I saw Ocean’s 12 last night with Liam and Anne. Perhaps the last time I will see them before they move to NYC. Anyway, Ocean’s 12 is all edge and no teeth. If Ocean’s Eleven [O11] is an intelligent, sophisticated, mysterious and beautiful French woman, then Ocean’s 12 [O12] is a dumb nymphomaniac sorority girl. Which is basically to say that both are enjoyable in their ways, but one has a bit more taste.
O12 is not much more than a remake of the remake of O11 minus the plot. Everyone is back, their characters are still as two dimensional as the previous movie and the dialogue is still rascally. It helps to remember that O11 was a remake of a Rat Pack movie and that part of the reason O11 the remake was remade was to try and reform a Rat Pack cachet for this day and age; hence all the high-profile celebrities.
So it sort of seems to me that O12’s appeal lies mostly in gawkery at the Beautiful People being smartasses. Enough of that ‘behind the scenes’ crap. How about the movie itself?
Well, Soderbergh is his usual self which makes things surely enjoyable to watch, but I was much more aware of the complicated dolly and crane shots mixed with the surveillance hand-held feel this time around. And product placement was all over the friggin place. There was even a complete iPod commercial right at the start of the denouement. The cool thing about the iPod commercial was that it was an absolutely amazing dance sequence to a friggin awesome techno song.
The plot was flimsy, with a Deus ex Machina and some obviously overcomplicated trickery, complete with holograms and lifting a building. It was also predictable as hell. I tumbled to a major plot point about an hour before it was revealed, and minor ones all the time. So while it was enjoyable during the act of watching itself, afterwards you realize just how insubstantial it really is. Like a dumb nymphomaniac sorority girl. It was worth 4 bucks though.
Addendum:
Previews: Saw a terrible looking movie called Be Cool with John Travolta in it. Uma Thurman is also in it which might make it worth watching since she is hot like Okavango. Saw a preview for another terrible Suburban Commando type movie starring Vin Diesel. Saw a preview for the new Batman Begins movie which looks quite promising.
Merry Christmas, Adam.