A second dose of Cool

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2005)

Ocean's 11 was always going to be a tough act to follow. Breaking the remake rules by firstly remaking a pretty bad movie (as opposed to the usual method of going for a good one to remake), and then making it into one of the freshest films of recent years was quite a double whammy. The cast were cool, the story was cool, the setting of Las Vegas was cool, the soundtrack was cool, and the direction was cool. It was, you could say, a cool movie! Well, when all involved said they wanted to do another one (and even took a pay cut to prove that they weren't just in it for the money), fingers were crossed. Could they repeat the success, or would it be a prime example of lightning never striking twice.
Ocean's Twelve picks up a few years after events of the last film, with all the band of thieves scattered, and still trying to outrun Casino owner, victim of their heist, Tess's ex, and all round nasty piece of work, Terry Benedict. However, it seems, pretty soon into the film, that Benedict has found them, with the help of a mysterious ally. To appease him, they all need to pay back what they stolewith interest! In order to obtain the cash they must plan another heist. To complicate matters there is the small detail of Rusty's (Pitt) recent ex-girlfriend, Isable (Zeta Jones), an Interpol agent tracking down them, and the mysterious thief The Nightfox, who has a small matter of honor to work out.
The film takes around 20 minutes to really get started, and that first 20 minutes will alienate a lot of people who just want to chew popcorn and be excited. The initial set-up doesn't seem to work well, and is what lets this film down. However, for those of you who can keep your attention over this troubled start, what kicks in after that marker is another slice of that cool we were delivered in the first movie. Once Ocean's Twelve hits its stride, it paces along wonderfully, with each scene flowing nicely into the next. The witty dialogue and interplay between the characters is as snappy as before, and you just can't help but get that buzz. This time around Julia Roberts, as Tess, gets her own moment to shine, in a scene which some have criticised for being cheesy, but I thought was immensely fun.
All is assisted by the same snappy cut direction, with good use of filters and cuts allowing each scene to bounce along vibrantly to the cool score. Yup, as with the last film, the soundtrack is toe-tappingly good, and adds a colourful energy to the events unfolding on screen.
All in all, a damn good attempt at a sequel. Not on par with the first, but I never expected it to be. Let down mainly by that off putting first 20 minutes, but recovers nicely to deliver a good end result.