Given its worldwide ticket sales of $80 million, 2018’s Den of Thieves didn’t exactly turn into a boffo hit. Still, its low $30 million budget meant it probably made a minor profit, and that leads us to its sequel, 2025’sDen of Thieves 2: Pantera.

Master thief Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.) joins a gang of European criminals called the Panther Mafia. Along with Panther leader Jovana (Evin Ahmad), they plan to stage a heist at a French diamond vault.

Donnie fooled and fled from LA Deputy Sheriff Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) previously but he refuses to let go of this case. This sends him to Europe as he continues to pursue Donnie.

As noted at the start, the first Den barely eked out a profit, and Pantera fared even worse. It came with a higher – though still relatively low - $40 million budget but it took in a mere $56 million overall.

I didn’t care for the 2018 Den so logically, that sent me into the sequel without much hope of a good film. Could Pantera rise above those expectations?

Not really. While not a bad movie, Pantera lacks much to make it interesting.

Though Pantera at least offers a slightly lighter mood – at times, that is. The first flick wanted to emulate Michael Mann’s Heat and took itself far too seriously.

Some of that tone creeps through with Pantera. The sight of a crass and obnoxious American cop in Europe feels reminiscent of another sequel, 1975’s French Connection II.

Like Popeye Doyle there, Nick gives us a fish out of water and deals with culture clash. However, this becomes less of a factor than it did in the largely tedious French Connection sequel.

Those elements don’t become as prominent as they did in Connection II, though. Parts of Pantera leans more closely toward the “mismatched buddy” genre.

That occurs because – spoiler alert? – Nick and Donnie join forces along the way. This leads them to butt heads in mildly comedic segments that give Pantera a bit more levity than the deadly serious 2018 flick.

But only a bit, and only in spurts. Pantera still seems like a humorless affair much of the time.

Which would seem fine if the end result offered a compelling narrative or characters. Instead, it just feels flat for most of its length.

Essentially a cop tale mixed with caper flick, writer/director Christian Gudegast fails to bring much life to the proceedings. At its core, Pantera offers a simple plot, but Gudegast tells it in such a sluggish manner that it fails to connect.

Indeed, it can become tough to tell where Gudegast wants the story to go. While Pantera should turn into a taut thriller, it tends to amble without a lot of purpose.

Perhaps Gudegast opted for this pace intentionally to reflect the European cinematic tendencies rather than the slam-bang preferences of American films. Whatever the case, it doesn’t work, mainly because Pantera doesn’t fill its space with a lot of content or development.

Oddly, Nick feels like a different person in the sequel. The dirty philandering cop of the 2018 movie now seems more noble, a shift that doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Not much real character depth emerges with the others. The returning roles fail to expand and the new parts present little impact.

Like the first Den, Pantera also comes with an overly extended running time. 144 minutes feels at least half an hour too long for the narrative on display, and the slow pace makes the viewer feel that length.

Every once in a while, Pantera feels like it might shift into a higher gear. Unfortunately, it remains stuck in neutral too much of the time.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K product, the Dolby Vision image looked very good.

Sharpness always worked fine. No signs of softness marred the presentation, as it remained tight and concise.

I saw no jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes failed to manifest. Source flaws also didn’t become a presence.

Like the first movie, Pantera leaned heavily into a mix of amber/orange and teal. Trite as those tones may seem, the disc reproduced them as intended, and HDR gave the hues added heft.

Blacks felt deep and dense, while shadows came across as smooth and clear. Whites and contrast got a boost from HDR. Everything about the movie offered strong visuals.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack also fared well. Of course, the mix came to life mainly via the flick’s occasional action sequences.

Those used the various channels in a bold and involving manner that meshed nicely. Quieter scenes also came with nice use of the different speakers, all of which helped create a convincing sense of settings.

Audio quality seemed positive, with speech that remained natural and concise. Music showed nice range and boldness.

Effects delivered lively elements, with clean highs and deep lows. Though not active enough to reach “A” level, the mix still offered a pretty solid sonic experience.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical Atmos audio.

As for the Dolby Vision UHD, it benefited from the native 4K source, and that brought improved sharpness. Colors and blacks also enjoyed upgrades thanks to HDR, so the UHD became the more appealing presentation.

A few extras materialize here, and we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Christian Gudegast, producer Tucker Tooley, cinematographer Terry Stacey and editor Roberth Nordh. All four sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, stunts and action, music, effects, photography, editing and connected topics.

While the chat starts out pretty well, it sputters somewhat as it goes. We still get a reasonably good overview of the production but the track loses more steam than I’d prefer.

Footnote: at the start, Gudegast alludes to another commentary he recorded for Pantera. He leaves the impression this track intends to supplement that one, but the original discussion goes MIA.

Flipping the Script provides a 21-minute, nine-second featurette. It brings noes from Gudegast, Tooley, producer Alan Siegel, executive producer Philip Waley, Porsche Action Vehicles’ Owen Shively, and actors Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr,, Evin Ahmad and Nazmiye Oral.

During “Flipping”, we learn about the development of a sequel, research, influences, sets and locations, stunts and action, vehicles, cast and performances. Despite some of the usual happy talk, this becomes a decent production summary.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find 13 Deleted Scenes. These occupy a total of 18 minutes, two seconds.

Most of these tend toward modest expository beats or extensions of existing segments. We find more of Nick and Donnie in their more comedic moments, which manage to add some spice.

“Extended Falafel Scene” delivers the longest of the 13 clips, as it runs seven minutes, four seconds and expands those Donnie/Nick elements. If Pantera included more of this footage and less of its European Tourist Padding, it would be a more entertaining movie.

A second disc provides a Blu-ray copy of Pantera. It comes with the same extras as the UHD.

Essentially a mix of cop and caper flick genres, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera lacks the vivacity it needs to hit the mark. Like the first film, it proves too serious and too slow to work on a consistent basis. The 4K UHD boasts strong picture and audio as well as a mix of bonus materials. Maybe Den of Thieves 3 will deliver a winner, but the initial sequel fails to give us much of interest.