“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – A High-Octane Bromance with Gerard Butler That Redefines Action!”

Apart from counting among its supporters the distinguished German arthouse stalwart Christian Petzold, 2018’s caper Den of Thieves carved out a reputation by crafting a notably persuasive imitation of Michael Mann’s filmmaking compared to numerous attempts. Its intimidating two-hour-twenty runtime, lightened by the most lively, unpredictable portrayal of Gerard Butler’s career, justified each one of those minutes through its meticulously detail-oriented perspective on the heist, emphasizing the specifics of the process that rendered Mann’s classic Heat both plausible and captivating. The magic-hour moments of reflection on a pristine Los Angeles beach may have laid the homage on rather heavily, but novice feature director Christian Gudegast demonstrated the skill to support it, his robust filmmaking technique enhancing the joys of its genre: the suspense of a ticking clock, the insider sophistication of burglary technology, the intense proficiency of the obsessively driven characters drawn to the field.

Seven years after the debut entry raked in a remarkable payday from its infamous January release date, Gudegast has reemerged to break the monotony of a purported release void once more, aiming to demonstrate that he has now mastered the other crucial component of Mann imitation. Although celebrated as the master of the crime narrative, Mann conducted Heat akin to a macho melodrama, a subtle romance between two reserved men who must redirect their flirtation, connection, and disputes into gunfire. With a deft touch enhancing its imitative tendencies, the memorably titled Den of Thieves 2: Pantera embraces the character of Butler’s crass, Pepto-chugging, name-claiming sheriff Big Nick as a representation of emotional turbulence. He’s a genuine guy’s guy, practically exuding testosterone, yet his trajectory in this sequel follows plot dynamics more commonly associated with younger women. After a painful breakup, our hero devotes a semester abroad in Europe, where he expands his outlook and rekindles a sense of passion for life while recognizing the one true love that has always been there. He’s not exactly indulging in eating, praying, and loving, but Big Nick learns to enjoy (and pronounce) a good croissant, and that’s close enough.

Reintroduced clenched around his finalized divorce documents in his mouth while urinating at the courthouse urinal before tossing his wedding band onto the floor, Big Nick is not in a favorable position. Perhaps his marital issues stemmed from being fixated on the one that slipped away; in this scenario, that’s Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr, equally adept in cheerful and no-nonsense modes, a genuine movie star), the top-notch getaway driver who absconded with the spoils last time. Big Nick’s scheme to locate him in the diamond capital of Nice might offer some resolution, although as his FBI associate points out, the criminals have been operating well beyond American jurisdiction. From Los Angeles’s perspective, they are not troubling anyone, and thus the single-handed mission to penetrate their operation and dismantle it from the inside begins to appear as a desperate measure by someone searching for meaning and belonging. As he inserts himself into the so-called Panther Mafia, he begins to ease up a bit, aided by an evening at the club where a hash-and-MDMA high prompts a heartfelt apology to a former Yugoslavian for Operation Allied Force and a cathartic chant of “FUCK NATO!”

The tentative relationship between Big Nick and Donnie, their connection fortified through a mutual sharing of backgrounds at one of the late-night shawarma establishments serving Italy’s finest after-hours fare, adds four more minutes to the justified lengthiness of its predecessor. This allows Gudegast to justify the excess that threatens to transform this into a more relaxed hangout movie, alongside a screenplay structure that largely serves as a preface to the main spectacle, the intricate multi-part heist dominating the film’s final hour. The technical precision and inventive concepts demonstrated during the heist maintain a high standard of quality, its most inspired scene resembling a nerve-wracking game of red-light-green-light. Credibly representing expertise requires a semblance of the same behind the camera, and the attentive, innovative Gudegast can keep up with his characters.

As a mid-tier, meat-and-potatoes-action studio production, there’s something satisfying and nostalgically 90s about Big Nick and Donnie’s final dance in the Côte d’Azur, yet the film’s primary strengths – elegant and spatially coherent camera choreography, Butler finding his rhythm as Big Nick has his back, the secret intimacies shared by dominant males – are timeless. Even if Big Nick wasn’t incessantly addressing Donnie as “Fräulein” without a particular reason, the subtext that these two value one another would be evident, all but explicitly laid out in a monologue from Donnie about the “strange symbiosis” between crooks and law enforcement. Never mind that the concluding scenes bear a resemblance to the ending of Carol as much as the iconic diner confrontation from Heat; the chemistry between Butler and Jackson as two hefty bulldogs fending off solitude by engaging in small games with one another underscores the true essence of the film loud and clear. The ensemble departs for the Riviera to pilfer precious jewels, only to realize that the most valuable jewel of all is the homoerotically charged rivalry they formed along the journey.