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Ocean's Twelve Our rating: Rate this movie   Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for language) Theater release: December 10, 2004 by Warner Bros. Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes Cast: George Clooney (Danny Ocean), Julia Roberts (Tess Ocean), Matt Damon (Linus Caldwell), Brad Pitt (Rusty Ryan), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Isabel Lahiri) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

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Danny Ocean and his cadre of lovable criminal masterminds are back up to their old tricks (and a few new ones) in the sequel to their 2001 hit Ocean's Eleven. The newest installment, Ocean's Twelve, finds the crew lying low three years after their impressive heist of $160 million from Bellagio Casino bad man Terry Benedict. Benedict has finally tracked them down one by one. He's mad and he wants his money back, with interest, in two weeks. Or else.

The group convenes, quickly surmises that collectively it doesn't have the sum Benedict is demanding, and promptly heads to Europe in search of a gig with a payday big enough to save their lives.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney play Danny and Tess Ocean

As in Ocean's Eleven, where the Bellagio heist was partly a play on Danny's (George Clooney) part to woo back his ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), the crew ends ups in Amsterdam where Danny's right-hand man, Rusty (Brad Pitt), has his own agenda—re-connecting with ex-girlfriend Isabel (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Oh yeah, and by the way, Isabel happens to be one of Europe's top anti-crime experts. Ah, the plot thickens.

And then it starts to boil—because it doesn't take long for Ocean's Eleven (the twelfth member doesn't get into the action until late in the film) to realize that Benedict (Andy Garcia) and Isabel aren't their only foes. Someone else is setting them up for failure—the Night Fox. A criminal mastermind in his own right, the jealous Night Fox (Vincent Cassell) wants to establish his superiority once and for all. He ratted Ocean's Eleven out to Benedict to flush them out and now he's set up a thieves' showdown. Whoever steals the antique and heavily guarded Fabergé egg first will be the best. If Ocean's Eleven wins, the Night Fox will pay their debt to Benedict. If the Night Fox wins, he gets the satisfaction of being top dog and his competition will disappear thanks to Benedict's thugs.

Brad Pitt plays the role of Rusty Ryan

Highly entertaining scheming and pilfering ensues.

Director Steven Soderbergh shot Ocean's Twelve with a slightly grainy quality that, coupled with pitch-perfect editing, gives the film a 1960s TV vibe. Think Hawaii Five-0. It gives the movie a tactile presence on the screen and, given the fact that all movies now play in the special effects-generated shadow of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, it's a welcome reminder that we don't need increasingly grand spectacles to make thoroughly entertaining movies.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the part of Isabel Lahiri

What we need is a good story full of characters we love, characters we hate, intrigue, and witty dialogue. Ocean's Twelve has all these things in spades.

To cite standout performances in Ocean's Twelve would basically be to read the cast list. Clooney, Pitt, Roberts, and Zeta-Jones are surrounded by top-notch actors including Matt Damon (playing an earnest and green-behind-the-ears pickpocket in fantastic contrast to his recent Bourne Supremacy super spy), Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Elliot Gould, and Carl Reiner. Robbie Coltrane (better know as Harry Potter's Hagrid) and comedian-extraordinaire Eddie Izzard both play small, but memorable roles.

Danny (Clooney), Linus (Matt Damon) and Rusty (Pitt) on the move

Cameos by Topher Grace and a surprise big-name actor are brilliantly played. That probably wasn't so hard for the actors given that they're playing themselves, but huge kudos go out to the screenwriters who gave them really funny things to say. It looks like everyone had a lot of fun making this movie, which I hope was indeed the case-because I'm already eagerly awaiting Ocean's Thirteen.

Modern anti-heroes. Criminals with heart. This movie, like its predecessor, makes it easy to make peace with the fact that Ocean's Eleven, and now Twelve, is basically a tight-knit group of thieves. Only mean people or faceless institutions get stolen from, the two leads are romantically honorable men smitten with one woman each (it's interesting to note that when introducing the nefarious Night Fox the sequence depicts him wining and dining a new woman every night.), and these guys are stinkin' funny.

For Danny Ocean and his mates, a heist is about a match of wits, about the thrill of the challenge, not about greed. That still doesn't negate the eighth commandment—thou shalt not steal. But it's the sense of adventure and camaraderie that's infectious here, not the desire to go knock over a museum.

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