Big Nick played by Gerard Butler becomes partners-in-crime with his biggest target, Donnie Wilson.

Set against the scenic coastal destinations of Cinque Terre, Sardinia, Nice, Antwerp, and more, Den Of Thieves 2 raises the bar in Europe by stepping outside of Los Angeles. Donnie Wilson is displayed as crime robbery’s “Houdini” a.k.a the criminal of the century. While pulling off the diamond heist of a lifetime, Wilson and Nick become friends by breaking into the most secure vaults in Nice, France’s World Diamond district. The coveted pink diamond, better known as the “Octopus” is what Donnie Wilson and Big Nick risk their lives for, causing them to form an unlikely bond. 

Becoming thick as thieves, Big Nick follows Wilson to Europe to take him down, instead, he seemingly falls headfirst into the throes of fast cash-making and he becomes a master thief himself. Hailing from Hawthorne California, O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s character is an LA-native and he knows how to speak fluent French and don designer wares to infiltrate the highest echelons of French society. Together, the cinematic cop and convicted criminal scale bank buildings, shoot hundreds of bullets, go on several high-speed car chase sequences, thieve, and nearly drown on the French Riviera after being thrown off a yacht.

Technically, the franchise’s biggest villain is Evin Ahmad, who plays Jovonna, the cut-throat agent who leads the crime group called the Panthers — they can practically break any code or safe to steal million-dollar treasures and valuables. Den of Thieves 2 is a web of relationships that intersect; Wilson is recruited by Jovonna to dive further into the underbelly of European crime, and Big Nick befriends Wilson in the process, which intertwines all their morally-corrupt lives together in Gudegast’s blockbuster. In the film, the newly formed unit ends up creating more foreign enemies when the pink diamond they steal to sell is owned by an Italian elder who helms a deadlier villain ring of henchmen. 

Under the hood of Christian Gudegast’s luxury car-decorated robbery movie, the law-breaking characters befriend each other while feuding and this leads to a shared goal of carrying out history’s most infamous diamond heist. The director effectively leaves the audience clueless about whether Nick and Wilson are actual comrades or not, and this fun dynamic plays out entertainingly onscreen. Both returning for Den of Thieves 2, Jackson and Butler are an action-packed match, possessing the same synergy that Vin Diesel and The Rock have in the Fast & Furious franchise. But as soon as you believe the leading protagonists aren’t at odds, the filmmaker reminds you that they have innate differences due to the sides of the law they choose to be on.

In the film’s final act, Gerard Butler’s character ends up swindling the master swindler by joining his heist and discovering the true inner workings of a meticulous heist operation. After he loses his police badge, Nick shares a commonality with Wilson by having disdain towards law enforcement. When the big reveal happens that Nick’s allegiance to the law gets Donnie Wilson put behind bars, the fast-paced nature of this series of scenes makes viewers assume otherwise. Except, that isn’t what really happens, even down to the final minutes of the crime saga, Wilson is capable of freeing himself from any restrictive circumstance even if he is imprisoned.