Ocean's Twelve «««
PG-13, 125m. 2004
Cast & Credits: George Clooney (Danny Ocean), Brad Pitt (Rusty Ryan), Julia Roberts (Tess Ocean), Andy Garcia (Terry Benedict), Casey Affleck (Virgil Malloy), Scott Caan (Turk Malloy), Bernie Mac (Frank Catton), Don Cheadle (Basher Tarr), Matt Damon (Linus Caldwell), Carl Reiner (Saul Bloom), Eddie Jamison (Livingston Dell), Elliott Gould (Reuben Tishkoff), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Isabel Lahiri). Screenplay written by George Nolfi based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Ocean's Twelve, the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven, is in many ways a lot like the original Ocean's 11 (1960) which starred Frank Sinatra and his fellow "Rat Pack" buddies Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. This sequel to the 2001 remake, on which the 60's version was based, is a "buddy film” plain and simple. It's a chance for everyone to get together again simply because they had such a good time making the first one.
For a few years back in the late 1950s and early 60s, that's how Frank Sinatra approached making movies with his pals. He not only worked with them together in Ocean's 11 but also on the musical Robin & the Seven Hoods (1964) and Sergeants 3 (1962), which to this day, for some odd reason is still not available on video or digital videodisc (DVD).
Ocean's Twelve features a number of moments that echo scenes in the original 60's film. Consider the scene, for example, where Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) are discussing doing a job with someone in Amsterdam with one of their mysterious contacts (Robbie Coltrane). The two take Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) along simply because he wants to be in on the group's activities. The entire time Coltrane is saying things that obviously make no sense but Ocean and Ryan are going along laughing and understanding his comments nonetheless, while Caldwell sits dumbfounded. I guess in a way, so was I as I sat there watching.
There is another scene that not only looks like it wasn't even scripted beforehand. It's as though as director Steven Soderbergh, who helmed the first one in 2001, grabbed a camera got the entire cast together in one big hotel room and told them all to just start talking about what almost seems to add up to nothing (though it is really about how they intend to pull off another heist).
At one point, the group gets into a conversation about how old Clooney's Ocean is, many of whom think he looks fifty, which is probably a take on the actor's age alone since he is now in his mid-40s.
If the guys huddled around shooting pool sooner or later, it would have echoed a similar scene in the original movie where the gang did the same as they waited for their leader to give them the rundown on why they were all brought together to pull a major job in Las Vegas.
Alas, there were no pool tables or lavish homes to gather in Ocean's Twelve. Clooney's Ocean and his pals settle on meeting inside someone's garage before going off to Europe after they are all tracked down, one by one, by casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) who wants the $160 million Ocean and his buddies stole from him in 2001's remake back "with interest."
The plot seems written the way Quentin Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction (1994) where various events happen throughout the film but they aren't necessarily in sequential order as the characters carry out heists in three separate countries arranged by someone known as "the Night Fox." I am still a little confused as to how everything eventually ties together in the end.
If there is one thing that was different from the Ocean's Eleven remake, it is that Sinatra's version didn't end with the possibility of a sequel. Then again, maybe a sequel to the 2001 version was inevitable. I mean if someone stole $160 million from you, don't tell me you wouldn't be looking for an opportunity for some pay back.
It wasn't the idea of getting the cast from the 2001 remake together for a second time that got Mike Whorton and Steve Garmon, two co-workers I know who saw Ocean's Twelve, so worked up that they both hated the film. The scenes I described in the above paragraphs as how this sequel plays in terms of Hollywood camaraderie as Sinatra's version did are what made them feel as though they just wasted two hours of their time. Both especially hated the way the Julia Roberts' character was handled that made her look as though the "real Julia Roberts" was making a cameo appearance.
I personally thought it was clever, not to mention the fact there are quite a few people out there who DO look exactly like their Hollywood counterparts. I could see how Bruce Willis while browsing around at a museum could think he just saw someone looking like Julia Roberts walk past him.
I can only guess that if Garmon and Whorton, or anyone for that matter who refused to embrace Ocean's Twelve, then chances are if they saw the original Ocean's 11, they didn't care for it much either. It was by no means a classic but it was entertaining. The same goes for this sequel.
I'll say this when it comes to such "buddy movies” where everyone in a film seems to either have a personal friendship or relationship with the other cast members that it feels like they are the only ones having any fun and not the audience.
I'll watch the new Ocean's Eleven and this sequel a couple more times as opposed to that other set of road racing movies that featured an all-star cast led by Burt Reynolds. They were called The Cannonball Run (1981) and its 1984 sequel. I cannot think of a better example where a group of talented performers had fun, all at the audience's expense who shelled out their hard earned money to watch a bunch of highly paid stars act in two movies that had no plot.
Author’s Update: Sergeants 3 was finally released on DVD May 13, 2008 by Warner.
©12/13/04
PG-13, 125m. 2004
Cast & Credits: George Clooney (Danny Ocean), Brad Pitt (Rusty Ryan), Julia Roberts (Tess Ocean), Andy Garcia (Terry Benedict), Casey Affleck (Virgil Malloy), Scott Caan (Turk Malloy), Bernie Mac (Frank Catton), Don Cheadle (Basher Tarr), Matt Damon (Linus Caldwell), Carl Reiner (Saul Bloom), Eddie Jamison (Livingston Dell), Elliott Gould (Reuben Tishkoff), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Isabel Lahiri). Screenplay written by George Nolfi based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
For a few years back in the late 1950s and early 60s, that's how Frank Sinatra approached making movies with his pals. He not only worked with them together in Ocean's 11 but also on the musical Robin & the Seven Hoods (1964) and Sergeants 3 (1962), which to this day, for some odd reason is still not available on video or digital videodisc (DVD).
Ocean's Twelve features a number of moments that echo scenes in the original 60's film. Consider the scene, for example, where Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) are discussing doing a job with someone in Amsterdam with one of their mysterious contacts (Robbie Coltrane). The two take Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) along simply because he wants to be in on the group's activities. The entire time Coltrane is saying things that obviously make no sense but Ocean and Ryan are going along laughing and understanding his comments nonetheless, while Caldwell sits dumbfounded. I guess in a way, so was I as I sat there watching.
There is another scene that not only looks like it wasn't even scripted beforehand. It's as though as director Steven Soderbergh, who helmed the first one in 2001, grabbed a camera got the entire cast together in one big hotel room and told them all to just start talking about what almost seems to add up to nothing (though it is really about how they intend to pull off another heist).
At one point, the group gets into a conversation about how old Clooney's Ocean is, many of whom think he looks fifty, which is probably a take on the actor's age alone since he is now in his mid-40s.
If the guys huddled around shooting pool sooner or later, it would have echoed a similar scene in the original movie where the gang did the same as they waited for their leader to give them the rundown on why they were all brought together to pull a major job in Las Vegas.
Alas, there were no pool tables or lavish homes to gather in Ocean's Twelve. Clooney's Ocean and his pals settle on meeting inside someone's garage before going off to Europe after they are all tracked down, one by one, by casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) who wants the $160 million Ocean and his buddies stole from him in 2001's remake back "with interest."
The plot seems written the way Quentin Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction (1994) where various events happen throughout the film but they aren't necessarily in sequential order as the characters carry out heists in three separate countries arranged by someone known as "the Night Fox." I am still a little confused as to how everything eventually ties together in the end.
If there is one thing that was different from the Ocean's Eleven remake, it is that Sinatra's version didn't end with the possibility of a sequel. Then again, maybe a sequel to the 2001 version was inevitable. I mean if someone stole $160 million from you, don't tell me you wouldn't be looking for an opportunity for some pay back.
It wasn't the idea of getting the cast from the 2001 remake together for a second time that got Mike Whorton and Steve Garmon, two co-workers I know who saw Ocean's Twelve, so worked up that they both hated the film. The scenes I described in the above paragraphs as how this sequel plays in terms of Hollywood camaraderie as Sinatra's version did are what made them feel as though they just wasted two hours of their time. Both especially hated the way the Julia Roberts' character was handled that made her look as though the "real Julia Roberts" was making a cameo appearance.
I personally thought it was clever, not to mention the fact there are quite a few people out there who DO look exactly like their Hollywood counterparts. I could see how Bruce Willis while browsing around at a museum could think he just saw someone looking like Julia Roberts walk past him.
I can only guess that if Garmon and Whorton, or anyone for that matter who refused to embrace Ocean's Twelve, then chances are if they saw the original Ocean's 11, they didn't care for it much either. It was by no means a classic but it was entertaining. The same goes for this sequel.
I'll say this when it comes to such "buddy movies” where everyone in a film seems to either have a personal friendship or relationship with the other cast members that it feels like they are the only ones having any fun and not the audience.
I'll watch the new Ocean's Eleven and this sequel a couple more times as opposed to that other set of road racing movies that featured an all-star cast led by Burt Reynolds. They were called The Cannonball Run (1981) and its 1984 sequel. I cannot think of a better example where a group of talented performers had fun, all at the audience's expense who shelled out their hard earned money to watch a bunch of highly paid stars act in two movies that had no plot.
Author’s Update: Sergeants 3 was finally released on DVD May 13, 2008 by Warner.
©12/13/04
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