Ocean's Twelve DVD: Review By justincase

Steven Soderbergh directs an all-star gang of Hollywood A-listers in the would-be comedy caper pic of the year. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Vincent Cassel, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, and Casey Affleck all return, joined by the erstwhile Catherine Zeta-Jones, joining the crew for the 2nd pic in the franchise-hopeful.

When casino boss Terry Benedict shows up demanding repayment (with the vig) of his $160 million, the gang must pull out the stops to heist enough loot to repay the heavy note.

From this set-up, we see the A-list crew head off on the con, all the while pursued by Ms. Zeta-Jones, a big-time European authority.

Without giving too much away, if you think you know where this will end up, you do. If you think the heavy cuts and jiggered timeline is a bit distracting, it is. BUT, there are a lot worse ways to spend a couple hours than watching this capable bunch of thesps work their art.

The dialogue is great, in parts and the acting is very solid. This is a great team doing good work and its fun to watch this group have fun together.

Overall, the cast was right, the story had potential and the direction was, technically... proficient. The final product, though, was a bit lacking, albeit somewhat entertaining.

An astounding 'goose-egg' on the special features. We get basically nada... Only a theatrical trailer is offered.

Presented in widescreen, we get a great image with no pixelation or defect. The picture has a very stylistic feel, with the heavy cuts and timeline shifting. Overall, its a little hard to stay engaged sometimes, but the colors are well balanced and lend to the mood and texture of the tale.

With a solid digital 5.1 track, we get a great helping of background music that fits the style of the film and the class of the characters. Being a seriously dialogue-heavy film, we get a lot of front-channel action and not a lot of surround, but you won't miss it terribly.

All-star artwork, with Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Zeta-Jones, Garcia, Cheadle, Roberts, Mac and the crew headlining the cover with the stylized title treatment. On the back, we get the basic descriptions, credits, technical details and a bit of photo-play.

A fine rental that will make buyers of the owners fo the first film, just to keep the series together.

Let's hope that the next outing, if there is one, has a bit tighter story and scripting and moves at a bit of a faster pace.