Ocean's Twelve

The scene between Danny, Rusty, Linus, and Matsui where Danny and Rusty laugh uncomfortably at Matsui's gibberish joke says it all. Everyone in this movie expected us to enjoy whatever was put in front of us, because this is just a "safe picture", as Matt Damon's boyfriend would say would say. So, what went wrong? There are so many obvious in-jokes, cheap jokes, leaps of logic that even die hard Ocean's Eleven fans should feel cheated. The f**k scene with Basher is a good example of the sledgehammer type of joking this movie expects us to swallow graciously. These stars think that we are so involved with them that all they need to do is show us that they can make fun of themselves. I don't know the name of Julia Roberts' daughter; and I don't care. All those scenes with Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis are painful in their smugness. This movie feels like a bunch of friends got together and decided, on a whim, to make a movie. Steven Soderbergh should get full marks for making Ocean's Eleven work and full blame for this sequel. He should have told everyone to work first and play second.

Lacking the freshness of the original and going a bit overboard with its twists n turns, the follow-up chapter to Ocean's Eleven does exhibit the lavish look & carefree vibe of its predecessor and adds a couple more charismatic actors to its ensemble but its story is weak and only gets messier as it progresses.

Taking place some time after the events of the previous film, Ocean's Twelve brings back all the members of the original team as they battle against time to pay back all the money they stole from the owner of Las Vegas casinos, with interest. To meet the demand, they decide to pull off another heist, however, there's a new player in town.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film picks up from where it left off in the last picture and doesn't take long to bring all of them back into the same room. The basic storyline is interesting but how the events unfold in the final print is where the problem arises, not to mention that the subplots relating to new characters don't add anything of significance.

The sumptuous look n feel is retained and the European scenery is beautifully photographed. The smart manoeuvring of camera & refined use of colour palette adds a vibrant quality to its images. Editing is a mixed bag, however, as the numerous twists don't carry the same weight and appears forced into the narrative. And the background score doesn't have anything new to add either.

Coming to the performances, pretty much the entire cast of Ocean's Eleven make their appearance in this one with Clooney & Pitt leading the pack like before while the new additions include Vincent Cassel & Catherine Zeta-Jones who play their part responsibly but their respective characters are very poorly sketched. Roberts however gets additional screen time and is able to improve on her earlier input.

On an overall scale, Ocean's Twelve is an inferior sequel by all means that does take the arcs of its characters a little forward but doesn't add anything of substance. What's also disappointing is the climax that's far more ridiculous this time and seems way far-fetched than it did the last time. Still, there's some fun, laughs & amusement in store but if you're expecting a sequel that improves upon the original, then Ocean's Twelve isn't one of those.

I went to this movie, not expecting much. Actually I didn't even intend to go, since I thought it would be a crap movie, but you know how it is when a friend of yours wants to go to the movies with you. SOmetimes it's just hard to pick a movie. I had coincidentally seen quite a few cinematic releases recently, he doesn't like Jim Carrey (Series of unfortunate Events) and the rest of the films are even more unappealing than Ocean's Twelve (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Alexander, The Grudge or some stupid dutch film like Floris). What do you do then? You settle for the lesser evil: Ocean's Twelve! Finally when you go to the cinema with expectations that low, you sometimes are surprised at how good the film actually is. Too bad Ocean's Twelve isn't one of them. I actually felt that the whole first hour of the film was pretty bad. It could have been much tighter, even in the beginning. I mean, why make the part with Benedict all so lengthy when god knows there are telephones and Danny Ocean is the leader. But that's not the main problem with this film. I mean while it is fun to see all the characters from the first film in action and the whole deal Julia Roberts in the hotel are well-meant the entire film has nothing of the adventure of the first. There is no excitement, no suspense, even no sexual tension between any of the characters.

I can see what the story is here, but it is just too elaborate and there are too many different set-up's. The whole thing is filmed in a very uninvolved and non-thrilling way, which is exasperated (I've seen Shaun of the dead as well!) by the fact that many to all of the heists and set-up's are revealed after they have already been made. Also: why set up another heist when you could set up Benedict again? The makers of the film clearly want to make you think they do it because they itch. Well make it clearer and more obvious to see. For I do not believe it after seeing this film.

When criticizing this movie, one has to include the cast and I must say that overall I was pretty disappointed with it. George Clooney didn't have any charisma this time around as Danny 'smooth operator' Ocean , Andy Garcia wasn't quite mean enough, I can't figure out why Bernie Mac was in the film and as already mentioned. So far as to doing you job badly. The rest of the cast was only mediocre, with the exception of Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts who did OK. Considering Vincent Cassel, I just thought he was miscast and the entire character structure was crap. I mean an adversary to THE GANG should have been much different than the character he played and his whole scheme and and his whole set-up could have been much more believable. No matter how mediocre I thought the acting was, it is not my intention to slam the actors here, for much of the blame can be allocated to the writers and the director.

Is there nothing good then here? Well, of course there are some nice moments in the film and it makes you smile at times. Of course it isn't a total snooze-fest and not utterly boring, but it compared to it's predecessor it really is A LOT worse. I'd actually given this one only a 5 out of 10, but because of some nice bits and that tad of charme that shine through at times I'll be gentle this time.

6 out of 10

post scriptum: please no Ocean's 13 or Ocean's 10 / Ocean's 9 (after one or two members of the crew have been kidnapped

I BEG YOU !!!!!!!!!!

Note: this review has been amended to remove some sexist comments I included at the time. Apologies for any offence caused. I was young and stupid at the time, thinking I was being 'cool'.

A heist movie works on the premise that the audience is in on the heist. We dread the incredible security measures. We get to see the planning and the development. We marvel at the skills of each expert. We experience the same suspense and drama as the characters. Ocean's Twelve discards all these elements in favor of creative editing, avant garde camera work and superficial writing. It tries to extract great performances from so-so actors. O.K. so they all are beautiful people. That doesn't mean they are automatically the best actors. It doesn't mean that they can carry a film on their performances. Clooney and Pitt are no Newman and Redford. The acting talents of Catherince Zeta-Jones have never been anything to write home about. Only Finney in a tiny cameo draws any real emotion from the audience.

The best heist movies have real suspense. This film has none. The outcome is never in doubt. No matter how the surface of the plan is seemingly foiled...everyone is in on the far deeper "actual" plan.

On major problem is Garcia's character.

If the original "11" successfully pulled off the job we are made to believe they did in the first film, they wouldn't panic and crumble like a house of cards to Benedict's pressure and scare tactics. In fact, once a member of the cadre had been contacted, survelliance would have captured Benedict's strong arm tactics and bellicose threats immediately. The man would have legal challenges beyond belief.

It's not enough to know who robbed you. You must have proof, otherwise the worst threats would be a laughing matter for seasoned pros.

This time the con is on the fans! This sequel is specifically made to make easy money and guess what it comes from you! no thought has gone into cooking up a story -no thought has gone into attempting to give any type of direction or even editing - just a bunch of superstar smarty pants have got together to figure out how much their star power can get them in their spare time. Of course since die-hard fans of Oceans 11 (such as myself) will have to see this movie even if it is to just believe how bad it really is its a no brainer for the producers to dish any hogwash onto our plates - its a well thought of commercial strategy but very cold blooded and callous on the fans. Its extremely painful to sit through - the best performance is by Matt Damon in one particular scene which is the highest point the movie ever reaches -I hope they make an Oceans 13 and really think of a nice story this time around as a sort of apology for their bad behavior this time - or bring out an apology to all the fans they conned!