In spite of extremely high box office expectations, and a promising opening weekend, Ocean's Twelve was not a very big box office hit, at least not compared to Ocean's Eleven.
As of April 12 2005, the movie grossed about US$125 million while Ocean's Eleven made about $184 million in its entire box office run. Ocean's Twelve grossed 362,744,280 USD after its worldwide theatrical run.
The film is rated PG-13 in the US, 12A in the UK, and PG in Canada. As with the first film, there is no sex, violence or strong subject matter and it was the inclusion of a few choice sexual swear words uttered in a non-sexual context that upped the film to a more commercial rating. According to Yahoo! News, a sequel is in the works, with a working title of Ocean's Thirteen''.
Cast
*George Clooney - Danny Ocean*Brad Pitt - Rusty Ryan
*Matt Damon - Linus Caldwell
*Andy Garcia - Terry Benedict
*Julia Roberts - Tess Ocean (Danny Ocean's wife)/Herself
*Catherine Zeta-Jones - Europol detective Isabel Lahiri
*Vincent Cassel - François Toulour
*Albert Finney - Le Marc (uncredited)
*Casey Affleck - Virgil Malloy
*Scott Caan - Turk Malloy
*Shaobo Qin - Yen
*Bernie Mac - Frank Catton
*Don Cheadle - Basher Tarr
*Carl Reiner - Saul Bloom
*Eddie Jemison - Livingston Dell
*Elliott Gould - Reuben Tishkoff
*Bruce Willis - Himself
Plot
At the opening of ''Ocean's Twelve'', the eleven members of "Ocean's Eleven" are living their lives separately off the fortunes of their Vegas casino heist in the first film. Terry Benedict (Garcia), the owner of the three casinos, confronts each member of the team in turn, demanding the team return his money, with interest. Benedict gives the team two weeks to come up with the money.Ocean and the team decide to stage another heist to pay off the debt. Being too hot to work in the United States, they pick a European target: the world's oldest stock certificate in Amsterdam. Ocean's Eleven manages to breach the security around the certificate, but a rival thief, the "Night Fox" (Cassel), beat them to the document.
As it turns out, The Night Fox was the one who revealed the identities of the Eleven to Benedict. The Fox was incensed that his mentor, the retired thief Le Marc (Finney), hailed "Ocean's Eleven" and the casino theft as one of the best thefts ever committed. The Fox "broke rule number one" (revealing another thief's identity) in order to lure the team to Europe, where he can propose a challenge: the theft of a Fabergé egg. Both Ocean's Eleven and the Night Fox will attempt to steal the famous egg within a week; the first to succeed will be declared the better thief. If Ocean wins, the Fox will pay off the team's debt. With no other options, Ocean accepts the challenge.
Meanwhile, a female Europol detective, Agent Isabel Lahiri (Zeta-Jones), the daughter of Le Marc, hears of the increased theft activity in Amsterdam. She forges her superior's signature on a request form in order to procure enough resources to track down the Eleven. Eventually all eleven members are captured, but are released when Linus' mother, masquerading as a U.S. official, manages their extradition.
Later, at the Fox's home, Ocean reveals the truth: the contest was over before it began. Ocean and associate Rusty Ryan (Pitt) visit Le Marc and learn the location of the real egg: traveling by courier to the museum expedition. The team steals the egg, but goes through the motions of a museum heist to throw off the Fox's surveillance. The Fox is crestfallen, but still gives Ocean enough money to pay off the debt.
Criticism
The film was criticized for its complex plot and a final twist that negated much of the preceding action. (Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright received similar criticism.).Notes
* The sequel was based on an unproduced spec script by George Nolfi called Honor Among Thieves that was originally intended to be directed by John Woo.* The music Benedict plays on the piano when he comes to visit Basher is called “Requiem for a Dead�. It was written and performed by Andy Garcia.
* The real 1897 Imperial Coronation Egg by Carl Faberge is kept in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was bought in 1979 for $2.2 million by the Forbes Magazine Collection and was on display in New York - along with eight other eggs and 180 miscellaneous articles by Carl Faberge - for 25 years. On Feburary 4th 2004, Russian oil tycoon Viktor Vekselberg bought the whole collection back for Russia for about $90 million. The 1897 egg was valued at between $18 and $24 million. The replica seen in the film was made by the jewellers Vivian Alexander and is worth over $4,000.
* When he meets Tess at the Rome hotel, Bruce Willis asks about Danny. Julia Roberts' husband is also called Danny... Danny Moder. Linus also refers to Tess as “J-Mo�.
* The laser 'dance' scene is markedly similar to a scene in 1999's Entrapment where Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the thief in contrast to her ''Ocean's role of a detective.
Soundtrack
David Holmes returned to compose the music for the sequel and won a BMI award. Note: the soundtrack album does not contain the music the Night Fox listens to as he evades the lasers. The laserfield song is in fact called "Thé à la Menthe" and is performed by Nikkfurie.'Ocean's Twelve OST''' (Warner, December 7, 2004):
# Appuntamento (04:35) - Ornella Vanoni
# $165 Million + Interest (into) The Round Up (05:43)
# L.S.D. Partie (02:59) - Roland Vincent
# Lifting the Building (02:34)
# 10: 35 I Turn Off Camera 3 (02:25)
# Crepuscolo Sul Mare (02:44) - Piero Umiliani
# What R We Stealing (03:21)
# Faust 72 (03:23)
# Stealing the Stock (into) Le Renard de Nuit (04:53)
# 7/29/04 the Day Of (03:11)
# Lazy Version (04:30)
# Explosive Corrosive Joseph (02:33)
# Yen on a Carousel (03:13)
# Real Story (02:55)
# Ascension to Virginity (05:05) - Dave Grusin
Total Duration: 00:54:04
External links
*Official Site*1897 Imperial Coronation Egg by Carl Faberge
*Oceans Twelve Pictures and Reviews
Category:2004 films
Category:Films directed by Stephen Soderbergh
Category:Heist films
