Ocean's Twelve

[Ghostboy]

QUICKIE REVIEW: On the whole, this isn't nearly as good as the first film. It doesn't have the uniquely breezy perfection. On the other hand, it's really interesting to see Soderbergh and the cast wreak havoc with what (from what I understand) was an original script about thieves conformed for the purpose of making a sequel to Ocean's 11. Even more interesting, Soderbergh seems to be taking the European setting to heart -- the film is overwhelmingly European in sensibilities. Actually, it's overwhelmingly Godardian in it's sensibilities. Which is cool to watch, even when the perfunctory plot clicks. You get the sense that Soderbergh and the cast would have much rather just improvised the whole movie. Instead, it feels like they improvised most of it, and very little of the film has anything to do with the heist. In a lot of ways, this is closer to Full Frontal than to the first Ocean's 11, as far as how Soderbergh treats the material.

Also, Julia Roberts is great in this. This is the second film I've seen this week that has made me really love her.

[metroshane]

Terrible.  I thought it was poorly photographed and severly under lit.  The story...if you call it that...was disjointed and convaluted to a fault.  And the "cameo"s made me want to walk out of the theater.   Maybe they should have had a little less fun and worked a little harder.  To me the most interesting character by far was the french antagonist...which they only surfacely got in to.  

To say this had plot holes is begging the question of it having a plot or storyline in the first place.  It was like bad jazz.

[Pozer]

Okay, so this movie is GOD AWFUL. I can't believe Soderbergh made this movie. I thought he was much smarter than this. So Lame.
And you can tell that it was a script for a different film adjusted to fit the sequal.
So unfunny and just.....CRAP.
At least the stars won't make the money that they don't deserve on the back end.
DO NOT SEE THIS SHITE!

[Recce]

It was ok. Entertaining, but definitely lacking the charisma of Ocean's 11. In many ways, it felt much more like a sodderbergh film then the first one. Its really weird, he seems to go through fazes with movies like the first ocean's and out of sight, then goes nuts with full frontal and that space thing. I do agree that it felt disjointed. There were quite a few cool sequences, but it wasn't all tied together with the usual masterfulness you'd expect from him.

Kinda spoiler...maybe.
As far as Catherine Zeta-Jones' character, I didn't like her. For some reason, I generally don't like her as an actress, and the love affair thing with her and Pitt didn't work for me. They should have gotten Jennifer Lopez to play her. We know she can play the appealing cop after the crook part, we've seen it in out of sight. Although, she's gotten...weird... since those days.

Definite spoiler...well, maybe
Did anybody else catch the Tarantino hommage with the sequence where they steal the egg thing? The color goes out, then suddenly cuts back in? Kill Bill? Am I reaching?
And what the hell, Matt Damon's character got annoyingly more insecure since the first. Its like there was no evolution with his character. In fact, it felt the same with all the characters. The film takes place three years after the original heist, yet everyone acts the same, despite having been millionaires for that time. What the hell!

[SHAFTR]

I didn't like this.

[modage]

yes this movie is a bit of a mess.  it was missing the fun of the first film.  it also had way to many characters and managed to underuse EVERYONE this time around except zeta jones, who i liked and seemed to have the most screen time as well as the most to do.  the worst part is that the film not only disappoints on the level that it doesnt feel anything like the first film and from what i heard in my theatre 'general audiences' seemed to hate it, BUT it doesnt even work for movie geeks like us on some sort of left-of-center so we love it way!  which just sucks. i really loved the opening and the idea of the catherine zeta jones brad pitt relationship but the rest of the movie was just half baked.  and i thought the julia roberts scene was AWFUL.  and i knew it was coming somehow, going in my seat 'please anybody but her anybody but her anybody..goddamnit'.  i felt like i had already seen it in full frontal and i didnt like it then.  very very disappointing.  and i loved the first one.  

[El Duderino]

sorry guys, but i liked it. it's no ocean's eleven, but it's good.

[london]

Definately no Oceans 11 but if you want to see a bunch of high profile actors run around having fun and telling you inside jokes, then it is fun to watch.   The wardrobe crew should win an award.  Pretty fucking cool clothes.

[Finn]

The movie's okay, but not really good. The first one was good but I thought this was kinda slow and not very funny. The scene where Julia Roberts has to  play Julia Roberts is the best of them all. Soderbergh did some creative stuff with it, but I don't know if I'd recommend the movie as a whole.

[metroshane]

Loner, that part made me sick to my stomach.

[A Matter Of Chance]

Pretty fucking cool clothes.

Yeah, I agree

[sickfins]

it was wonderful to see soderbergh's total disrespect for everything, especially  consistency in fonts of titles and their placement on the screen.  this is a schizopolis sort of deal that just happens to have the characters from ocean's eleven.  the proof is in the cut from the cheadle gunshot to man running in the white building.  i couldn't believe half of the stuff was actually happening in the movie and that's what made it so enjoyable.  it was fucking crazy.  i loved seeing everyone fail miserably.  the biggest heist of the movie on the team's part was a bag switch on a train.  soderbergh kept flip flopping between genres and styles.  the camera was far less omnipotent this time around (we didn't get to see the las vegas skyline lose it's power from a floating camera angle or have a sequence of perfect camera whips).  even the slick poster conveys a sense of something going awry (why should the gang be running if everything always goes according to plan?)
the only parts that maintained the visual asthetics of the original were scenes with the french thief (his slick heist sequence, bright blue colours on the boat flashback, every scene at his house), whereas scenes with danny and his gang are dirty and gritty.  the only shot of danny that would visually fit into the original would be the push-in that you see in the trailer when he says 'so what are we stealing?', and it only looks that way because he's at the slick guy's house.  even the ridiculous tag line makes sense now, because the movie itself is just one big ridiculous

excellent tiny moments (kinda spoilers):
pitt's puzzled gestures to a message scrawled in shaving cream on the window of topher's trashed hotel room
clooney's sustained reaction to damon's 'poem' in the bar
clooney pouring wine on the ground watching halloween episode of happy days

i can easily figure why people hate this movie so much, but going in i was ready for anything and this certainly delivered my expectation of 'anything'

i heart soderbergh

[©brad]

dude is this like the year of the flop? spike, oliver, anderson (arguably), and now this? is scorsese the only one that's going to come through?

i haven't seen this yet, i'm just kinda sick about all these great directors fucking up.

[The Silver Bullet]

Did anybody else catch the Tarantino hommage with the sequence where they steal the egg thing? The color goes out, then suddenly cuts back in? Kill Bill? Am I reaching?

Yes. Yes, you are.

Especially seeing as it wouldn't have been Tarantino's technique to begin with.

[I had many, many problems with Ocean's 12, but I'd defend it in the face of Kill Bill any day.]

[edison]

dude is this like the year of the flop? spike, oliver, anderson (arguably), and now this? is scorsese the only one that's going to come through?

i haven't seen this yet, i'm just kinda sick about all these great directors fucking up.

Add David O Russell to that list also