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In almost every respect, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is an improvement on its 2018 predecessor. Eschewing a seedy, neo-noir aesthetic in the tradition of Michael Mann in favor of the French Riviera, Pantera at times feels like a vacation movie for Gerard Butler’s Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie Wilson. Seven years after the pair left their cat and mouse games between a good thief and a mean cop with the thief having the upper hand, the sequel is generally a lot more fun as the two work in simpatico on the same side in a sunny locale.
The best stretches of Den of Thieves 2 are thus the scenes of Butler and Jackson just vibing by the Mediterranean and doing their own version of a buddy comedy despite the fact that this movie is ostensibly about hardboiled tough guys with scruffy necks and lousy alimony payments. The setup is Nick may (or may not) be tempted to join a big heist Donnie’s got cooking, but it’s when the pair are just enjoying their down time—and the movie savoring their chemistry—that Den of Thieves 2’s bland machismo gives way to genuine entertainment.
And the best bit is a shoutout Den makes toward Jackson’s family heritage and a lyric so iconic that it’s still quoted to this day in a movie about cops and robbers.
The sequence in question occurs at the midpoint after Nick’s showed up in Donnie’s swanky condo overlooking the Nice skyline. It is here Donnie is unconvincingly posing as a French financier who never speaks French. Somehow this front has conned actual natives into getting into business with him, and aroused the attention of Butler’s swaggering, hard-drinking and hard-partying “hunter” of criminals. By this time old Nick’s life is a proper shitshow too. The movie begins with him in divorce court where we quickly ascertain he has lost all custody to his children. Meanwhile he’s apparently been fired from the LAPD and (unbeknownst to Donnie) is doing some tentative work for the Feds.
Still, he’s in town and claiming a life on the straight and narrow (with a few curves along the way) hasn’t paid shit. He wants in on Donnie’s racket. And incredulously he is able to talk Donnie’s European associates into cutting him in. It’s all pretty ridiculous, but it leads to moments where during a rooftop midnight party in the summertime, they all are drinking and rizzing up the local talent while rightfully pissing off the nearby Eurotrash.
It’s a fun vibe that leans into Butler’s natural swagger of sweat and spittle. He taunts and flatters in equal measure other crooks in fresh suits. One of them is not convinced of Nick’s newfound crookedness though. Smelling bacon practically sizzling off Nick’s wrinkled collar, he hisses in French that Nick’s “still police.”
“Man, fuck the police,” Butler retorts in the language of Voltaire.
If you missed the winking homage, rest assured Jackson’s Donnie does not. While he doesn’t quite look directly into the camera and wink, he comes pretty close as he pauses in recognition of this defamation of law enforcement, and then suppress a smile.
If you know who his daddy is, you’re probably smiling too, especially since Jackson did such an uncanny job of playing him in Straight Outta Compton. Yes, this is Ice Cube’s baby boy who has proved to be every bit as charismatic as the old man, as well as a better actor. He gave a fully nuanced performance as Cube in the 2015 musical biopic directed by F. Gary Gray. And you better believe the movie featured whole subplots devoted to the legacy of a song titled “Fuck the Police.”
That song first appeared on the Straight Outta Compton album released in 1988 by N.W.A., the hip hop group Ice Cube rolled with between ’87 and ’91. Written as a protest anthem against police brutality, the song was accused of promoting hostility toward cops by the powers-that-be; it was banned by radio stations; banned altogether from Australian airwaves by the censors; and received a strongly worded note of disapproval from the FBI to N.W.A.’s record company at the time which claimed it “misrepresented police.”
The song’s also aged depressingly well considering it was released before Rodney King was severely beaten by the LAPD in 1991, which the cultural upheaval from would sadly not mark the end of excessive force and brutality being used against mostly Black men in the U.S.
The lyrics also make for a good gag in Den of Thieves 2, a movie that can intermittently work when it has fun with its characters. If there’s a Den of Thieves 3, just let Donnie and Nick begin by munching on shawarma and go from there….
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is in theaters now.
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