rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States, Australia; 2004
Directed by Steven Soderbergh; produced by Jerry Weintraub; written by George Nolfi
Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Vincent Cassel, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Scott Caan, Eddie Jamison, Shaobo Qin, Eddie Izzard, Albert Finney, Topher Grace, Jeroen Krabbé, Bruce Willis
'Ocean's Twelve' is about one thing. Correction: two things. European locations and how much fun a group of famous actors can have with their performances. The locations are Amsterdam, Paris and Rome. The most notable actors having fun are George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy Garcia, Vincent Cassel, Albert Finney, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Elliott Gould, Scott Caan and Carl Reiner play along too. Really, the fun comes from watching them and the locations they have made their place of living.
Is it enough, really, to recommend this film? Yes and no. The plot is not half as fun as the original, because the film understands, or just thinks, it is not the point anymore. I would have liked to see something better, and many will be very disappointed here. Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his team need to pay back Terry Benedict (Garcia), so the locations need to be visited. Problems occur with a rival thief (Cassel) and with Isabel (Zeta-Jones), both Rusty's (Pitt) girl as the agent out to catch the group. Eleven changes into twelve because Ocean's girl Tess (Roberts) is counted too.
Again, it does not really matter, it is there to move all these famous faces around. I liked it, up to a point. Some of the fun really works, as when Damon wants to take part in negotiations, and Pitt and Clooney jerk him around. Or when Roberts is finally needed and the film takes a step into reality. For some reason it always feels as if these moments are just put in for the fun the characters can have, and I am glad they did. Without them the film would be a huge disppointment, now it is a small one. The excitment of the original film is almost completely gone.
The heists are less ingenious, the atmospheric visual style director Steven Soderbergh brought to 'Ocean's Eleven' is gone - which he restored for 'Ocean's Thirteen' - and there seems to be no real effort to make this work. This film is enjoyable, but the least of the four Danny Ocean films (including the 1960 original). That it still is fun says something about its director and even more about the actors. At least seven of them could count to A-list stars, and they are needed to make this work.