Den of Thieves: Pantera

Directed by Christian Gudegast, Den of Thieves: Pantera follows Gerard Butler’s grizzled Nick as his pursuit of O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie brings him to Europe. Filmmaker Gudegast, working from his own screenplay, delivers a wildly overlong endeavor that gets off to a less-than-promising start, as Den of Thieves: Pantera boasts an opening hour that’s almost entirely devoid of interesting, attention-grabbing attributes and elements – with the let’s-get-on-with-it-already atmosphere compounded by a recurring emphasis on scenes and sequences of a padded-out (and often entirely needless) nature. (The presence of an almost uniformly dull and one-dimensional assortment of periphery figures does little to alleviate the far-from-gripping vibe.) It’s clear, then, that Den of Thieves: Pantera‘s transformation from interminable to unexpectedly engrossing is triggered by the heist (and its tense aftermath) that occupies much of the movie’s second half, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that the picture would’ve benefited from a much shorter, more streamlined running time (ie said heist doesn’t even occur until around the 75 minute mark!) – with the end result a decent sequel that feels like it should be a whole lot better.

**1/2 out of ****