Den of Thieves 2: Pantera gets its first trailer, revealing more about the sequel to the 2018 action thriller. Directed by Christian Gudegast, Den of Thieves starred Gerard Butler as “Big Nick” O’Brien, the leader of an elite unit of LA cops tracking a highly-dangerous crew of bank robbers. Gudegast now reunites with Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr., who played mastermind Donnie Wilson, for a follow-up, with Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’s story expected to follow Big Nick as he travels to Europe in search of Donnie.
Now, Lionsgate releases the first trailer for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, teasing another action-packed outing in a new setting. The sequel is set to make one major change from the original, with Big Nick, disillusioned by police work, actually joining Donnie for his next heist. The pair will work together with a new crew to rob the World Diamond Center, which will seemingly involve plenty of car chases and tense shootouts. Check out the trailer below:
What Big Nick’s New Role Means For Den Of Thieves 2
How Pantera Changes The First Film’s Structure
The first movie portrays Big Nick as an obsessed cop, determined to take down Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) and his team no matter the cost. The fact that the sequel sees Nick switching sides and becoming a robber suggests that he was truly let down by the LAPD after the Den of Thieves ending, and perhaps what happened to him goes beyond just being fired.
Nick’s turn to a life of crime does mean, however, that the sequel will seemingly be structured very differently from the original. The original Den of Thieves mirrors Heat (1995) in the sense that it essentially features dual protagonists on opposite sides of the law facing off against each other, but Pantera will seemingly be focusing far more on only one side of this coin.
Nick joining forces with Donnie, whose identity as a mastermind robber is now no longer a secret, means that the film can spend more time on criminal elements of the story, such as the heist itself and the team members pulling it off. With Nick and Donnie now on the same side, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera will be introducing a new antagonist, with Cristian Solimeno’s unnamed character seemingly serving that function.
NOTE: The Den of Thieves 2: Pantera cast also features performances from Swen Temmel, Evin Ahmad, Yasen Zates Atour, Salvatore Esposito, and Orli Shuka.
Our Take On The Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera Trailer
Will The Sequel Feature Another Ending Twist?
From the trailer alone, it’s quite a leap that Nick would abandon his years of law enforcement in favor of making money as a criminal. In fact, it’s such a leap that it’s possible Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is repeating a trick from the first movie. After audiences are led to believe that it’s Merrimen who is masterminding the heist of the Federal Reserve, the film’s final moments reveal that it was actually the seemingly in-over-his-head Donnie.
The sequel could potentially be gearing up for a similar ending in which Big Nick reveals that he actually never did switch sides and that this was all an undercover sting to catch Donnie and his entire crew in the act. Many questions still remain about Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, but the sequel is evidently looking to recapture the energy from the first film with some major narrative and setting changes.
Source: Lionsgate