I wasn’t actively writing about movies when Den of Thieves came out in 2018, so it was one I opted to skip at the time. However, I became aware that a bit of a cult following started to grow around the Gerard Butler heist movie, so with Den of Thieves 2: Pantera being among the first 2025 new movies to hit big screens I made sure to catch up with the original so I can weigh in this time around.
Quickly on Den of Thieves (FYI there will be some SPOILERS as it’s hard to fully discuss the movie without), it felt like a Heat wannabe with Butler chewing the scenery as a rogue cop that is more unpredictable than the bad guys, the latter led by Pablo Schreiber and including O’Shea Jackson Jr. It featured a bloated story that didn’t really do anything to stand out until a final big reveal about how Jackson’s Donnie pulled a fast one on everyone.
