Following his escape from LA, Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) is in Europe, planning another heist.
Everything is going according to plan when a new variable barges onto the scene:
"Big Nick" O'Brien (Gerard Butler)...
Man, I do not know what I was thinking when I reviewed Den of Thieves.
I started a rewatch before catching the sequel, and it’s great.
Sure it is a bit long and the Heat comparisons do not help.
But on its own terms, it is a strong piece of work.
A grime-y war of wits and wills between the war machines produced by the US military, and their stateside equivalent.
The ostensible antagonist, Merriman (Pablo Schreiber) is loyal to his crew, a found family who share his military and criminal past.
Nick O’Brien, by contrast, has nothing. His wife leaves him at the start of the movie, and when he is not working, he is spiralling, lost in a situation he cannot control.
When on the case, he is completely at ease and intuitive. His skill set is perfect for his profession. And that strength is negated when he is outwitted at the climax.
By the end of the movie, clear moral delineations are completely destroyed.
And thus, let us move to its sequel.
Set in Europe and inspired by the real-life Pink Panthers, a mysterious gang of robbers who are believed to be former soldiers from the Balkans, Pantera wants to be an ironic inversion of its predecessor.
Nick joins the crew - a narrative move that feels contrived rather than organic, thanks to the characters’ past history.
It feels like the natural tension between the central pairs is thrown away. It never feels like Nick wins Donnie’s trust. They just become friends over the course of a scene.
The actors’ chemistry is strong and does a better job than the script of carrying this off, but it still jostles.
The finale sees Nick make up for his loss from the previous movie.But it feels unearned.
There is something powerful in this scene:
While his French counterpart is celebratory, Nick is conflicted about betraying his newfound friends.
The best aspect of the movie - and of Gerard Butler’s performance - is Nick’s struggle between enjoying the camaraderie and freedom of the ‘other side’ and his own inner sense of professional obligation.
And it seems more like professional obligation than any strong sense of moral righteousness because he ends up facilitating Donnie’s escape in the last scene.
Butler is terrific here.
He was great in the previous movie, leaning in to Nick’s scuzzy, big dog energy.
Here he is even better, the bravado feeling more like a front for a man rendered hollow - when told he can now go home, he dismisses that sense of resolution.
What is he heading home to? He has nothing.
He is divorced and cannot see his kids.
The thieves have a sense of loyalty and family that Nick no longer has. It is underwritten in the movie, but the film offers Nick a new - but different - lease on life.
There is even the hint of a potential romance with one of the gang, Jovanna (Evin Ahmad).
This is a great little scene for Butler, who, once again, leans into Nick’s unease. Clearly out of practice with social cues, at the thinnest sliver of flirtation, he blurts out that he is divorced.
Beyond that, he seems to be both excited and terrified of crossing over to the other side.
Pantera is not great.
The cinematography is perfunctory and often too dark to see, there are too many subplots and not enough work done to strengthen the central lines of conflict.
But there are chunks of gold in here: the denouement of the central heist is frankly more exciting than the heist, and the car chase at the end is pretty effective. .
The strongest element of the movie is the development of Nick’s character, and Butler’s performance, is the key to the film’s relative success.
Den of Thieves is a better movie, but this one is still worth a watch. And if this film turns into a franchise, it will be exciting to see where it goes next.
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