Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: In “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” a new action movie starring Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr., and now playing in theatres, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Nick “Big Nick” O’Brien’s search for bartender-turned-criminal Donnie Wilson leads him to the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they partner to plot a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange. “I’m broke,” says O’Brien, “and I want in on the action.”

CAST: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Meadow Williams, Swen Temmel. Directed by Christian Gudegast.

REVIEW: Seven years after the first “Den of Thieves” movie debuted comes the sequel, a hard-boiled heist movie that spends most of its time on simmer.

When we first see “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butkler), he’s a little worse for wear. He tosses his divorce papers, along with his wedding ring, into a bathroom bin, before crawling into the bottom of a bottle. When he learns of a heist in Antwerp (based on the real life 2003 Antwerp diamond heist) he instinctively knows it bears the fingerprints of his old adversary Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.).

Working with the police in Europe, he tracks down Wilson, who is planning an 850 million Euro heist at the World Diamond Center, one of the most secure facilities in the world. Catching a glimpse of the kind of cash involved the broke cop tells Wilson, “You’re gonna rob that place and I’m going to work with you.” But there’s a catch. “I can haul you in anytime I want,” he says. “Depends on my mood. Right now, I’m in a good mood.”

The bad-guy buddy movie—“Cop goes gangsta,” says Wilson—spends the rest of its runtime (a tad over two hours) in twisty-turny-more-is-less-mode. Elaborate plans are made, flirtations are had, alliances are tested, and diamonds prove to be harder to hang on to than originally thought. It feels cluttered, even when there isn’t much actually happening, which is a lot of the time.

“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” has all the ingredients of a fun thriller. There’s exotic locations—and the prerequisite drone shots to announce each of them—some fancy cars and stern-faced baddies. What it doesn’t have is the excitement to tie it all together.