Ocean's Eleven was a rarity in the film world, a remake that was by far superior to the original. This isn't a criticism of the original, I like it, but without the Rat Pack it simply would not have been a hit. Sure, the remake had its fair share of stars, but the much cleverer plot would have seen it be a hit even in less capable hands.
It's an established fact that with a few rare exceptions (Godfather Part II, Empire Strikes Back) sequels never measure up to the original, but Steven Soderbergh had managed to break the rules once, could he do it again?
No.
Not even close.
For the uninitiated Oceans's Eleven saw Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his ten accomplices plan and execute a heist on three Las Vegas casinos, all of which are owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) - the man now involved with Ocean's ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts). The robbery goes to plan, and each of the crew walks away with their share of 160 million dollars.
Ocean's Twelve picks up three years later. Benedict's insurance company has picked up the cost of the robbery, but he's taking the theft somewhat personally. Having tracked down the members of the team he demands his money back - with interest…that's 190 million. Fairly unsurprisingly the boys have spent most of cash and can't even come close to the 160 that they stole. With Benedict's
deadline rapidly approaching they are left with only two choices;
Rusty Ryan: Of course, we haven't considered the most obvious solution. Danny Ocean: Oh yeah? Rusty Ryan: We could turn ourselves in. Go to jail. Nothing Benedict could do to us there. Danny Ocean: Yeah, good idea. We all go to the cops and confess to the Bellagio robbery. That averages twenty years for grand larceny for each of us. Yeah, that'd teach him.
…okay, make that only one choice.
The team quickly realise that there's no way they can pull a job of the magnitude required in the States, they're now far too high-profile, so they journey to Europe in search of a heist of sufficient magnitude.
Unfortunately this is as far as the story holds together.
Their first job doesn't go exactly to plan when they are foiled, not by the police, but by rival high-class thief François Toulour (Vincent Cassell) who is known as the "Nightfox"- a ridiculous name that would seem more at home in a Pink Panther movie. Apparently Toulour is renowned as the world's greatest thief but since the Bellagio heist some people have been putting forward the opinion that Danny and his crew now hold that position. It transpires that it was he who snitched to Benedict, knowing that this will draw the gang out of retirement and having done so he makes a bet with them. Both of them will attempt the same theft, in this case pinching a Faberge egg from a museum. If Danny wins Toulour will pay off his debt to Benedict.
Oh, and if that wasn't difficult enough, Rusty's ex-girlfriend Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a high-flying detective for Europol and hot on the gang's tail.
We have to sit through an exceedingly painful, and overly long scene playing on the "joke" that Tess looks like Julia Roberts. If this ever possessed any humour, which I severely doubt, it quickly dissipates. Equally nauseating is the weak subplot about Isabel's father. This sort of sideline would have been completely out of place in the original and only makes it into this film because the main story is so weak.
Whereas the conclusion of the first movie is intelligent, that of the second feels thrown together and then nailed on. It has no real link to the rest of the film, and as a result leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
The film is a real disappointment. There are many areas in which I feel let down. For a start the film's name is a misnomer, rather than Ocean's Twelve it would be far more accurate to call it Ocean's Five.
Part of the charm of the first movie was that there was such a wealth of acting and comedic talent. Everyone was given their own moment in the spotlight, and at no point did it feel like they were competing with one another. This chemistry is lost in this film, not because of any change between the members of the cast, but rather because instead of being used to their full potential the likes of Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle and Casey Affleck are written out of the movie, spending almost the entire film languishing in a jail cell. This is a travesty. To have such a wealth of talent and not use it is a crime, especially in the case of Elliott Gould. He is one of my favourite actors, able to steal an entire scene with just one line;
Reuben Tishkoff: [to a fortune teller. As he is having his palm read by her, he turns around to see Terry Benedict with two enforcers] This? You couldn't see *this*?
Unfortunately, this is about as much screen time as he sees.
As a result the film rests solely upon the shoulders of Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Roberts and the new addition, Catherine Zeta-Jones. These are talented actors but unfortunately they have less than nothing to work with. Simply putting the whole cast in a room together for 2 hours and filming the result could have achieved a better result. It is clear that the script was written for a different movie and then adapted to fit this purpose.
I bought this DVD as the result of an in store promotion, I can now say that the only promotion that could make this a worthwhile purchase would be if every DVD came with a free bar of gold.
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The Special Features on this DVD are concerned are as singularly unimpressive as the film itself. There is just one trailer for the film (which in my opinion is better than the movie itself). There is also the scene selection, although this is now an industry standard rather than a special feature in my opinion.
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Technical details:
Certificate: 12 Run Time: 120 minutes Region 2 encoding (Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt). Screen : Widescreen 2.40:1 Anamorphic Languages : English ; German - Dolby Digital (5.1) Subtitles : English, English for the hearing impaired, German, German for the hearing impaired, Arabic, Hebrew
Should you want to purchase this DVD I advise you to get your head examined. However if you are set on it then please send me your money and you can have my copy :)
Amazon.co.uk: £6.97 Play.com: £6.99
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Like its predecessorOcean's Eleven,Ocean's Twelveis a piffle of a caper, a preposterous ... more
plot given juice and vitality by a combination of movie star glamour and the exuberant filmmaking skill of director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, The Limey). The...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Like its predecessorOcean's Eleven,Ocean's Twelvehas a preposterous plot given juice and ... more
vitality by the combination of movie star glamour and the exuberant filmmaking skill of director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight,The Limey). The heist hijinks of t...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
They're back. And then some. Twelve is the new eleven when Danny Ocean and pals return in ... more
a sequel to the cool caper that saw them pull off a $160 million heist. But $160 million doesn't go as far as it used to. Not with everyone spending like sailors ...
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Dec 6th, 2005
(Dec 7th, 2005)
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