Den of Thieves 2 – Pantera Movie Review: Don’t change a winning team. The return of the Butler/O’Shea Jackson duo, directed once again by Christian Gudegast, surpasses itself. Less tense, yet ambitious, spectacular and dynamic. In theaters from March 6
“Can a tiger change his stripes?”. Seven years after the previous meeting - the excellent Den of Thieves, written and directed by Christian Gudegast - the same question is posed again by the fearsome and politically incorrect Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien by Gerard Butler and with him the brilliant untraceable robber Donnie Wilson, played once again by O’Shea Jackson Jr.
If it is true that among the narrative and linguistic intuitions probably most interesting and successful of that first chapter, there was Gudegast’s desire to hint at a certain cinema signed by Michael Mann, involving the spectators in a mouse hunt of unexpected sagacity, it is only in this second chapter that Gudegast makes a dutiful and definitive bow, as well as an in-depth look at the author of true cult films such as Heat and Collateral.
For this reason, Den of the Wolves 2 – Panther, in theaters from Thursday 6 March 2025, distributed by Lucky Red, succeeds in the enterprise, wisely distancing itself from the previous chapter and exploring new paths, still beaten by those livid, farcical and inevitably marked by time bodies of Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Den of Thieves 2 Pantera: The hunt is a brotherly love
Not only the hunt of the feared policeman – perhaps deviant? Or never so loyal to the badge and duty? – Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien has not run aground but has even extended, beyond the American borders and across the ocean. Donnie Wilson is hiding in France and intends to rob the World Diamond Center in Nice, strong of a new team with international features. What better occasion for a new meeting?
Yet the complicity between policeman and criminal, we know it well, Michael Mann even better – let's go back to the meeting at the table, between Al Pacino's lieutenant Vincent Hanna and Robert De Niro's now legendary and melancholic criminal Neil McCauley in Heat -, can never be exhausted at the end of the first clash, much less the first escape, requiring new lifeblood, flame and vital spirit.
Therefore a real relationship – after all, the same thing seems to be true for tennis, as Guadagnino said with the recent success that went unnoticed, at least in terms of Challengers prizes -, which jokes with fate and death, between international and local mafia, always returning there, to the potential friendship and the "if", which remains such, despite the chemistry, the fun and the adrenaline.
The change of pace compared to the previous chapter is evident right away. Den of Thieves 2 – Panther no longer has any interest in maintaining constant tension throughout its duration – the running time is not concise, about 2 hours and 25 minutes -, preferring a relaxation of tone, which is both stylistic and emotional, waiting for an explosion to come.
Once again, the explosion does not coincide with the sensationalism of a certain Hollywood muscular cinema signed by Michael Bay – first of all, but we could mention many others -, preferring a melancholic, intimate and highly suggestive vein, typical of a franchise aware of its potential, whose main interest lies in the gradual growth of its protagonists, their instincts and inevitably the bonds that exist between them and the public.
Just think of the paths – both spiritual and concrete – of Big Nick and Donnie Wilson, who separate several times, only to cross again and separate again, blatantly reflecting on a dynamic that no longer belongs to the buddy movie, but rather to the family cinema. Two brothers who love each other and are aware of belonging to two opposing factions coexist in spaces, however distant, however close, chasing each other tirelessly, thus playing at being accomplices, only to then respect the distances again, because moral codes shout their presence and woe betide anyone who does not respect them.
Den of Thieves 2 – Panther: evaluation and conclusion
Less muscular, yet visually spectacular and ambitious in terms of territorial and linguistic transgression – the final car chase fears no comparison with what we have seen in the latest James Bond with (and perhaps by?) Daniel Craig -, Den of Thieves 2 – Panther entertains and conquers, between pulp and pop irony, while always winking at Michael Mann's noir and an elegant action, here on steroids, that appears and disappears, suggested and ghostly.
Gudegast has in his hands one of the potentially most interesting, sagacious and complex franchises of recent years, whose strength lies both in the awareness of the limits not to be crossed and in the macho and brotherly alchemy between Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr. that cannot be changed for any reason in the world. The two-man game works and grows more and more. After all, a winning team does not change. All that remains is to wait for the next chapter, here in seven or eight years. Will it be too late? Butler says no, Gudegast confirms. We believe him.