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Film review

'Oceans Twelve' one-ups 'Eleven'

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and company leave Las Vegas for Europe in a crime caper that's much more inventive - if still convoluted - than the original.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published December 9, 2004

[Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures/Ralph Nelson]

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Bernie Mac crack a vault, this time in Amsterdam, in Ocean’s Twelve.

The smartest move Steven Soderbergh makes in Ocean's Twelve is leaving Las Vegas, where the ghost of Rat Pack past haunted Ocean's Eleven, a remake that didn't exactly ring-a-ding-ding. Sin City is a bit player now, just like a few of Danny Ocean's gang; it's still tough to work in every member of such an all-star cast.

Even Danny, again played with unstressed charm by George Clooney, spends much of the movie on the sidelines. Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Elliott Gould and Carl Reiner are just recognizable props in another convoluted sting, while other thieves who nobody noticed in Ocean's Eleven get more screen time with the same results.

Soderbergh's sequel doesn't correct the problems of its predecessor, but it tries something even more impressive: reshaping the larceny motif into a completely different vibe, one steeped in a European cinema that stylized American film noir. Soderbergh concentrates the caper in exotic locales such as Amsterdam, Rome and Paris, creating a movie to suit the surroundings. Las Vegas was slick and gaudy; Ocean's Twelve is often gritty, jittery and vague, like a gentle lapping of the French New Wave.

Three years after they stole a fortune from the Bellagio casino run by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), each member of Danny's team is living off their spoils in a variety of endeavors, from retirement to pathetic standup comedy. Terry finds each one in a briskly paced reintroduction and delivers an ultimatum: Pay back the stolen money plus interest - $193-million - within two weeks or die.

Because most of the money has been spent, Danny proposes a crime spree in Europe where the gang isn't known. A U.S. heist, as in Ocean's Eleven, would announce the intended mark, then spend two hours pursuing it. This time, we're not sure exactly what's going to be robbed, or how it will be done. Once that becomes obvious, things happen to force changes of plans. Ocean's Twelve isn't an airtight yarn, but the air leaks out in interesting directions.

Rather than coasting on his cast's considerable charms, Soderbergh moves his pretty chess pieces into puzzling positions, guided by doubletalk that keeps the audience off-balance. One scene features Danny, the gang's mastermind Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) and eager Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) meeting an informant (Robbie Coltrane). Linus wants a bigger role this time, but the others are speaking nonsense and pretending it's code, shutting him out of the conversation.

"He pulled the old "lost in translation' on you, didn't he?" someone asks Linus. That's exactly right, and Soderbergh is doing the same to the audience. Yet, even Linus is smarter than we are, as when he's tossing around ideas for a last-ditch scheme after most of the gang is captured: "How about hell in a handbasket?" a teammate asks. "We don't have time to train a cat," he replies, whatever that means.

Moments like that, plus Soderbergh's studied imitation of movies that existed when Sinatra, Dino and Sammy reigned, but wouldn't think of addressing, keep Ocean's Twelve interesting. The movie flies by the seat of its pants more, with handheld cameras, freeze-frames, dissolves, varied film stocks and pauses for nearly wordless romantic reveries between Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones (as a relentless detective) that Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut might appreciate. Even the occasional subtitles and countdown notes are lettered in 1960s-style type. Soderbergh's affection for that era, that continental style, is obvious and fairly infectious.

Detailing the gang's scheme would be unfair and, given its dead ends and surprises, would take too much space. But one segment must be discussed because it's a major flaw, the occasion when Soderbergh abandons his daring approach in favor of the celebrity in-jokes and pointless adorability that hampered Ocean's Eleven.

At a certain juncture, Danny's wife Tess (Julia Roberts) is called in as a decoy because - get this - she bears a close resemblance to movie star Julia Roberts. So, we get several minutes of Roberts, with a pillow stuffed under her dress to fake the pregnancy she actually experienced during filming, faking her way through an impression of herself. Even more distracting, another American movie star (we'll save that surprise) thinks Tess is the real Julia, compounding the ego trip.

It's so wacky, so out of character with everything else in Ocean's Twelve that the magic is tainted. This is only a movie, we're reminded, as Soderbergh's caper slides into American Sweethearts territory. The course gets corrected, but precious time is lost.

The not-so-funny thing is that that sequence is probably what many moviegoers will fondly remember and won't be able to resist telling friends about. It's as if Soderbergh wants to prove a point that many American moviegoers won't appreciate the European touches he has mastered. He's too smart for the room, rubbing it in by giving viewers less, which by inverted logic means more of what they want.

It's an edgy, almost sabotaging move, but it's evidence that Soderbergh realizes stretching a cash cow franchise means receding occasionally to pull audiences along. Even with odd missteps, the filmmaker leaves us wanting Ocean's Thirteen more than we felt like we needed Ocean's Twelve. Give Soderbergh two years to devise another angle. That should be enough time to train the cat.

Grade: B-

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Elliott Gould, Carl Reiner, Vincent Cassel, Bernie Mac

Screenplay: George Nolfi, based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell

Rating: PG-13; profanity

Running time: 125 min.

[Last modified December 8, 2004, 17:59:29]