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 office and to my knowledge doesn’t have much of a cult following. I didn’t see that film at the time, but I did see it on Max to prepare for the sequel, and was unimpressed. There was some competent action, but the story and characters were unoriginal and unengaging. I would have given it a C-. For such a bland movie to get a sequel at all seems unlikely, let alone one that goes to theaters and isn’t dumped on streaming or Video on Demand. For all I know, that was the plan and then some studio executive noticed there were no wide releases scheduled for this past weekend, so they just threw in whatever they had. The tactic worked, the film took the #1 spot away from the fourth weekend of “Mufasa,” but this is not a movie that I could see succeeding through any means other than a lack of competition.

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Gerard Butler is back as L.A. detective Nick O’Brien, still in pursuit of the elusive Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.). Donnie and a crew stole $30 million from the Federal Reserve in the first movie in a job that left both cops and criminals dead, with Donnie himself getting away scot-free. Nick seems more concerned with avenging his own humiliation than any fallen comrades. Whatever his motivations, he tracks Donnie to France, where he and another crew are about to ransack the World Diamond Centre. Nick could just arrest Donnie, but he makes another play: joining in on the heist himself.

What follows is your standard heist movie protocol: Nick gaining the trust of the Pantera crew led by Jovanna (Evin Ahmad), pushing out those that don’t trust him, doing some light bonding with Donnie and the faithful members of the crew, manipulating the technology and staff of the WDC, and getting on the bad side of the local mafia for an inevitable third-act twist. Then there’s the heist itself, which is so smooth that the movie barely remembers to throw in a few wrinkles to keep viewers from falling asleep. Clocks tick, cars are driven. There’s never really a question of whether or not the crew can evade the WDC’s security, the suspense comes from wondering who’s going to betray whom and how violent it will be. The film is R-rated and the first movie was pretty violent, so things could get messy.

As with the first movie, this one just doesn’t make much of an impact. Neither film ever rises above coming off as a “Fast & Furious” knockoff. This film admirably tries to give some much-needed depth to the Butler and Jackson characters, and the actors are fine, but even with the fleshing-out, these characters are completely standard for a movie like this. A third movie is heavily teased, and I won’t exactly say no to spending more time with the surviving characters, but the studio is going to have to find another deserted weekend if it wants me to have any enthusiasm. And getting one of these movies down to under two hours certainly wouldn’t hurt.

After I saw “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” my friends asked me if I liked it. When I told them I didn’t, they all asked some variation on, “So it didn’t live up to the original?” No, the original was too disposable. This one is only mildly disposable. I can see the game being upped a smidge. It’s not to a point where I give it a recommendation, but for a sequel to a movie that was easy to dismiss seven years ago, it’s surprisingly hard to dismiss now.

Grade: C

“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” is rated R for pervasive language, some violence, drug use and sexual references. Its running time is 142 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.