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Analysis: Ocean's Twelve
by Mark, Tim, Matt, and Tom
19 Jan 2005
Steven Soderbergh's latest film Ocean's Twelve sparked a bit of a debate among the four of us recently, more so than most films in recent memory. After the chair throwing, screaming, and wild punches subsided, we settled down and collected our thoughts in a succession of e-mails that we're presenting here. All offensive remarks, racial epithets, sexually explicit suggestions, and foul language have been removed in order to present a work of intelligent filmic discourse, except where Mark calls Soderbergh's camerawork shitty. Enjoy!
Mark
Yet another "let's pay homage to the French New Wave" that served up a sloppy, loose, not-terribly entertaining and hard to watch experience. Add to that poor writing, not much of a sense of pace (yet another film where I'm waiting for it to get started for a long time, only to realize that it's not going to get any better), shitty camerawork and editing, and a sense that, even after 90+ minutes with them, you never really get to spend much time with the characters.
On the commentary for the Ocean's Eleven DVD, Soderbergh discusses how hard it is to make a good film, despite the fun cast and subject matter, and says that if the amount of fun had on-set was directly proportional to the quality of the film in the end, that The Cannonball Run would be the greatest film ever made. I found this interesting as Ocean's Twelve is essentially Cannonball Run II: Most of the same creative people are there, but it fails it main objective--there's no race. It's weighed down with other subplots and marginal new characters and what should be the focus of the film is pushed off to the side in favor of something less interesting. There is a stab at a race, but it's an afterthought. The problem here is that Ocean's Twelve is a heist movie with no heist. With just a lot of playing at "switcheroo" and a little going through the motions it's ultimately about something else far less interesting. And like Cannonball II, it hints at a set-up for a sequel that nobody who sits through the film wants to see.
Performances are so-so with little of the spark that made us like the cast the first time around. Again we feel like we never get to spend any time with anyone in this film. Maybe that's due to the sloppy style or poor writing (which feels improvised a lot of the time). There's a lame cameo by a Major Star that comes off forced, as is a "disguise" ruse pulled by one of the players that just comes off as lame, rather than clever and "in" like it was probably intended.
One thing (THE one thing) I'll give Ocean's Twelve is that the music was great, and had me tapping my toes the whole time. Very 60's/70's euro, which fits in with the setting and attempted style of the film. Gotta get me that.
I think what we have here is SS coming off failed experiments like Full Frontal and Solaris, and trying to continue stylistic experiments, seeking inspriation from European films of the 60's/70's, within the context of a Big Hollywood Film, and failing miserably. The first Ocean adventure was stylish, but with Hollywood gloss and polish. To go into a sequel with such a different approach is jarring at first, and ultimately fails to deliver the good-time heist film that audiences are expecting and are led to believe they're going to get from trailers.
In watching this and evaluating it after the fact, I think Vincent Cassel may be a new Kiss of Death. I can't think of any film I've seen him in that I liked. Once I saw his name in the credits, I did an "uh-oh" under my breath, and his power to pervert rang true.
Tim
I thought it was okay, nothing special. It does suffer from not having
a stated goal to root for. They need money sure, but there's no giant
heist to look forward to with just a bunch of little ones that don't add
up to anything. Surprisingly Cassel didn't bother me as much as the Willis/Roberts
bullshit. Was it cute to have them play themselves? No, it just sucked.
When you have twelve big stars in a flick having only 2 of them playing
themselves is a big distraction that is guaranteed to fail. Stylistically
though, I didn't get the feeling like Soderbergh was pushing himself to
Solaris heights of experimentation. More like he was
kicking back, shuffling the deck of his stock moves, and throwing in every
piece of the kitchen sink we've seen from him before. And again, they
didn't work. Especially that fish-eye lens shit with Cassel working out
in his track pants. What the hell was all that about?
** for a few moments of invention.
Tom
To me Soderbergh's interesting because you've got this guy who come's from and really has the mentality of the independent arthouse director with stuff like Kafka and Sex, Lies and Videotape but who's mainly been doing commercial films like Ocean's and Erin Brockvich of late. So Average Joe off the street going to the latest Hollywood has to offer at the Megaplex might be a little put off by Soderbergh's atypical non traditional experimental style featuring lot's of handheld camera, somewhat non linear structure and disjointed editing that doesn't spoonfeed the story to the audience. And then on the other hand there's the film geek/arthouse crowd (us) who go into this movie with admiration for his lesser known stuff like again Kafka, King of the Hill, and epsecially Schizopolis who are disappointed by something with such a lightweight story, lack of character development, and seemingly unnecessary lapses in logic. Being who we are I think it's tough to separate the film school grad who would argue that it was disappointing and not Soderbergh's best work when take into account his previous low budget independent work and blah blah, from the casual film goer who wants to go to the theater and have a good time.
My feelings while watching were that it was somewhat of an intentional
mix of styles combining elements of European flavor a la Topkapi
- a 1964 heist movie by Jules Dassin that served as the main inspiration
for the old Mission Impossible series, low budget independent techniques
(handheld camera, source lighting, etc) but with a Hollywood A-list all
star cast. There seemed a bit of arrogance to it all which I think is
a trait that's shown up a few time in Soderbergh's films, but considering
the shear number of ego's on screen it probably shouldn't be surprising.
For Soderbergh's own take on that subject check out the hilarious Schizopolis
audio commentary where he interviews himself. A few "Yeah right"
moments took me out of the reality and depending on my mood might have
bothered me more than they did, but I rolled with them instead. In the
end the point of the film probably has less to do with story and character
develpoment and more with seeing a group of the world's most famous actors
on screen together having a good time. That it's by a director who's had
many artistic successes in the past but probably isn't aiming for anything
more than popcorn entertainment this time out might be considered a disappointment,
but I'm not holding any grudges.
***
Matt
Steven Soderbergh had remarked in an interview that he had set out "to make a sequel to Ocean's Eleven that would go directly against everything that people would expect to see in a sequel to Ocean's Eleven." Clooney himself had joked that he, Soderbergh, et al, simply went on a group vacation, shooting whatever they wanted and making the entire story up as they went along. I doubt Clooney's words; Warner Bros. might have made Dreamcatcher and The Avengers, but even they're not that crazy.
I do agree that Soderbergh went as far against the grade as he could without getting himself canned, though with people like Clooney, Pitt, Jerry Weintraub and his pal "Oscar" in his corner, it's not like there would've been a film otherwise. Still, he did make a technical foul or two. Having Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner) bow out of the film almost from the start was an error in judgement. At that scene, I expected that his character had perhaps been the one that sold the crew out to Benedict as he rather abrubtly makes his exit. Maybe this was the intention, to lead us into thinking he was involved with Benedict from the beginning. It certainly would've been unexpected... No such luck.
Likewise, the sudden disappearance of Frank Catton (Bernie Mac). After seeing Frank in only a handful of scenes, he is unceremonioulsy picked up by European authorities before things can really get moving and spends the remainder of the film in a cold, damp jail cell. Arguments can be made for this move. 1. The arrest is part of the ruse to lull The Night Fox into his false sense of security. 2. Going by Soderbergh's desire to play with conventions, it would be very unexpected for one of Ocean's Eleven to get caught at the beginning of the action. Cerebral, yes, and even daring... but not a good move, entertainment-wise. It's like benching Adam Vinatieri in the first quarter before he even has time to practice kicking.
Stealing Away
Another well remarked upon issue in this heist movie is the issue of the
heists, or lack thereof. You may know by now that the main heist in the
film isn't even perpetrated by our crew, but by The Night Fox (Cassel)
in the to-be-discussed "Electric Boogaloo" scene. As it
turns out later, though, that scene was not really the heist at all. In
Soderbergh's anti-heist sequel, not only is the hero crew in jail for
the big moment we've all been waiting for, but they are so amazingly accomplished
at what they do that they've in fact already stolen the target of everyone's
desire, a priceless Fabrege Egg, several days beforehand --
and not in some high tech way, but in a staged fistfight on a moving train
between a Red Sox Fan and a Yankees Fan. (As life long Sox fan, this had
me laughing my ass off.) By going against the steel-and-electronics
intricacy of every expected robbery film cliche, Soderbergh pulls off
an amazing joke here. Some take offense but I call the whole thing
genius.
Vinnie
I know y'all have a disposition again Vincent Cassel after seeing his
work in Doberman and Irreversible. I'm
not so down on the guy. There are few other actors out there that can
play smarmy and evil as well as he can, and yet still maintain a little
humor. Don't forget he held his own against Jean Reno in The
Crimson Rivers too so the guy's got some chops.
Sit and Spin
In defense of the Cassel "rotation" scene: that's just
a little cause and effect, there. The workout scene works both
in terms of structure (he's working out the day before the big robbery,
much as an athlete would for an important exhibition) as well as dramatically
(the workout sets the audience up for his big show in
the big dance/break-in scene so that we're not blown away by his sudden
grace and agility). Granted, in the workout scene it is a little
disconcerting to be in such close proximity to Cassel's "groinular
unit," (something only Monica Bellucci should be exposed to)
and sure, the dance/heist scene does go on a bit too long -- but then
again you do have to marvel at Cassel's physical capabilities which
have been, up to now, totally unutilized in movies. This guy can stretch
and flex like Jackie Chan in his heyday. Not for nothin', but now
we know why Miss Bellucci stays married to him... and maybe why she has
such a deep voice.
They Call Him Bruce
I really dug this part, though I do seem to be the exception. In a cinematic
stunt worthy only of a showman (or madman), Soderbergh breaks the
fourth wall and acknowledges the existence of real life movie stars in
Ocean's Twelve, which features an overlong but interesting
scene involving Bruce Willis playing the actual Bruce Willis and Julia
Roberts playing "Tess" pretending to be Julia Roberts.
In a way, you could chalk it all up to more cause and effect, though of
a behind-the-scenes nature...
Originally, Bruce Willis was to star in Ocean's Eleven (as Terry Benedict, I think I'd heard) but had to drop out for another project. I'm sure he was sorry to leave and the gang was sorry to let him go, so they naturally wanted him to come on in, even for a little bit, in part two. In Soderbergh's latter films, his experimental nature sometimes carries over into a whole new manner of style. Here, bringing Willis back in the manner that he does, Soderbergh goes a few lengths beyond.
There's a real lack of logic to it, yes. Roger Ebert made a good point: if Linus (Matt Damon) keeps remarking upon how much Tess looks like "her" (Roberts), than why hasn't he noticed that he and the boys look just like George Clooney, Brad Pitt and... Matt Damon? The others can all be worked out, though. What frat boy couldn't pass for Scott Caan? And Carl Reiner? There's a guy in every deli in America that looks like him.
It's the kind of moment that can make or break a movie, like the appearance of the Stay-Puf't Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters: you know by then whether you love, like or hate the movie, and you decide then and there whether you're up for the ride or jumping ship. Me? I loved it, beyond its nonsensicality.
Playing What's Dealt
Long story short, Twelve is not, as the ads purport, "the new Eleven."
I didn't think Eleven was that great at first, until it grew on me on
DVD. Now, I love it. As to whether I'll enjoy the slower and more mistaken moments
of Ocean's Twelve on home video remains to be seen, though
I'm thinking I might actually grow a little harsher on this one. It's
unlikely the whole Tess/Julia Roberts angle will play as well the second
time around. Where Eleven is the kind of film that gets better with
age, I think Twelve will actually suffer. Time will tell. There really
hasn't been a Steven Soderbergh film yet that I haven't liked at the end
of it all (including Full Frontal).
It'd be a pity if this were the first. In the meantime, though, the positives
of the movie as a whole outweighed the negatives for me.
In a way, you could say the central theme of Ocean's Twelve, if there is one, is "playfulness." Rusty plays with Isabel Lahiri. Danny Ocean and his gang play with Francois "The Night Fox" Toulour. Soderbergh plays with the audience, heist-movie convention, his own style and a hundred million or so of Warner Brothers' money. Audiences shouldn't feel angry at the film, nor feel cheated by it. It's like visiting a place not unfamiliar to the Ocean movie fans, a Casino: the experience may not be all you thought it might be, you should still have a good time.
mn, th, tm, mg
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