...huh?!

Rating: 5/10 (19 January 2005)

So here it is, another sequel to a well-done first part. First things first: Can it compete with Ocean's Eleven? No way, not at all.
Danny Ocean and his partners in crime are at it again, they're planning another high-profile heist (two actually, as the movie evolves). This time they really need the money to pay back what they stole from Danny Ocean's arch-rival in the first movie. They have ten days, or they'll be dead. So much for the premise.
While Ocean's Eleven was uniquely done as a sleek, glitzy, somewhat smart and really amusing tall-tale gangster story, Ocean's Twelve is really just your average gangster flick that doesn't even live up to its own promises. Plus, it is really confusing and I, for one, was lost. Too much stuff on the side, side plots that really have little to do with the storyline pop up throughout the movie. There are also many flashbacks and twists, so it skips back and forth and you really wonder what the heck is going on. Ocean's eleven was done in a similar way, but it all sort of worked well and only added to the film's ingenuity.
Plus, during the first half hour of Ocean's 12, there's really nothing much happening. We meet the cast, they find out that the guy they stole the money from in the first movie wants it back... and that's basically it. The movie picks up speed after that just a little bit, but only to become really confusing.
Of course it must have been difficult for the writers to come up with a similarly brilliant heist scene as the vault thing in Ocean's Eleven, but in the end, this time around they downright failed. The actual steal takes maybe thirty seconds, plus this time they do get caught on the spot. The biggest disappointment however is the stupid idea of distracting attention from the "object of desire" during the steal by letting Julia Roberts' Tess character play a real-life Julia Roberts. What were the writers thinking?
So, all in all, Ocean's Twelve is still a stylish movie in its own right, but for the most part, it is definitely more style than substance, plus, the makers of the sequel deeply misjudged the elements of the first movie that made it such a big box office hit. You don't impress audiences just by throwing glitzy, stylish characters at them as well as a nice scenery backdrop, side plots, flashbacks and whatnot. It takes a little more than that to blend those elements and turn them into a comprehensive work of art. Hopefully there won't be an Ocean's 13 as bad as this movie. (what's with that anyway? Who was the 12th guy in Ocean's Twelve?! Did I miss even more than I thought?)
My vote: 5.5 out of 10