Sunday, December 12, 2004

Happy B'day post - AND - Ocean's 12: A movie review

Okie, maybe the Happy B'day message in this post is just one line but then its for a very, very special person hence the mention in the title :-p

SUPER STARu yaarunnu kaetta chinna kozhandhayum sollum...Thalaiva, Happy Birthday...

I would have so loved to koluthufy soodam and burst crackers and distribute sweets to everyone in my street but then I know u don't like adambarum...Hence jes this special mention.. And pls Soundarya kalyaanum nenappu varumbodhu ellam ennai nyabagum vechikongo :-p

Lets tok business now..

A sequel better than the original.. Unbelievable yet true !! Ocean's 12 rocks.. and how !! For all my women readers esp someone in Andheri whos waiting with bated breath, George Clooney has been completely overshadowed...but wait, here's the good news...by Brad Pitt.. Before I jump the gun and spill some more beans, let me try and approach this whole thing logically :-)

"When style can do the job, why bother with substance" seems to have been the guiding mantra for Soderbergh as he embarked on the unenviable task of filming a sequel to his 2001 hit Ocean's 11. Ocean's 12 is a worthy follow-up since it retains most of the ingredients that contributed to the success of its illustrious prequel - racy plot, enchating locations, technical wizardry, slick action sequences, rollicking sound track, witty oneliners, delightful characters and some really surprising twists.

The movie takes off precisely from where its prequel ends. Its been 3 years since the heist at the Bellagio but Terry Benedict despite being compensated by the insurance companies can't wait to have his revenge. When he gets a tip that Ocean and his men were the people who puilled it off, he rounds them up and delivers an ultimatum - Cough up the 160m$ with interest or D-I-E. Danny Ocean and his team, now enjoying the bliss of retirement and a 'straight' life have 15 days to get 'one last job' done to pull themselves out of the mess. The scene shifts to Amsterdam and then Rome as they realise that there is just one prize that is worth their pursuit. However they are hounded by Isabel, a cop with a past now working for Europol and a mystery thief Night Fox who seems to be itching to go one up on Ocean's 11. What happens next forms the rest of the story.

A good heist caper is only as good as its lead players and its in this department that Ocean's 12 scores heavily. If you thought Danny Ocean (Clooney), Rusty Ryan (Pitt), Linus Caldwell(Damon), Saul Bloom (Reiner), Basher (Cheadle), Yen (Qin) and co rocked, the sequel has Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts) playing the pivotal 12th partner and to add more glitz and glamour is the ravishing but mysterious Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta Jones). As if that wasn't good enough, the sequel's biggest strength lies in its principal negative characters..While the wronged Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) is still around, the real scene stealers are the cold and deceptive Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassel) aka Night Fox and the mysterious LeMarc (Albert Finney).

On the acting front, the honors clearly belong to Pitt, Cassel and Ms Jones in the same order. The dialogues are sharp, incisive and really witty at times - special mention of the scene when Mr Diez recollects a past experience of a hold-up at a vault ;-) and the scene when Pitt, Clooney and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid for HP fans) make a fool of Damon. For the nitpicky, there are more holes in the screenplay than a full golf course but Soderbergh's adept direction, with special metion of those two wonderfully clever cameos, more than compensates for the minor inconcisstencies.The camerawork is mesmerising and the editing is rapier sharp. Technically there can be no doubts that Ocean's 12 is on a very sound wicket.

If you're the kinda person who refuses to ride high on the suspension of disbelief curve, the you'll probably have a tough time having a ball watching this flick. But if you are someone who can sit back and go with the flow, be rest assured that this is one heckuva ride.

Can't wait for Ocean's 13 !!

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