Disjointed and disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (18 December 2004)

"Ocean's Eleven" was an entertaining, high energy film. The sequel, therefore, had everything going for it - good reputation of the previous film, all star cast, beautiful locations throughout Europe and the addition of Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Instead, we got a collection of disjointed scenes, absolutely no pace (a prerequisite for a film of this genre) and a plot that didn't really get off the ground.
Traditionally, you would say that most films introduce the characters, set the premise, and off they go. Ocean's 11 did that quite well. But this film never started cooking. I felt as though the whole cinema was shifting about in their seats.
Scenes lingered for far too long, actors weren't putting energy into their performances and I'm sure that somehow the "Deleted Scenes" portion of the DVD was included entirely in the film. Loud, pacey music couldn't even keep the tempo high.
It is disturbing when you're in a film and you start to think about how you're going to rate it on IMDb.com - for me, it hovered between 1 and 3 out of 10.
The wheels really fell off when Tess, played by Julia Roberts, was coerced to fly to Rome to play - wait for it - Julia Roberts.
The concept of the hologram egg just screamed at me, "We don't have a plot!" It is acceptable to make allowances in films of this genre, but introducing absolute science fiction SFX bordered on the desperately ridiculous.
The only highlights were the European locations - Rome, Amsterdam, Paris and coastal scenes. Fans of Catherine Zeta-Jones may get some value - she looks pretty, rather than sexy. She too was wasted in this film.
And I couldn't really say who Ocean's 12 were - one would assume Catherine Zeta-Jones, but even this wasn't all that strongly emphasised.
See it on DVD if there's nothing else available at your video library. Better yet, why not track down the original "Ocean's Eleven" with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.