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Producing a successful remake isn’t easy—but
Steven Soderbergh did it in 2001 with Ocean’s Eleven, the
remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film. The remake had an amazing cast and a great story. It
was Rat-Pack-smooth and Las-Vegas-cool. It was hip. It was swingin’. It was a huge
success. So Soderbergh decided to try it again. After all, if he could make a
successful remake, surely he could make a successful sequel,
too…right?
In Ocean’s Twelve, the star-studded cast returns to do
another job. Three years after the Vegas job, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) decides that
he wants his money back from Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and the other ten guys who
pulled it off so brilliantly. Benedict hunts each one down and gives them two weeks to
give him back the money (with interest)—or else. So the eleven head to Europe to
do one more job. There, they find themselves in a race against Baron François Toulour
(Vincent Cassel), a French thief known as the Night Fox, who wants to prove that
he’s the world’s greatest criminal mastermind—not Danny Ocean. And they’re being
followed by Rusty’s (Brad Pitt) old flame, Europol agent Isabel Lahiri (Catherine
Zeta-Jones), who’s determined to stop them.
Ocean’s Twelve isn’t a
horrible sequel, but it still falls seriously short of living up to the brilliance
of the 2001 hit. The story isn’t nearly as smooth or as hip—and the twists and turns
just don’t fit together as perfectly as before. Instead of relying on a well-written
script, Twelve relies more on cheap laughs and cool European locations. And
there’s one painful twist that breaks the rules of Hollywood—leaving the viewer feeling
cheated.
On its own, Ocean’s Twelve is an entertaining crime
film. It’s got a spectacular cast—who obviously had an excellent time hanging out and
making the movie together. It’s got action and adventure. And what it lacks in story,
it makes up for (well, mostly) in execution. But as a sequel, it’s disappointing,
showing that some things are just better left un-sequel-ed.
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