*** Official OCEAN'S TWELVE Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

I wasn't feeling it for this film, I think the tone was a little more subdued, mainly due to the change in locale from Las Vegas in Ocean's Eleven. It's pretty tough to juggle so characters and not short-shrift them, so on that account, the screenplay is okay in that respect.

I'm not sure if fans of the first installment will love this film, but there are some fun bits, just not enough of them for me. Are there twists and turns, of course, I just wasn't as impressed with the overall film, so by the time the film ended, I don't think I would need to see Ocean's Thirteen.

Did I think the actors felt like they are going through the paces? I think so, some of it is intentional, some of it just seems that the material just didn't give them enough room to do some interesting within the plot of the film.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Entertaining. Neither as solid or as entertaining as the first -- the major problem with the film as a sequel is that the Night Fox is nowhere near as great a foil as Andy Garcia was, and whatever you may think of Las Vegas, the city is endlessly cinematic in ways the European locales are not. The first film is more fun, and more satisfying. Still, Ocean's 12 is not a bad night out at the movies, and I suspect Ocean's 13 is not far behind, and I suspect this is going to be the plot:

Danny Ocean hired by Terry Benedict to find the Night Fox and retrieve some stolen goods

 

[Galen_V]

Ernest-I agree wholeheartedly with your evaluation. Whenever I am going to watch or read a sequel to a movie/book I enjoyed, I always get excited about being able to hang out with the same characters again, lapping up any new experiences that I have with them. I mean, just seeing Elliot Gould in his outlandish outfits again was enough to bring a big smile back across my face. With that said, I really felt the absence of both Benedict and Vegas in this film, as if two of your friends couldn’t make it back for the second party. Although I enjoyed the scenes that that Benedict appeared in, I couldn’t help but see him as a plot device meant to kick-start the movie rather than a villain who is really going to send these guys six feet under. Benedict is the type of villain whose appearance alone can make you sympathize with the “good” guys, and I felt that aspect of him was lost after the very first scenes. Also, Las Vegas was essentially a character in its own right in the first film, adding to the style and flair that just made that movie downright cool. Can a bored Frenchman and an Italian museum even hold a candle to a ruthless casino owner and an impregnable Las Vegas casino vault?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe it would have been a little bit better to get a little bit of the old back into this new one. On one hand, I really did enjoy the steps that Soderbergh took to try and avoid remaking the first movie, avoiding the same types of set ups and introductions and even type set/lead-ins to the new places. Furthermore, it seems as if the guaranteed financial success of the film allowed him to play around with the cinematography more than he would ordinarily would have, which I really think paid off in giving this film a unique look of its own (the first sequence in the hotel room in Amsterdam and Tess’s plane landing stick out the most in my mind right now). On the flip side of the coin, I think that had they made the story more about the heist and less about the crew hanging out in Europe, it would have put it on the same level as Ocean's 11. My favorite part of the original (err, remake) was how all of these seemingly incidental and impromptu events were actually choreographed and scripted to the nth degree. Here, I almost felt that they took the big orchestrated show
thing a little too far. I mean, if you really think about it, the last hour was basically a complete waste of time-anything could have happened and it wouldn't have had any bearing on the ending.
As a result, I think that this movie won't be able to hold up as well on repeat viewings, which is a shame considering Ocean’s 11 has an uncanny rewatchability factor. Overall though, definitely entertaining albeit a tad disappointing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Ocean's Twelve". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Tim Glover]

Finally saw this tonight. Like others here, a fairly entertaining film but not near as good as Oceans 11. This did have some funny moments and good banter however. The heist thing was far more effective in 11 though and I wanted more of Danny Oceans character too.

Good, but not as good as the first one.

:star: :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[Jeff D Han]

I saw this a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't even
close to Oceans 11. I thought it was confusing and boring
at the same time. I was very disappointed in it.

 

[David James]

I enjoyed 11 the first time, but enjoyed it even more the next few times in my theater. My initial viewing of 12 left less of an impression then did 11 the first time. But like I said, it was after repeated viewing where 11 really became a favorite. I'm hoping 12 has the same affect.

I thought some of the funniest stuff in 11 was the interplay between the Malloy brothers. I don't recall much of them in 12. In fact I don't recall much of any of the "secondary" characters in 12. I guess that's why I'm looking forward to further viewings.