Ocean's Twelve

Lacking the freshness of the original and going a bit overboard with its twists n turns, the follow-up chapter to Ocean's Eleven does exhibit the lavish look & carefree vibe of its predecessor and adds a couple more charismatic actors to its ensemble but its story is weak and only gets messier as it progresses.

Taking place some time after the events of the previous film, Ocean's Twelve brings back all the members of the original team as they battle against time to pay back all the money they stole from the owner of Las Vegas casinos, with interest. To meet the demand, they decide to pull off another heist, however, there's a new player in town.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film picks up from where it left off in the last picture and doesn't take long to bring all of them back into the same room. The basic storyline is interesting but how the events unfold in the final print is where the problem arises, not to mention that the subplots relating to new characters don't add anything of significance.

The sumptuous look n feel is retained and the European scenery is beautifully photographed. The smart manoeuvring of camera & refined use of colour palette adds a vibrant quality to its images. Editing is a mixed bag, however, as the numerous twists don't carry the same weight and appears forced into the narrative. And the background score doesn't have anything new to add either.

Coming to the performances, pretty much the entire cast of Ocean's Eleven make their appearance in this one with Clooney & Pitt leading the pack like before while the new additions include Vincent Cassel & Catherine Zeta-Jones who play their part responsibly but their respective characters are very poorly sketched. Roberts however gets additional screen time and is able to improve on her earlier input.

On an overall scale, Ocean's Twelve is an inferior sequel by all means that does take the arcs of its characters a little forward but doesn't add anything of substance. What's also disappointing is the climax that's far more ridiculous this time and seems way far-fetched than it did the last time. Still, there's some fun, laughs & amusement in store but if you're expecting a sequel that improves upon the original, then Ocean's Twelve isn't one of those.