Ocean’s Twelve is the second installment of the Ocean heist trilogy which is best known for their star powered cast, confusing plot lines, and jackpot of connections when playing ‘six degrees of movie separation.’

If you like your movies prepackaged and easy to follow put down the remote because this movie is not for you.

A quick spoiler filled plot summary: A young but accomplished thief wants to be acknowledged as the best in the world so he sets up an elaborate competition against Ocean and his team to steal the same item. He forces Ocean to join the competition by revealing the identities of the crew to the Casino owner whom they robbed three years back. The casino owner threatens to off them all if they don’t repay him plus interest. The thief offers to repay the casino owner for Ocean if they win the competition, so the Ocean Twelve put together an elaborate scheme to steal a golden egg but are all arrested in the attempt… or are they? (Not going to spoil EVERYTHING.)

Ocean’s Twelve will keep you confused and guessing to the very end. If the film has a fault, it’s really a fault of the genre—the actual heist is revealed at the end of the film, which leaves the remaining two hours to be filled up with jokes and misdirection.

I can’t help but compare this film to Now You See Me and it does have some similarities, but the ending of Now You See Me felt like a slap to the face whereas this ending was simply a mild disappointment.

A plethora of strange camera angles and cheesy transitions help to remind you not to take things too seriously, which frankly isn’t too difficult. Additionally, one of the main plot points and large scale jokes revolves around the fact that Tess Ocean, played by Julia Roberts, looks like… Julia Roberts. Funny? Maybe. Clever? Not so much. (They have a huge lead up and the punch line just doesn’t follow through.)

Ten years out and separated from it’s two siblings, this film feels convoluted and clique-y. The dialogue is snappy but no one provides any useful information and a lot of the jokes come across like they were written for the cast and crew.

Ultimately I don’t think there’s much else to say about the film. It may have been a fun watch in it’s day but it has no staying power, nothing to recommend it to a present day audience. If you’re a big fan of the heist genre then you’ve probably seen it already and probably have it in your collection… and if that’s the case, don’t worry. It’s safe. No one is going to steal it from you.

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Review by Phil Wels