Review of Ocean's Twelve (2004) by Cameron J — 08 May 2012

"Twelve" my foot; this film had so many people in and out of the ensemble that I'm pretty sure "I" showed up somewhere (Speaking of my foot, it was probably somewhere in the poster to this film). Okay, maybe that's going a little too far, mostly because I'm probably not pretty enough for this cast, and as the last film established, in order for you to hang out with Danny Ocean, Steve Soderbergh prefers that you be famous or beautiful, or, at the very least, not have a history in big band music, like most everyone in Lewis Milestone's "Ocean's 11", because our leads in Soderbergh's "Eleven" went to Vegas, and now they're visiting fancy places all throughout Europe, yet Soderbergh sooner got Vincent Cassel, a French martial atrist, before he got big band singers. Maybe he's not a big fan of big band, because lord knows that Soderbergh's reason for not getting big band singers couldn't possibly be that he didn't want to relate his films too close to the Lewis Milestone original. Yeah, I know that sounds weird, because considering how "Ocean's Eleven" was relatively tighter, a little bit fluffier and considerably snappier in the dialogue department, going the opposite direction of the original sounds exactly like what Soderbergh was doing, but really, just look at Don Cheadle, who alone is a key example of Soderbergh's faithfulness to Milestone's vision, as he's got the white-like, tech expert black role from Sammy Davis, Jr., the English accent from Peter Lawford and the doing terrible at an accent from Clem Harvey. Okay, earlier in 2004, Don Cheadle nailed that African accent in "Hotel Rwanda" brilliantly, so now he definately has no excuse to do a bad job of a presumebly easier to do English accent, especially when you consider that this sequel is so ridiculous and all over the place that a dramatic change in accent from the last film would be nothing; in fact, for all this film cares, Don Cheadle could have put on a cross between an Asian and Puerto Rican accent. Okay, this film isn't that ridiculous, but if you were a tiny bit put off by aspects that could have been construed as far-fetched in the last film, then just wait until you see what a really far-fetched "Ocean's Heist" film is like.

Now, George Nolfi's screenplay doesn't depart terribly far from the tastes of Ted Griffin, writer for "Eleven", yet Nolfi lapses in the cleverness that Griffin was very consistent in nailing, and while there are only a handful of lapses in wit, when the cleverness falls, it either slows the film down a bit or hits the ground hard. As I'll get into later, the film hits plenty of clever moves, yet it often misses some subtle touches of cleverness within the humor department, producing such unsubtle bits as a joke later on in the film that involves Julia Roberts and, as I call it, "Third Wall Break" (Not quite at the Fourth Wall, but close enough for it to be a bit too much) that is so startlingly unsubtle, it's unreal. Granted, I mention it, mainly because I have to admit that it's a joke I've always wanted to see and did, in fact, find pretty hilarious, yet it still lacks subtlety and wit, and while an unsubtle joke like the one in question will often hit, there are still plenty that fall kind flat as stiff, awkward and even longer than they should be, which isn't to say that some smarts got lost in humor department only. "Eleven" hit points that were definately extreme to the point of feeling a touch offputting, yet it rarely, if ever descended into totally improbable, whereas this film, not always, yet still often falls a little too deep into very far-fetched waters of over-the-top. Still, the faults in the script don't simply end with the cleverness, because the "Ocean's Heists" franchise has never been a stranger to padding, and while this film still doesn't find itself as overdrawn as Milestone's original "11", there way too much fat to trim, and to make matters worse, while Soderbergh's atmosphere doesn't dry up as often as it did in "Eleven", there are still a fair couple of periods in the film just don't really deliver on a terrible amount of intrigue, creating moments of disengagement. Sure, the film hits more often than not, yet it does hit plenty of spotty missteps, some of which are kind of glaring, leaving the film to fall limp as an enjoyable, yet simply just fine sequel and stand-alone film. Okay, now that I'm done talking about "Alien 3", let's get back to discussing this film, which may not be without its faults, yet still evens out as on par with its predecessor, because for every moments in which the film trips, it has a moments where it hits fairly hard, and occasionally harder than "Eleven" did.

Soderbergh's stylistic touches as cinematographer Peter Andrews aren't as sharp as they were in "Eleven", but come on, we're still talking about Peter Andrews, or Steven Soderbergh here, so of course the film still looks good, with a lot of coolness in the feel and the occasional lovely flash in the lighting to back up the film's cool tone, while going matched, if not beaten by a pretty fabulous soundtrack that may even surpass that of "Eleven". Well, those two aspects really bring the film's fiery charm to life, as well as more often than not inspired direction by Soderbergh - who is even able to make some of the most over-the-top moments really work as entertainment pieces, especially that ridiculous but awesome "laser grid" sequence with Vincent Cassel towards the end - and, yes, even writing for George Nolfi. Sure, Nolfi's screenplay gets to be fairly spotty and is ultimately inferior to Ted Griffin's screenplay for "Eleven", yet Nolfi hits extremely more often than he misses when it comes to dialogue and humor, still turning out plenty of great snappers and even working well enough with some of the less witty moments - particularly the aforementioned "Third Wall Break" bit - to where even they hit more often than not. Still, Nolfi's screenplay ultimately falls beneath the quality of Griffin's work, and yet, Nolfi still accels over Griffin in a department that makes all the difference and helps greatly in evening this film's quality out with that of its predecessor: Story structure. Sure, structure in the story flow takes damage from plenty of excess material and padding, as well as the fact that it gets to be a bit too bloated for its own good to begin with, but the fact of the matter is that the story structure has expanded quite a bit, with even more entertaining scope and dynamicity, as well as more room for most every individual piece of the star-studded cast to shine brither than ever, with the exception of Bernie Mac, who's sadly still hardly anywhere to be found. Still, the more versatile focus among the cast wouldn't be as satisfying as it is were it not for the fact that each and every member of the all-star cast bubble with as much sparkling charisma as they did in the last film, which isn't to say that the new stars among the cast don't make for quite the charming and distinctive addition. Again, the film takes plenty of far steps back, yet it still pushes itself foward with just as sharp, if not sharper strengths, and the final product ultimately comes out as a generally worthy companion piece to "Eleven", as well as a real charmer, by its own right.

To summarize, the film goes a touch bloated and quite decidedly spotty, plagued by sometimes awkward lapses in cleverness and logic, as well as plenty of padding that, especially when combined by the occasional lapse of oomph in the aura, slows down the momentum of the film, yet the project regains its footing, supported by slick style and atmosphere, as well as many more effective or, in fact, clever pieces of dialogue and humor than humor, and an entertainingly broad, dynamic structure that bestows upon our star-studded cast more material that they all deliver on with predictably fiery charisma and chemistry, ultimately making "Ocean's Twelve" an ultimately rewarding and thoroughly entertaining original continuation to Soderbergh's take on the classic vision.

3/5 - Good.