Ocean's Twelve Should Have Been Shelved?

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2008)

Soderbergh springs a surprise. It's not a pleasant one. 'Ocean's 12' has an awful screenplay and the director seems clueless at times. Seriously, to even think that Soderbergh was behind this is still a little difficult to digest. The film has some cool gizmos and gadgets, none of which manage to sustain our attention for long. There are some very nice shots of Europe and the soundtrack is quite awesome. It actually drags a lot in the beginning until Catherine Zeta-Jones appears in the fake Interpol (which was actually shot in the City Hall of the Hague). Perhaps it's the glamour portion of Ms. Zeta-Jones that grabs the attention and she does reasonably well until her character is messed up towards the end. Sadly, she and Pitt do not have chemistry. Actually, all the actors from 'Ocean's 11' are terribly wasted in this one. Clooney looks uninterested and lost. Pitt looks as though he could care less. Damon tries to bring some comic relief but fails (what could he have done anyway, if his co-stars were so uninterested?). Cheadle is given nothing but a few lines and the rest are all relegated to the background for the most part. However, I thought Vincent Cassel performed the best. His amazing Capoeira demonstration is in my opinion the best thing to come out of the film. As I myself have practiced capoeira for a while, I was impressed by Cassel's skill. Julia Roberts is whining in the beginning but she the Julia Roberts playing Tess playing Julia Roberts sequence is ridiculously funny. It made me chuckle and made the film worse. Thus, in spite of all the hi-tech, 'Ocean's 12' is quite a wasted effort. the film lacks a heart.