Review of Ocean's Twelve (2004) by 'Matthew F — 29 Jan 2011

Not nearly as good as the original one. I dunno there was just a lot of charm that was lost.

Acting/Characters: The characters were all pretty much the same but a lot of what you liked about them was gone. The only people you really got to see really were Ocean, Rusty and Linus (of the original 11). That and you still have Julia Roberts in it (with an, I must admit, entertaining point with that). They focused less on the characters as opposed to the actual heist. Not good. I would have liked the characters to be what they were in the original. 4.5/10.

Plot: It was a believable plot (in terms of the beginning) but I felt that it was weaker. I will come out and say it, there wasn't really a central heist to the film until the last half or so. Not a good thing for a heist film. Plus I thought that the ending was incredibly weak and kinda a cop-out. The ending of the original was clever and this one was just weak. It was a negative twist. I will admit, there were some plot points I did enjoy. Not enough though. 4.5/10.

Screenplay: There were some lines that I laughed at. Not nearly as many as the original. It was just kinda weak overall. It fit with the rest of the movie basically, it had its moments, but it was weaker than the first one. 4.5/10.

Likableness: Same old same old. It had its moments where I enjoyed the film and the characters and I laughed at the jokes and it was like the original. Other than that, it was a weak film that had very visible flaws and predictable moments followed by a cop-out ending. Yeesh. 4.5/10.

Final Score: 18/40 45% (M).

TRIVIA TIME: 1. There was a scene in the film where Ocean's age is guessed to be between 48-52. In reality, George Clooney's age at the time of filming was around 43 years old.

2. Bruce Willis, who appears as himself in the film, was originally signed to play Danny Ocean in Ocean's Eleven, but pulled out due to scheduling conflicts.

3. Before filming began, Brad Pitt put out a memo to all crew members stating that they only address George Clooney as his character's name Danny Ocean or Mr. Ocean. Eventually Clooney found out about this and got back at Pitt by putting bumper stickers on the back of his car that read "I'm gay and I vote" and "Small penis on board".

4. When Bruce Willis is in Tess's hotel room, Linus says to Bruce, "We're looking to come off this pregnancy thing strong. You know, that little statue on the mantle starts smirking at you after a while, know what I mean?" Bruce says no, he doesn't. Both Julia Roberts, whom he refers to, and Matt Damon have been awarded Oscars, while Willis has not.

5. Peter Fonda filmed a cameo as Bobby Caldwell, Linus's father, but it didn't make the final cut. Clint Eastwood was also in talks to play Linus's dad.