Released Date: 16 Dec 2004

Synopsis (Courtesy from GV):

The star-studded cast of the worldwide smash hit, OCEAN'S ELEVEN, reunites in this sequel, which takes place in various parts in Europe, including Rome, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam. Catherine Zeta-Jones joins the cast as Brad Pitt's love interest.

Movie Review:

Three years has since passed after Danny and crew penetrated Terry Benedict's (Andy Garcia) Las Vegas casino vault and stole $160 million from it. Now Terry wants all his money back, including interest. But the catch is Danny and crew are now living separate, legit lives, each one of them has spent portions of the money spilt from the heist. Just to name a few, Rusty (Brad Pitt) has lost most of it as a Hollywood hotelier, expolsives expert Basher (Don Cheadle) on his "four-letters" filled recording career and the Malloy twins on family, cars and machinery. The problem at hand is how to raise the money in two weeks!

At this point, if you think "Ocean's Twelve" is just another continuation of the first instalment filled with another heist planning and stars power. Well, you are still a couple of inches away from the bull's eyes. Director Steven Soderbergh and writer George Nolfi decides to twist the plot a little. If the current problem at hand is not enough, Danny and crew have to compete with a wealthy European playboy (French actor Vincent Cassel) who is also known as "The Night Fox" for the Faberge egg from a museum in Rome. To add on, the crew is heavily pursued by Europol agent, Isabel (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who happened to be Rusty's girlfriend three years back. There you have it, a heist movie with not just a simple case of careful planning anymore, a far cry from the first.

"Ocean's Eleven" was shot in such smooth, classy manner and the shots of Las Vegas as picturesque as postcards. Soderbergh, the hands-on man with his hand-held camera gave the sequel a gritty, documentary look instead. The shots of Rome and Amsterdam are shot in ways, angles you have never seen before. It helps to know that the production is shot on exotic locations such as Lake Combo, Paris and Rome. The effect is never the same if you were to shot these on sound stages. In addition, the jazzy scores from David Holmes should be highly recommended.

The magic of "Ocean's Twelve" doesn't lies in the script or any fanciful pryotechnics effects but the sizzling chemistry between the stars. Seeing them effortlessly bantering with each other and mingle their way from one scene to another is simply magical. There are plenty of fun dialogue and clownish sequences one being the Chinese Acrobat, Yen getting lost in transition after being folded into a luggage, Linus (Matt Damon) trying his best to learnt from Danny and Rusty's "management" of the crew which resulted in hilarious consequences, the most valuable and once a lifetime parody of all, Julia Roberts as Julia Roberts. (Hope this isn't giving much away!) and Bruce Willis cameo (Fortunately, it's not those spilt a second stuff).

Besides the host of familiar stars from the first instalment, Catherine Zeta-Jones stands on her own and manage to charm her way into the Ocean's club and into the hearts of the audience as well. It's fortunate that the poster is strong enough to hold the weight of the stars' names plus credits. But the final question lies in "Are you in or out?". I know I'm in!

Movie Rating: B+

Review by Cpt John Miller