Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) review

Immediately after finalizing his divorce, Nicholas O'Brien (Gerard Butler) from the LASD (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department) hears about a diamond heist in Antwerp by the "Panther Crew," so he flies to Europe, reconnects with thief Donnie Wilson (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), and then asks to join the group as they plan to rob the World Diamond Centre in Nice, France.  Despite its faults, the first movie at least had a surplus of energy and Gudegast showed he could film a shootout skillfully, while here it's largely multi-lingual tough guy chatter and scenes showing the thieves "planning" the break-in ... even though it's grossly inefficient at explaining itself, and it saves its "big" action sequence (a car chase featuring heavy artillery) for the very end.  Attempting to piece it together is a waste of brain juice as there had to have been a simpler way for O'Brien to capture the baddies without risking his own life ... but maybe he's just depressed over the wifey leaving and needed to know what it felt like to be gangster for a couple of days.  (Also, R.I.P. Dimebag and thanks for the riffs.)