Gerard Butler didn’t have the best time filming Den of Thieves 2: Pantera as he shot the movie “with a freshly torn ACL.” In a new interview, the actor revealed that he filmed the action-intense movie while injured.

Hitting theaters a full seven years after the sleeper hit original, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (out Friday) takes place immediately following the events of the first film, with Butler's sheriff "Big Nick" O'Brien hunting Jackson Jr.'s master thief Donnie Wilson, who escaped to Europe and is already busy planning another heist.

Butler's brusque, beady-eyed, scowling-hulk charisma has aged well. A quick-fire actor in a caveman's body, he has the ability to lift a piece of pulp so that it almost seems like a real movie.

Christian Gudegast’s juiced-up “Heat” homage “Den of Thieves” has become a bit of a cult hit in the seven years since it was released, due in large part to co-star Gerard Butler’s boisterously haggard performance as “Big Nick” O’Brien,

Christian Gudegast's sequel ups the stupidity of the cat-and-mouse thriller that preceded it en route to becoming far more entertaining than it had any right to be.

The stars of the 2018 action hit tell IndieWire about reuniting for a sequel that's faster, funnier, and bigger than the original.

Indeed, watching Gerard Butler, reprising his role of tough cop “Big Nick” O’Brien, struggle to learn the proper pronunciation of the word “croissant” is one of the more interesting elements of this formulaic if slickly filmed movie in which Nick goes after Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.