“A clever and funny film that keeps us hanging with its stellar cast!”

In 1962, a clever heist movie called “Ocean’s Eleven” was released. The movie, starring Frank Sinatra as the title character, Danny Ocean, was most well known for its star studded cast. Steven Soderbergh, seeing how famous the movie had become, decided to remake the movie, but this time, he was going to change a couple of things around. The remake was released in 2001. The critics absolutely loved the movie, once again due to the star studded cast. After seeing the success of the remake, Soderbergh decided to carry on the legacy of the “Ocean’s” series and make a sequel. But this was going to be tougher since he didn’t have an original to pull ideas from, like he did with the first one. This was going to have to be in all of screenwriter George Rolfi’s words. After seeing “Ocean’s Twelve,” I’ve realized that this movie is also as good, if not better then the 1962 version of “Ocean’s Eleven.”

This movie starts off basically where the last one ended. The original eleven thieves who robbed Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) of his money are all split up with the money they stole. But, Terry is not quite ready to let go of his loss. He individually visits each and every one of them and warns them that if they don’t give him the money they stole (plus interest) in two weeks, then he’ll “take care of them.”

This causes Danny Ocean (George Clooney), the ringleader of the group of thieves, to regroup with his former cohorts and try to get the money back.

And of course, the only way that they can get back the 160 million they owe him, plus interest, is by pulling off more heists in foreign countries.

So, in Amsterdam, the country where they will steal from next, we’re reintroduced to his crew, including Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), who is as slick and sly as ever, Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), who is more jittery and eager to prove himself than ever, Basher Tall (Don Cheadle) and the others.

However, the heists don’t go as easily as they had anticipated. It turns out that there is another thief who is after what Ocean and his crew are after. And he’s not too keen on letting Ocean get away with what he wants. Also, we meet an interpol agent named Isabel (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who is also searching for Ocean.

The end result is a very clever and very entertaining movie that has all the components that make a great movie. Everything is put together in such a way that they say something happened and they wait a half hour later to actually show you how it happened. Soderbergh is pretty creative in setting everything up and letting you believe one thing, when its’ actually something totally different.

The cast… what more can I say about the cast? The “Ocean’s Eleven” series has the perfect cast. No one is really outacting anyone, because they all pretty much get equal time on screen. George Clooney once again nails the role of Danny Ocean. Brad Pitt comes off as more sly and smooth then ever. Every time you see him on screen, you almost forget that it’s Brad Pitt playing this guy. That’s how into the character he is. Matt Damon made me crack up on more then one occasion just because of the way he comes off as an inexperienced, but smart thief who wants to prove himself to the boss. Elliot Gould is simply hilarious in this movie. Julia Roberts also has a more powerful role in this movie, including a spot where she must pretend to be a certain person… very clever the way Soderbergh put this in. Also making superb cameo appearances are Topher Grace and Bruce Willis.

All in all, when you look at this from every possible aspect, you can realize that “Ocean’s Twelve” is as perfect as a sequel can get. Forget the “Shrek” sequel… hey, who cares about the “Harry Potter” sequels. “Ocean’s Twelve” is better than the original just by doing the same thing over again in a different way.



OVERALL GRADE – A-

Copy the Story Link