Movie Reviews
This is what separates “Ocean’s Eleven” from “Twelve”: character treatment. In “Eleven”, there were many characters, but we got to know all of them very well by the end of the film. They all had a special talent that led way to the ultimate heist, and the end was the big payoff – for them and us. “Twelve” has all those characters back, plus about twice as many supporting characters that end up changing the plot dramatically. Put together, “Twelve” is much harder to follow.
In its predecessor, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his group of men rob three casinos in one night – all of which are owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). Now, Terry has tracked down every last one of the Ocean’s eleven and demanded back his money with interest in eleven days or they’re dead.
Danny gathers the men, Rusty (Brad Pitt), Linus (Matt Damon), Basher (Don Cheadle), Frank (Bernie Mac), Virgil and Turk Malloy (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan), Reuben (Elliot Gould), Saul (Carl Reiner), and Yen (Shaobo Quin), and lets them in on the bad news. They go around to each man and figure how much each one has spent – a lot of it is gone – and then find how much needs to be paid – a lot more than they have. So how do thieves pay someone? Steal the money owed.
The problem with this scenario is that all ten of these men are “too hot” to pull off anything in the United States. They’re off to Europe, where they meet Matsui (Robbie Coltrane) who gives them a job to do. However, it doesn’t pay very well, but they’re assured to find odd jobs before they’re eleven days are up. All this leads them to Rome, Paris, and eventually Amsterdam where a race against time becomes a race against the best thief in the world. I’ll stop there for fear of messing up the plot.
No matter how complex and thought-provoking you thought “Ocean’s Eleven” was, “Twelve” is even more so. This, in a sense, becomes the only arguable flaw of the film. We have new character after new character become involved, and even though Soderberg does an excellent job establishing each one, having them make a large mark would elongate the film to well over three hours. This director is one of the best stylish filmmakers in Hollywood. He can make anything look cool – manipulate us into thinking one thing until the truth is revealed and masterful at the technique of keeping us guessing until the end.
Soderberg is a director with the guts to do things out of the ordinary for the sake of the film. Such is the case with a daring character change involving Tess in the latter parts of the film. Knowing that scene, and considering it, I can think of no other filmmaker who would even think of attempting it. But Soderberg did, and it works.
“Ocean’s Twelve” is a stylish, sophisticated, and often hilarious caper with delicious dialogue and poignant performances. While not as satisfying as its former, this is a film that isn’t so much about getting their money as it is about saving their own necks. You’ll have to see which one happens. *** ˝