In 2001, Steve Soderbergh remade Ocean's Eleven with a stellar cast that brought huge crowds to the theatres. That movie was polished and tight, well-acted and fun. It worked like any classic movie should, an oiled machine in which the gears turned without a hitch. It was clear the actors were enjoying themselves, and that was a bonus, but it wasn't the primary element of the film.

Three years later, Soderbergh has re-united the cast of his Ocean's Eleven to create a +1 sequel titled Ocean's Twelve. This movie is not nearly as polished or tight, and its gears are a bit squeakier. The actors are clearly enjoying themselves, which seems to be the only reason any of them agreed to do this film. Functioning more as a cast reunion than a real movie, Ocean's Twelve is enjoyable--in the way that a long, wandering walk can be. At times the shakiness of the cameras, their flying and spinning shots, makes the viewer a tad seasick. Scenes of all the cast members crowded into a hotel room makes you think you're watching home movies of a cast party instead of an actual movie that is supposed to have a plot. And the intricacy that made Eleven so great is lacking in Twelve. There isn't as much time spent planning the heists; the audience is simply left to assume, for the most part, that the characters know what they're doing and that we, as viewers, will see it when it happens.

And then it doesn't, really.

Or it sort of does, but. . .

Twists at the end become predicatble early in the movie and lack the oomph of the 2001 film.

I won't give it away, but while Ocean's Twelve isn't a bad movie--and considering our local theatre has it sold out for the weekend, it'll do well in any case--there's almost nothing to make it special, not even the cast because we've seen them do it before and do it better.