Oceans Twelve reviewed...

Copyright 2004 by Warner Brothers Studios.

Starring, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Elliot Gould, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Catherine Zeta Jones, Carl Reiner, and Andy Garcia, as well as a few other not very popular actors. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

There comes a time in some movies that a sequel would be a good idea to make, because, well in most cases, the first movie did so well. For the case of Oceans Eleven, yes it did well, but that was no excuse to make the sequel, which can be summed up in five words: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Not only does the film leave you asking these questions, it also leaves you wondering what the hell was the reason they made it in the first place. Okay, now I feel better getting that off my chest. Now, let me tell you all that I can about this disappointing sequel to one of my all time favorite movies Ocean's Eleven.

SPOILER ALERT!

I say it was disappointing mainly because for the entire movie, I had no idea what was going on, who was doing what. The film begins with the most annoying titles I have ever seen in film, and those annoying titles continue through the movie. We then learn that it has been three years since the robbery of three casinos in Las Vegas (duh). We also get our first glimpse of Brad Pitt, who looks aged and acts like this was his first film ever. Catherine Zeta, well, she was okay as far as acting wise, not hers or any other persons in this movie's best job. We then see what the other 10 members of the original Ocean's Eleven are up to, yes they are all here, just like the preview says.

The first time we meet Andy Garcia, is when he stops by Julia Roberts (or Tess) and Daniel Ocean's new house. Julia Roberts must have either been sick while filming this, or had been wearing no makeup because she looks awfully pale, and much older/different then the first film. Andy Garcia, also looks older and is out of touch with his character from the first. He calmly bumps into the entire crew of Ocean's Eleven, each telling them who knows what (really we do not hear) and then we learn deep within the film that he wants his 160 million back, and he'll stop at nothing to get it even though he really does nothing when the two weeks given to get it passes. This is a plot hole, for those who frequent movie-mistakes.com. After a series of hard to watch super shaky shots (most likely filmed by the director, Mr. Soderbergh himself), we see the entire batch of the original eleven people all in a room discussing how to pay Andy Garcia back. I'll make a note on the filming of several parts of the movie later, right now I'm focusing on the buggy story.

We soon learn that Catherine Zeta is a detective working on the casino robbery case, and that she already knows Brad Pitt was involved (this was in the very beginning and was super confusing). Basically now, the crew must pull off a series of heists to pay Andy back. We also begin to learn that there is a second thief who likes to pull of jobs whilest Ocean's Eleven are at work. He is a French guy whose acting is very less than top notch. This movie sound hard to understand yet? It gets worse believe me.

So the crew of Ocean's Eleven wants to rob this egg shaped pottery with a value we're told of a couple of hundred million from a museum in Rome, but as they are pulling off the job, Livingston, Elliot Gould and the two Mormon brothers all get arrested, along with Ocean and Rusty (Brad Pitt.) So they are thrown in jail, leaving a few remaining members minus Carl Reiner, who opted out from going with the team in the opening scenes because he was getting too old, to try and steal the egg some other way. So Matt Damon calls Tess (Julia Roberts) in order to help pull off the heist of the egg. She comes, but runs into Bruce Willis of all people, and is mistaken for Julia Roberts, whom she looks like (and actually is, duh). Bruce gets all close to Julia, and then the heist begins, being unsuccessful because Catherine Zeta was watching the whole thing on a monitor.  So now all members of the original Oceans 11, except for Bernie Mac, (whom also disappears similar to Carl Reiner) are thrown in jail. Then the what the hell just happened part starts. So they are busted out of jail by this lady who we soon find out is Matt Damon's (or Linus') mother. Then Catherine is confronted by Brad Pitt, and they take off in a plane to who knows where. Tess and Danny go to the bad acting French guy and ask him how he stole the egg, which he explains, "by dancing." But then we soon find out that the egg was actually successfully stolen by Oceans 11. This is through a series of confusing and very shaky shots. Then the movie ends the stupidest way ever.

ENDING SPOILER COMING UP!

We see Andy Garcia examining a check that is his money, while talking to Elliot Gould and then it zooms in on a guy watering plants behind them, who is the French guy we saw earlier (can anyone say Sequel) and then we see a poker table, and like the ending of the original, all the team files in one after one all clapping and laughing and having a good time, and the movie ends. How stupid.

As said before, you leave asking "What the hell just happened?"

Now about the technical part of the film.

This film was shot, like its predecessor, mostly by Director Steven Soderbergh (although he denies filming it, he did). And, what's worse is that it shows. If you have seen Traffic, or the first film, then you'd know what I'm talking about. It appears Mr. S. does not like using a thing called SteadyCam. This leads to shaky shots that makes the audience almost throw up (much like Ridley Scott's new filming style.) One shot in particular was so shaky, and so confusing, you could not completely understand what was going on. There is a sideways shot of an airplane flying over that is pukish, as well as the egg robbing scene aboard the train that are really -make-you-want-to-barfish-. For this, I'd recommend that Mr. Soderbergh either hire a professional cinematographer (he can afford it) and/or insist on using SteadyCam. Face it, people don't like to see a shot completely shaky like some in this film, because it ruins the whole point of the shot, and makes the audience wonder what is going on. Not a smart move!

All of the actors have lost touch with their original characters from the first film. In particular, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia (the most), George Clooney, Elliot Gould, Casey Affleck, and Carl Reiner, who really is getting too old to do films any more. This is disappointing because the story suffers from it too. But, don't get me started on how confusing the story was, that'll take another three pages to figure out.

Overall, this film suffers from a number of set backs discussed above, such as filming style, story, and actor participation/desire to work on the film. It is also disappointing because it is hard to follow and very much confusing at times. You ask to many questions when seeing this film, most of all, what the hell is going on?

Freddie Farz Jr. viewed the day after it opened, 12/11/04.

                                                Andy Garcia, in 2004's Oceans Twelve.                         Soderbergh looking disappointed while filming the movie.

Note, subsequent viewings of this film may turn this review in a different direction but I was really unsatisfied with the film the first time around.

Pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Movies. To return to the movie reviews page to see more reviews, click here.