In 7 words or less: 12 is one more than 11
What's it all About? In Ocean's Eleven, Cloontang, Bradley Pitts, Damon, Casey and 6 other slightly less hot celebs robbed a Vegas casino owned by a cigar chomping Andy Garcia. In Ocean's Twelve Mr Garcia wants everything Cloontang and the gang stole from him back, and if that wasn't bad enough, he's also applied an alarmingly uncompetitive rate of interest. Being (literally) too 'hot' for America, what with the Vegas job hanging over their heads and with only 1 week to pay off their debt, the gang hot foot it over to Europe to do some cosmopolitan, hot Euro thievery!
Best bits? I enjoyed watching these cool cats strut around Europe, mincing around various awesome cities in their nice shiny clothes, banter flowing like the Riviera; I love all that.
I'm a big fan of all the quirky editing, there are lots of 'old school' transitions and freeze frames that no normal man would dare to use in a motion picture, but in this case they really add to the style and feel of the movie.
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| Brad Pitt enjoys a delicious espresso |
The performances are all great, probably a walk in the park for most of this lot I'd imagine. I do enjoy the relaxed vibe the actors bring to this film; it's a seriously casual watch that is infinitely improved by viewing at night in your pyjamas or perhaps after having a deep bath.
Did it make you think thoughts? The first half is fine, basic Ocean's fare, boxes being ticked, nice visuals, story a little ropy, but you're going with it... Then, POW! It all gets silly and the narrative becomes wildly convoluted. The scene where Julia Roberts’ (ultra annoying) character attempts to impersonate actual 'Julia Roberts', only to be discovered as a fraud by Bruce Willis (celebrity cameo), is spectacularly over indulgent cinema and darn right hideous.
Another annoyance is when characters act genuinely confused by a situation, only for the audience to be told later on through one of those annoying ‘this is what really happened when everyone appeared to be panicking’ flashback devices, that their reactions and conversations were all a clever and in no way laborious rouse. Of course everyone was meant to ask each other 'what the hell is going on?' and 'Oh no (WINK) we've been arrested, what shall we do now?' Sigh.
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| "Don't look at my pin!" |
I don't mind Catherine Zeta-Jones in this but I'm sure they could have given her more to do, isn't she the 12 member? By the end of the film the plot is so bloated and over worked it's hard to remember what the point of it all was in the first place; too many unnecessary winks to the audience for my liking.
Would you watch it again? Yes. Despite the over indulgent storyline this is still great fun.
Rating (out of 100%): 74% The 'Euro one' that seemed to get universally slated isn't all bad. Enjoy the sights and ignore the silly bits. Job done.
