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The first thing that strikes the audience in Ocean’s Twelve is the star studded cast. Besides the obvious actors such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Julie Roberts the film has great depth of supporting actors with minor parts. Several of these small parts have actors that already have established themselves with major parts in other prestigious films. For example, Johan Wideberg, a Swedish actor known from Oscar nominated All Things Fair (1995), Eddie Izzard and Robbie Coltrane all appear at some point in the film. Next to these actors, the audience will of course also recognize Bernie Mac, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Scott Caan, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, and Vincent Cassel among many others. Despite this enormous talent pool Ocean’s Twelve does not succeed in creating a sublime cinematic experience, which will awestruck the audience. Instead, the viewers get to experience a half-empty drama with good chemistry while the actors carry out an overtly planned design. ***

The story begins within Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) who Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his group ripped of in the predecessor, Ocean’s Eleven. Benedict demands that Ocean and his cohorts return all the money that was stolen from him with interest. Initially, this idea for the sequel provides an interesting angle, but the interest quickly eradicates itself by trying to do too much on the screen without detail or feeling for the atmosphere. In a hurried number of sequences the audience gets to follow Benedict’s quick visits to all of Ocean’s buddies, as he presents the idea that he will kill them unless they return the money. *** Unfortunately, the film continues with lack of appealing intrigue, as no complex scheme will get them out of the mess with Benedict. As an alternative, the film takes the audience to Europe where Ocean and his partners intend to find a way to steal the money that Benedict wants in less than two weeks. Amusingly, the story brings them to plan the theft of a very valuable document from an eccentric loner who never leaves his highly secure mansion. However, the document will not give them more than a couple of million, which is just a drop in the bucket of what they need. This is a little absurd, as Ocean and his associates are aware of the feeble sum while they go on with an elaborated and most likely very time and monetary consuming plan to get the document. Nonetheless, this is necessary, as it will lead the story to its next phase. ***

Fortunately, Ocean and his friends succeed in the break in, but someone has beaten them to it, as the thief before them was aware of them trying to steal the document. However, this provides a connection for Ocean to who ratted on them to Benedict. One name appears, the Night Fox, and now Ocean and his buddies are on the warpath to find this Night Fox. Simultaneously, as they try to find the Night Fox, the Europol has placed them under surveillance. This is due to their recent breaking and entering into the loner’s house. ***

Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones) leads the unit that keeps the surveillance of Ocean and his friends’ movement. To make things a lot more complicated, she used to be Rusty Ryan’s (Brad Pitt) old girlfriend. This seems to be both a problem and an advantage, as she has inside knowledge of how Rusty operates, but he knows how she thinks. In due time Isabel follows the group of skilled thieves to Rome, Italy. In Rome, the audience gets to see the beginning of the big showdown, which brings some entertaining and amusing moments. ***

Steven Soderbergh directs a visual journey that moves rapidly from one scene to another in a manner, which feels constructed. Nonetheless, the cinematography is brilliant where the audience gets to experience first-class visuals, which truly enhance the story. The chemistry between the characters seems very authentic, maybe even a little too authentic at times, as it really feels as if they are good buddies. The downside of the story is also the friendship, as it produces a feeling as if these guys are having a good time in Europe while shooting this film. The audience never experiences any kind of anxiety or fear of death, as they know that they only have another two weeks to live if they do not raise the money, which seems very important to them. *** ---

The cinematography, as mentioned before, is brilliant. The DVD provides an opportunity for the audience to experience the good quality of the camerawork, as colors and black levels are solid and depict an authentic atmosphere in the film. No edge enhancement, or other digital problems were observed during the viewing of the film, which enhances the visual experience for those with big screens at home. ***

The sound on the other hand is a rather disappointing, as the full range of the speakers and surround sound was never fully utilized in the Dolby Digital 5.1. There are several moments in the film that could have enhanced the visual experience through the rear speakers, but never did so. Besides the low use of the surround sound, the sound is of good quality, as most of the sound is directed towards the audience from the front speakers. *** ---

The Ocean’s Twelve DVD is a rather bare-bone DVD, as it only comes with a theatrical trailer of the film. This trailer introduces the audience to the main theme of the film and gives the audience something to awaken their curiosity of the film. *** ---