The following contains spoilers for Den of Thieves 2: PanteraThe lovers of scuzzy "dad movies" out there have secured another win with the success of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, a follow-up to Gerard Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr.

The dogged cop and wily thief butt heads again in Christian Gudegast's follow-up to his 2018 heist thriller. Imagine the iconic diner sit-down scene between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s Heat stretched out to feature length and you’ll get some idea of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.

Writer/director Christian Gudegast’s Den Of Thieves is not a film that particularly appealed to my personal sensibilities, but it did allow me to go into the sequel with an open mind and reasonable hopes.

Pantera debuts in the US theaters today. Review scores for the sequel have now started to come in and have surpassed those of the original, with the movie getting strong ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

It’s an odd choice to do a sequel to the 2018 heist movie “Den of Thieves” in 2025. The first film made less than $50 million at the domestic box

Gerard Butler loved performing high-risk stunts during the making of the heist sequel 'Den of Thieves 2: Pantera'.

Pantera leaves viewers wondering if thieves can ever be in total alignment when it’s against their true nature. In this franchise sequel, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Gerard Butler band together as unlikely forces and blur the lines between the actions of an anti-hero and a real villain.