Moral Assessment + Abhorrent + + Disturbing + + + Acceptable + + + + Wholesome + + + + + Exemplary Technical Assessment • Poor • • Below average • • • Average • • • • Above average • • • • • Excellent CINEMA Rating Guide VA For viewers of all ages V13 For viewers age 13 and below with parental guidance V14 For viewers 14 and above V18 For mature viewers 18 and above NP Not for public viewing

Title: OCEAN'S TWELVE Running Time:  125 mins Lead Cast: George Cloonet, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Casey Affleck, Scoot Caan, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Elliot Gould, Carl Reiner, Shaobo Qin, Eddie Jemison, Bernie Mac, Vincent Cassel Director:  Steven Soderbergh Producer: Jerry Weintraub Screenwriter: George Nolfi Music: David Holmes Editor:  Stephen Mirione Genre: Crime/Romance/Comedy Cinematography:  Stephen Sodenbergh Distributor: Warner Brothers Location:  USA, Europe Technical Assessment:  • • • Moral Assessment:  + + ½ CINEMA Rating:   For viewers 14 and above   Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew of master thieves are living high on the hog on the spoils from robbing Terry Benedict's (Andy Garcia) Bellagio casino some three years ago. Abruptly, Benedict finds them all. Danny (George Clooney) is married to Tess (Julia Roberts) in the suburbs; Frank (Bernie Mac) is running a nail salon, and so on… And Benedict demands his money back in two weeks. Rather than flee for their lives or come up with a better plan, the original band of 11 reconvenes to find another big job so they can cough up the $100 million or so they have blown in the intervening years. And so it's off to Europe, where a strange series of burglings ensues as the group tries to come up with the cash in short order. As it turns out, things don't go smoothly. First, there's Rusty's (Brad Pitt) former flame, Isabel (Catherine-Zeta Jones), a detective on high-profile robberies, who's immediately on the case when Rusty comes around again. Complicating things further is a French master thief "Night Fox" (Vincent Cassel) who challenges Ocean in a cliché game of "who's the best thief." The film boosts of big name stellar cast which makes it a sure winner in the box-office. The presence alone of the likes of Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Catherine Zeta-Jones is more than enough to make Ocean's Twelve a real spectacle. Although it may be sad to note that this flick is somehow nothing more than that… a spectacle. The screenplay does not have enough heart and soul to merit real aesthetic value which its director Sodebergh is known for. The characters in Ocean's Twelve are not fully developed, rather they appear more likely as a caricature. But all the actors, as expected, did their parts as well. Catherine Zeta-Jones' and Vincent Cassels' characters are such delightful additions. They story is easy to follow despite deliberate intentions to mislead the audience and there are enough funny moments (provided mainly by Julia Robert's Tess) that make the movie a real blast. Ocean's Twelve, as the film that preceded it, is still about the glamorization of thieves and criminals. No matter how they put it and no matter how they try to give the story new twists and turns, the bottom line of the movie still revolves around criminals masquerading as heroes. Good guys are almost always out in the film. As in the case of Zeta-Jones' Isabel, her efforts to bring the thieves to justice appeared to be no more than a futile attempt. She is the only good character in the movie yet appeared to be so stupid and even pathetic in the end. Ocean's Twelve only show a kind of world where thieves and criminals could almost literally get away with murder and even enjoy life in luxurious comfort. And forget about conscience. If this is the kind of world that we will show the young viewers, then we may be cultivating in their minds corruption and a perverted respect for all its tricks. (Date Reviewed: January 7, 2005)