Neither awful nor amazing...

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2004)

I went into 'Oceans 12' as being a big fan of the first installment, but my hopes were not astronomical. And for the two or so hours that I watched the movie, I was not disappointed. However, I cannot say that I enjoyed it nearly as much as I had enjoyed 'Oceans 11'.
'Oceans 12' was a very fun, but at the same time flawed, movie. The movie was every film students dream come true, full of indie style camera and editing tricks from beginning to end. But this could not hide the fact that at its core it was still a studio movie. The storyline was entertaining and full of just as many twists and turns as had graced the first one. However, when the final credits rolled I could not help but wonder about some of the loose ends (and there were many). It almost felt as though the scriptwriter had too many ideas that really did not fit with one another, but he threw them in anyway. At times it could be a little frustrating and leave you wondering why they even showed the last ten minutes of the movie.
By far the strong suit of the film was the cast and their generally above par performances. Brad Pitt was excellent again, and Matt Damon was probably even better then he had been in '11'. The rest of the gang was about as they had been previously, with the possible exception of Shaobo Qin whom I felt was even funnier this time around. Catherine Zeta Jones turned out to be a welcome addition and she fit right in with the movies flow as Pitt's love interest. She perhaps looked the most comfortable in her role out of all of them, despite the fact that it was her first hand in the series.
All in all, I was pleased that I had spent the eight dollars to go and see this the day that it opened. But by the same token, I doubt I will be purchasing it when it appears on DVD.
My Overall Rating: 6 1/2 out of 10