Ocean's Twelve (Blu-ray) (2004)

"Two Thumbs Up.  Ebert & Roeper
"Infectious fun.  Jim Bernard, New York Daily News
"...both funnier than the original and more bizarre.  Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer
"It's a blast.  Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
"Sure-fire entertainment. This is a big, swinging party with a can't miss guest list.  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Editor's Note Back in slick style, OCEAN'S TWELVE reintroduces Ocean (George Clooney) and his perfectly trained team of con men, who are determined to take on Europe. Dividing forces to hit Paris, Amsterdam, and Rome, the heist-meisters move beyond casinos to tackle new objectives, one of which involves stealing a famous painting. With OCEAN'S TWELVE, Steven Soderbergh re-teams with his high profile friends for another glamorous romp through the high-stakes underworld. Three years after Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew robbed Las Vegas casino tycoon Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) of one hundred sixty million dollars, Benedict has finally tracked them down. He gives them a two-week ultimatum to come up with the money or suffer the consequences. Knowing that the odds are stacked against them, the gang nonetheless heads to Amsterdam for a big heist. But what no one realizes is that ultra-smooth Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) has ulterior motives for leading the gang to Amsterdam. Turns out his former flame, Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is living and working there tracking criminals such as Ocean and French master Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassel), better known as "The Night Fox." Threatened by the universally admired eleven, Toulour challenges Ocean to a dangerous museum heist that will either make or break the gang once and for all. It's up to Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts) to fly into town and bail the boys out of trouble. Every frame of OCEAN'S TWELVE is bursting with gleeful energy, as is the film's soundtrack, provided by acclaimed musician David Holmes.

	Andy Garcia
	Bernie Mac
	Brad Pitt
	Carl Reiner
	Casey Affleck
	Catherine Zeta-Jones
	Don Cheadle
	Eddie Izzard
	George Clooney
	Julia Roberts
	Matt Damon
	Scott Caan
	Bruce Berman - Executive Producer
	David Holmes - Original Music By
	George Clayton Johnson - Based On Characters Created By
	George Nolfi - Screenplay
	Jack Golden Russell - Based On Characters Created By
	Jerry Weintraub - Producer
	Philip Messina - Production Designer
	Stephen Mirrione - Editor
	Steven Soderbergh - Cinematographer
	Steven Soderbergh - Director
	Tony Fanning - Art Director

New York Times
"[E]njoyable?.[Mr. Clooney is] a reliable pleasure, as is Mr. Pitt..." 12/10/2004 p.E1

USA Today
"[I]t's enjoyable as a light and cheeky romp with the real-life camaraderie of Clooney, Pitt, Damon and the rest translating to the screen with charm and verve." 12/28/2004 p.4D

Chicago Sun-Times
"The movie takes inventory of its characters with the same droll wit it does everything else..." 12/10/2004 p.31

Sight and Sound
"[W]atching it is fun....Flashing sparkle at the audience like an expert conman, Soderbergh makes the hardest job of all -- following a hit film with a probably hit sequel -- look easy." 02/01/2005 p.63-4

Uncut
"Clooney and Pitt's genuine superstar chemistry here remains undimmed....It's still fun watching these characters saddle up for a second mission." 03/01/2005 p.130

ReelViews 8 of 10
Pleasantness and affability reign supreme in Steven Soderbergh's sequel to the remake of Ocean's Eleven. This time around, even the bad guys don't seem so bad. Rumor has it that the atmosphere on the set of Ocean's Twelve was so easy-going that it was more like summer camp than a movie shoot, and much of the sense of fun comes across on screen. Everyone who survived the first film is back for the second, including the entire complement of "Ocean's Eleven." There are two high-profile newcomers. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Europol agent Isabel Lahiri, an ex-flame of Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), who is the confidante of Danny Ocean (George Clooney)...Soderbergh peppers the print with occasional directorial flourishes (freeze-frames, the use of colored filters, etc.), but, for the most part, he presents the film "straight." And, on those occasions when he shows off, it's neither prolonged nor extreme enough to become distracting. One could make an argument that the filmmaker isn't so much directing his actors as he is shepherding them through the movie-making process. There's a sense that at least some of the dialogue was improvised. The final result speaks well for the process, whatever it actually was. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Just as most caper movies end with the thieves comfortably basking in retirement, so most sequels to caper movies begin with the thieves forced to go back to work and pull one more job. "Ocean's Twelve" does not disappoint...What Soderbergh is working with here is the charm of his actors, particularly Clooney, Roberts, Brad Pitt and Jones, who have the key roles, and the puppy-dog earnestness of Matt Damon, who wakes up Pitt on a trans-Atlantic flight to tell him he thinks he's ready to play "a more central role." Damon's character is named Linus, a good choice, since he is too sincere and intense to rise in Ocean's ironic universe...Example of the cleverness: There are two cameos in the movie that, for once, contribute something more than allowing us to say, "Hey! There's (name of star)!" The genius is that one of the stars is really there, and the other star is not really there, although she is there in the person of the character who seems to be her. This will all become clear when you see the movie. What I liked is that the one cameo role is used to expose the other cameo role. When you get to the point of interlocking cameos, you have ascended to a level of invention that is its own reward. - Roger Ebert