We have never been more back, folks. This week, “Den of Thieves 2” will crash into theaters, bringing exciting action and signaling the return of everyone’s favorite perpetually hungover cop, Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien, played by Gerard Butler. A sequel to 2018’s surprise hit “Den of Thieves,” the film has Big Nick breaking bad and teaming up with master thief Donnie Wilson, played by O’Shea Jackson Jr., to pull off a big diamond heist. For his sequel, writer-director Christian Gudegast has increased the scope considerably. While the first film was a down-and-dirty cops and robbers flick set in LA, the sequel heads to Europe for a much bigger score, and leaves plenty of room for more sequels to come (hell yeah, bring ’em on).

Interestingly enough, this sequel doesn’t just have a simple run-of-the-mill title. Instead, “Den of Thieves 2” has a subtitle: “Pantera.” But why? I think a cynical answer could be “because it sounds cool as hell.” Seeing “Pantera” likely makes one think of the heavy metal band of the same name. Unfortunately, “Den of Thieves 2” does not feature a subplot about Big Nick teaming up with the band to rock out. Instead, there’s a different reason for the subtitle, although if I’m being honest, it feels almost arbitrary and kind of unnecessary. 

“Pantera” actually means “panther,” and that’s where the title comes into play in “Den of Thieves 2.” In “Den of Thieves 2,” Donnie has teamed up with a highly-skilled gang of jewel thieves who call themselves the Panthers. These characters are actually inspired by a real-life gang of thieves known as The Pink Panthers, inspired by the film comedy series of the same name. In “Den of Thieves 2,” these crooks are so notorious that there’s an entire division of the French police force tasked with tracking them down. This division is known as the Pantera Task Force. So there you have it: that’s why “Den of Thieves 2” is subtitled “Pantera.”

However, it must also be noted that the Pantera division plays an incredibly small part in the overall film. Early in the movie, Big Nick heads to Europe and meets up with the cop who heads up the Pantera unit, French police chief Hugo Kaman (Yasen Zates Atour). But Hugo is a very minor player herre. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that the end of the film reveals that Hugo has been working a bit behind-the-scenes, but even with this in mind, it still feels odd to give the film the “Pantera” subtitle. I can’t help but go back to what I said above: they used this subtitle simply because it sounded cool and didn’t put much more thought into it. And you know what? That’s fine. The movie still rips.

“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” is now playing in theaters.