Ocean's Twelve (Movie Review)

This sequel to the mega hit Ocean’s Eleven once again stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Julia Roberts and the rest of the crew from the previous film. This time Catherine Zeta-Jones has been added to the cast because apparently the producers felt that there was not quite enough star power in the movie to get anyone to come see it.

The general premise of this film is that casino owner Terry Benedict, played by Andy Garcia, is still quite upset that Clooney, Pitt and Co. robbed him of well over $100 million (see Ocean’s Eleven…it covers that stuff). He has tracked down each and every member of the crew and is demanding his money back…plus interest. So now the old gang must reunite for one last heist…to pay back all the money they stole last time. I’d give you a few more plot details, but there really aren’t any more. The real plot of this movie is “sit and watch a bunch of big stars talk to each other and exchange witty (sometimes) remarks.” The big problem with “Ocean’s Twelve” is that there is no payoff. It is a fun movie to watch but there is no excitement, no big buildup towards a big finale. I kept waiting for something big to happen…but it never did. The fun in “Ocean’s Eleven” was that the audience was allowed to see the planning of the heist and then eventually how all of the puzzle pieces fit together. However, in “Ocean’s Twelve”, not only do we not get to see a completed puzzle, we never even get to see what the pieces look like.

Ocean’s Twelve is not a bad movie; in fact at times it is quite enjoyable. It was just disappointing because I was expecting so much more. The promotional tagline for Ocean’s Twelve is “twelve is the new eleven”, unfortunately I would have preferred that it was “twelve is the old eleven.”