Just as flashy as the first one

Rating: 2/10 (16 December 2017)

It's tough to tell whether Ocean's Twelve is a sequel to Ocean's Eleven or a remake. It's so incredibly similar to the first film-which is itself a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film-that after you've seen both of them, you'll find yourself getting scenes confused with each other. The memorable and expensive cast returns-George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts-and are joined by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eddie Izzard, Robbie Coltrane, and Jared Harris. Once again, they're all involved in a heist that's complicated beyond belief and fraught with plans going awry, but this time, the expensive cast are all flown abroad, enjoying scenes in Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Monaco.
If you liked the first one-the remake, not the original-you'll like the sequel. I did not, so I didn't care for the sequel either. Just as the original is a two-hour spectacle of "Look how cool me and my friends are", the remakes of the Ocean films have the same feel to them. Everyone in the audience knows the actors who take the top billings are friends in real life, and while they have their little smirks and giggles over inside jokes, unfinished sentences, and awkward pauses, the audience either feels "cool" to be a part of it or wishes they'd just had a get-together without filming it.