Ocean's Twelve

During the editing of this sequel to Soderbergh’s well received caper-remake, did no one have the nerve to suggest the film was a trifle dull? It certainly isn’t the heist flick we expected; indeed, were it not for the cast (especially Clooney, so charismatic he needn’t even open his mouth), Soderbergh’s sharp eye and the jovial chit-chat, you might come away feeling short-changed. That said, while it may lack its predecessor’s punch, pace and precision, it’s still unequivocally high-end entertainment.

It’s three years since Danny Ocean and his cohorts cruised into the Vegas casino of Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) and marched out with the contents of his vault. With the help of a grass, smooth-talking Benedict eventually tracks them down and offers a one-way deal: return the $160 million, with interest, or sparks fly. Short of a bob or two and none too welcome back in the US, the gang sets up shop in Europe for another big one. Unforeseen events, however, conspire to upset the balance in the form of a Europol agent (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and a lone-dog French master-thief (Vincent Cassel) who lays down an attractive challenge…

The beauty of the first film was that everything about the heist worked like clockwork and we left the cinema on a high. Here, there’s no single stand-out heist, most of the plans go awry, and the story fragments in several directions. Nonetheless, a series of hilariously surreal digressions, Clooney and co’s blithe small-talk, and an amusing ‘reality’ scene with Bruce Willis offset any disappointment.