They're back. And then some. Twelve is the new eleven when Danny Ocean and pals return in 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 ev... more »eryone spending like sailors on leave. Not with a mysterious someone stalking Danny and crew. It's time to pull off another stunner of a plan?or plans. With locations including Amsterdam, Paris and Rome, the direction of Steven Soderbergh and the original cast plus Catherine Zeta-Jones and others, Twelve is your lucky number.« less
The first one was alot of fun but as these movies progressed to higher numbers, the quality went in the opposite direction due to repetition. A must for Ocean's fans though!
Movie Reviews
All around great movie
Christopher Beard | Hobbiton, Shire, Middle Earth | 04/10/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It pains me to see people put down such a well done film. I can't understand why people are so caught up in being so overly-critical about everything these days. Wah wah wah, this sucks, wah wah wah, horrible movie, wah wah wah...boo hoo. First off, this movie is great. Regardless of what movie you think they've tried to rip off, regardless of the fact you think the first was better, i don't care and I think you should broaden your small minded thinking.
This movie is very intelligent, the acting in it is unrivaled. The cast couldn't have been better put together and everyone plays their role so well in this movie. I particularly thought that Matt Damon was excellent. And of course, there's the one and only Brad Pitt who was exquisite as usual. Anywho, you can't go wrong with this star-studded cast.
This movie had me entertained one more than one level. It made me laugh, cry, scratch my head, think, and it put all the pieces together for me in the end so I didn't leave the theater throwing barrels. I thought the off-key humor in it was brilliant. The way it all came together in the end was just they way we all like to see it done.
This movie is a great movie. Great acting, smart, funny, great story, keeps you thinking. It's everything and more in what I look for in a good film. If you haven't seen it, listen to my review, see it, and decide for yourself, ignore all these cynical over-analytical critical "let's compare everything to something else and say it is bad because...blah blah blah" type people.
Thank you for your time."
Pointless - both for the viewer and for the characters
Craig MACKINNON | Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada | 07/31/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Ocean's 11 was a fun caper movie, as long as you didn't think too hard about it and enjoyed the ride. That the cast was populated with some of Hollywood's finest - Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and the best actor in Hollywood at the moment, Brad Pitt - made the film worthwhile. The amount of money that it made pretty much guaranteed a sequel. I thought to myself, "It probably won't be as good, but if the same cast comes back, it'll have to be fun!"
I was dead wrong. The entire cast looks like they just mailed in their performances (with the exception of Damon, who has some truly inspired lines and situations - berating his partners for using disparaging language, being rescued by his mother, telling Ocean he's ready for "a more central role," etc.). Not only that, but the lackadaisical effort extends to the editors, the director, the scriptwriters, etc. As far as sequels go, this one was pointless to start with because everything that could be done was done in the first film. But the action within this movie itself is also pointless! For example, instead of lowering himself 2 feet over a wall to make a shot with a harpoon, the conspirators instead choose to raise an entire house (one with 3 high-tech security systems) 2 feet so the shot can be made from an adjoining roof. Surely one of those secturity systems would notice the entire house being raised, and if not, the people living in it surely would!
In a good movie, I wouldn't question such absurdity (and Roger Ebert seems to think the absurdity is the point). But this is not a good movie, and everything in it is so needlessly complex you can't stand it because the payoff isn't worth the effort. I was reminded of the Gene Siskel test: a good film is one that is more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch. This movie isn't even more interesting than a documentary of the empty restaurant where the actors will have their lunch later that day.
To add insult to injury, the DVD is bad. The sound (at least on my system) is terrible - the music track is at a level about twice as loud as the dialogue track. Were the producers trying to hide the inanity of the film? In addition, it is literally the most featureless DVD I have ever seen. The "extras" consist of 1 theatrical trailer. And yes, the one extra is menu-labelled with the plural "special features," as if to emphasise how little thought was put into every part of this film."
LSD: Lousy Soderbergh Directing
Fogcatcher | Point Sur, Ca | 04/27/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"This was a nightmare, right? I wasn't really watching the much-anticipated sequel to Ocean's Eleven, was I? How the hell does a director on top of his game like Soderbergh allow a sequel like this to be released? And you would think the actors would care enough about the movie and how the audience would perceive it to prevent a script so poorly formed and screened from making it to production. But, alas, it's greed that put this flick in the can. Definately the worst follow-up to a good film i've seen in a while."
Better Than The First!!!
Maria | New Jersey | 04/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I don't understand why this great movie got such bad reviews!!! The reviews actually convinced me to rent this yesterday, and when the movie was over, I was lovin it! So, I'm running and buying it today! Ocean's 12 is so much better than the first! Take my word and Buy it now!!! Without spoiling it, it has the same kind of plot and this one has a couple more twists and it's VERY funny too! I'm hooked on Ocean's 12! I hope there's a Ocean's 13....=)"
Twelve Is the New Eleven? Not Hardly
SnS | Crossville, TN | 01/11/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I saw Ocean's Eleven, reluctantly, and fell in love. It opened the door for me to be able to tolerate George Clooney and Brad Pitt (although 12 Monkeys and Fight Club continue to be his best work). That being said, Twelve was NOT Eleven.
This does not make it bad, just different. The difference though being a rather large one. Instead of one tremendously clever caper, we have three blase ones with alot of down time in between. And herein is where I think alot of people torched this film. They wanted to see the exact same genius of the first script and instead got Ocean and crew palling around Europe. This film is by no means a mind buster, but it IS an enjoyable film with some rather entertaining times and the same type of story one would expect the writers to come up with for this crew.
All in all, not the best one out of the group, but I challenge anyone who bashed this film for not being as good as the first one to give me a series of films that consistently IMPROVED upon itself. There have been A LOT of letdown sequels out there, I would not go so far as saying this one was a letdown. Eleven was 5 stars........this one is four, for simply being a fun film as long as you can sit back and not start making Ocean's Eleven comparisons. Sure it bears the namesake, but it is NOT the same film. And honestly, it does a great job showing just how clever Terry Benedict can be as the villain. One of Andy Garcia's best roles, albeit short lived.
I got to apologize for reviewing the film itself instead of the product, but I honestly felt this was being unfairly represented by alot of the reviews. Hope this helps give some counterpoint. And FYI, the disk is great I simply wish it had a little more meat. Not alot in the way of extras"