Covil de Ladrões: Pantera

While it is fun to reconnect with Big Nick and watch him try new foods, there's just something missing in this rote "Ronin" ripoff - a danger.

I enjoyed Pantera because it's functionally a hangout movie and I liked hanging out with Donnie and Big Nick.

Pantera struggles mightily with its pacing throughout the first half, as the energy from the first just doesn't carry over. The focus is less on the action and more on the heist aspect, but there are some solid character moments during the buildup.

...those with a soft spot for the original movie will be delighted to know that Gudegast has crafted a second chapter that's at least as good (and in some ways better) than its predecessor.

"Big Nick" is now officially Gerard Butler's signature role.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera isn't a shift from the first film so much as it is a refinement. This is a more elegant, mature manifestation of "dudes rock," like a Solo cup of limoncello instead of a room-temp bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red.

This sequel is a pretty standard thriller that has nice scenery and another solid set piece in the final act, but never finds another gear to make it more than another forgettable action flick.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera swaps out its tactical action and sun-drenched cops-and-robbers narrative for stylish heists in a surprisingly effective tonal switch highlighting its director's impressive action film vocabulary.

It's not as heavy on the drama... and it's also not quite as fun.

The film succeeds as an entertaining crime thriller on several levels. It's ripe with tension, Butler and Jackson Jr have excellent buddy chemistry, and the action sequences are first-rate. It's a fun thrill ride. Pass the popcorn!

Bottom line, Den of Thieves 2 is a heist movie with a great central heist. That should be reason enough to get you to theater.

Watching Big Nick get a little lost in a boozy dream of abandon, an ocean away from his troubles, we understand him better than we understand most of today's movie heroes.

Gudegast isn't interested in mounting a copy of a copy. But a lot of the pleasure of watching the filmmaker and his cast do their exquisite cover version is gone, replaced only by some clumsy buddy-comedy elements and a lot of action-movie hot air.

A film granular with details about one massive criminal undertaking, elevated by a pair of charismatic leading men in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

[Gudegast] infuses his inspired-by-real-events tale with the muscularity of its metal-titan namesake, all while pivoting everything around the grungy, rugged charisma of his star.

"Den of Thieves 2: Pantera" isn't groundbreaking, but it delivers what it promises: lovable scoundrels trading bullets and traversing borders.

To Gudegast's credit, he turns Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera into a grounded version of Mission: Impossible, delivering chunkier, more utilitarian versions of gadgets the IMF may have developed.

Gudegast, for all his casualness toward plausibility, is an energizing filmmaker. He keeps the mano-a-mano standoffs humming, and he's got a sixth sense for how to showcase Butler.

Just like the inexhaustibly creative thieves that inhabit its eponymous den, Christian Gudegast's sequel defies all odds en route to becoming one of the most entertaining new releases of the first 240 hours of 2025.

Pantera feels far more anonymous, sleeker and less outlandish, than its predecessor.