Ocean's Twelve

For a film to relax with, Ocean’s Twelve has a needlessly convoluted plot and it’s significantly more hectic than the first one. Thanks, however, to its likable stars, the costumes that complement them beautifully and the excellent, Tarantino-esque soundtrack, it’s smooth as butter. Overall, somewhere between three and four stars. (20.12.2004)

A solid, but over-combined average in terms of screenplay and the cast. Only the main protagonist is given sufficient room to strut his stuff; the others just make a quick appearance and then disappear again. And after that some of them appear again and others don’t. The scenes that work the best are the ones where the actors make fun of themselves; for instance when they are talking about how old Danny (alias George Clooney) is, and Julia Roberts impersonating Julia Roberts. (17.12.2004)

The buddies definitely didn't follow proven paths, on the contrary. They added a lot of twists and turns, which almost led them to disaster. The charm and allure of the personalities of the most important participants thus becomes the expected rescue brake for them. I like the absolute precision and technical perfection, but I can't shake off the sour taste that both came at the expense of carefree and, at the same time, quality and smart entertainment. Profiting for one's own gain and a comfortable rest of life is much more likable than pulling the group out of old troubles, or competing for the position of the best. (06.08.2008)

Considering how convoluted it was, everything fell together very nicely in the end. However, it was overall much less fun than part one. You have to concentrate so hard on what’s happening that this sit back and relax movie is about as relaxing as mid-semester math test. But Catherine was a twenty-five carat addition to the cast. (25.10.2008)

Steven Soderbergh scores this time only in terms of form. Once again, we can expect excellent and imaginative camera work, great use of filters, colourful music, and beautiful costumes, but that’s basically all there is, and nothing else is really worth mentioning. In terms of content, the film is too complicated, the script unnecessarily convoluted, the plot too fast-paced, and the creativity and humourr from the first part are also gone. (22.07.2005)

I have one minor problem with con-artist movies, I expect a con until the very end, so in the end I'm not too surprised that something isn't what it seemed, but I like to be surprised by HOW it actually was. And when it makes sense, is well shot and acted, I'm satisfied, which is the case with Ocean’s 12. I liked the first one a bit more, but not by much, and if it had been about a duel between two ace thieves from the beginning, I would have given it a fifth star. PS: Tess does look like Julia Roberts :) (02.05.2022)

There you go again, obediently cursing yourself for wanting to yawn. Granted, the second installment of Ocean’s has a really megalame script, Cassel and Willis really didn't need to be here, Brad Pitt is obviously always getting dragged into a scene from some bender, and so forth. But since I personally like to style myself as the director when watching a movie, I quite enjoyed the selfish banter with buddies. Weaker than the first one, but still fun in the best Hollywood way. (15.02.2011)

The first film, only in Europe and with Catherine Zeta-Jones. And that's basically it. A too long introduction, which leads to just waiting for the actual action. What was interesting in the first film was basically copied here and not much invention was added. It's quite a shame, but even Soderbergh saw that something works, so he milked that idea. He only changed that there is much less action and everything mainly happens in a conversational manner. The excitement is lost. (12.03.2014)