Den of Thieves: Pantera

It won’t win points for originality or sophistication, but this is another muscular, well-pitched heist thriller with strong character work from Butler and Jackson Jr. We wait with bated breath for The Further Adventures Of Big Nick.

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.

It’s not up there with the great heist movies. Butler lacks the charm to generate that kind of appeal, but it has quite a lot going for it. It’s certainly more likeable than its predecessor.

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.

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.

No other personalities in this movie can match that Gerard Butler energy.

Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. duel across lovely locales in serviceable thriller

Nothing really stands out in this ho-hum follow up, it's not awful but very average

…Den of Thieves: Pantera is a deliberately languorous but highly enjoyable copshow, with Gerry Butler and 50 Cent enjoying their repartee, with enough action for writer and director Christian Gudegast to stretch his legs….

The resulting film is as unmoored as Butler’s frequently sozzled character, with far too many tedious and indulgent bonding scenes between Butler and Jackson drawing the running time out...instead of getting down to business with actual action.