Den Of Thieves 2 Blew Me Away With Its Electric Car Chase, And I’m Even More Impressed Now That I Know How They Filmed It

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I practically jump for joy over grand automobile pursuits nearly equal to my enthusiasm for heist movies, so when I heard the buzz about Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, especially since it’s a long-awaited sequel with Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr., I was thrilled to discover that it includes both. The early slot in the 2025 movie calendar didn’t let me down, boasting heart-pounding heist sequences, meticulous planning scenes, and what critics have hailed as the first high-voltage electric car chase. And I couldn’t wait to learn how director Christian Gudegast pulled off such an action-packed spectacle.

After Butler’s character Nick “Big Nick” O’Brien and Jackson’s Donnie Wilson successfully execute an exciting heist at the World Diamond Center in Nice, France, a thrilling car chase unfolds. This scene is packed with all the elements you’d expect, thanks to careful planning and some clever tricks revealed by cinematographer Terry Stacey in a Variety interview. He explained that preliminary visualization (pre-viz) work and two Porsche Taycan Turbos were used to make go-karts for filming the chase scene, allowing them to pull it off flawlessly.

The adventure kicked off by preparing initial visualizations, which encompassed storyboarding, scouting suitable roads, and utilizing a rooftop pod car. We modified two Porsches to resemble go-karts for the scene, and our skilled stunt driver was perched atop one of them. To allow the stunt driver to manage the action, we shifted the steering wheel, dashboard, and accelerator up to the roof. O’Shea and Gerard were in the car alongside the camera operator who was seated in the back.

It’s fascinating that Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. would travel in a cutting-edge electric Porsche with a stunt driver managing from a rooftop vantage point. This setup evokes memories of “The Fall Guy”. The beauty lies in the fact that it enables the actors to concentrate on delivering an exceptional performance, while simultaneously enhancing the realism and grandeur of the scene.

Towards the end of the discussion, Stacey revealed that the scene, which was filmed over a period of seven days, incorporated clever cameras and risky stunts to achieve the part where the Porsche, persistently pursued by two Audis, emerges from a mountain tunnel.

In the vehicle, we only had one camera capturing scenes where the stunt actor would pretend to fall off a cliff, which was quite challenging. For the wide shot showing the car actually going over the cliff, we used computer-generated imagery (CGI). However, when it came to focusing on Nick or Donnie, Christian meticulously directed us to switch between them and their surroundings, so we used a mounted camera in their car, along with separate shots of the villains in their Audis. This was then edited together seamlessly.

Everything combined to produce an outstanding car chase scene reminiscent of recent times, a spectacle I eagerly anticipate surpassing when Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and director Christian Gudegast deliver the promised Den of Thieves 3.

If you haven’t watched “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” don’t make the same mistake I did with its predecessor by missing out on the 2018 crime movie. Although it might not appeal to everyone, there are plenty of reasons to enjoy it, going beyond the thrilling Porsche car chase scene.

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2025-01-21 20:37