A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Oceans 12

Date Viewed: 12/12/04, 12/25/04

Details:

Andy Garcia

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Brad Pitt

George Clooney

Julia Roberts

Casey Affleck

Scott Caan

Shaobo Qin

Bernie Mac

Don Cheadle

Matt Damon

Carl Reiner

Elliott Gould

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Score: +

The Review: It's all about ensemble, and this group's got it. A delightful, reflexive, self-conscious, entertaining, occasionally laugh-out-loud caper flick that picks up a few years after Oceans 11 left off. Somehow the crew has been flushed out of hiding and has to rob Peter to pay Paul, well..., Terry (Garcia) actually. All the earlier cast is back, augmented by Zeta-Jones as a Europol detective hard on their heels. Action is in Europe, against the backdrops of Amsterdam and Rome. At least two seriously unexpected twists keep the interest up. And a few (more than) cameos keep your pattern recognition working.

The mythos of the international caper would have you believe that there are family legacies, generations of master thieves passing down their secrets across the decades, a tight-knit community that savors successes and recognizes and helps its own. Hmmm...

The best capers always steal from the rich -- preferably the annoying & undeserving rich or the psychological outsider -- and do so without threat of arms or any hint of violence, through guile and cleverness. The best capers are an art form. Alas, the happenings in Oceans 12 do not quite qualify, except perhaps under the exception granted totally opaque modern art, because so much happens behind the scenes or out of chronology that is revealed well after the fact, without a clue in-chronology. Worth watching a second time if only to disentangle what you learned the first time.

(12-Dec-04)

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