Ocean's 12 Tops Box Office but Receives Mixed Reviews

Filed in archive Gambling General on December 12, 2004

'Twelve' steals top spot at box officeThe long awaited sequel to Oceans Eleven, wittily(!) entitled Oceans Twelve finally opened on Dec 10 and has already topped the US box office taking $40 million over the weekend - narrowly beating the $38 million its predecessor made in its opening weekend.

The movie itself however garnered some mixed reviews on its release. Here's a few:

The Seattle Times:

You can't help but have fun watching it.."Ocean's Twelve" is full of throwaway humor and pretty faces; it's a popcorn movie to be sure, but it's exactly what popcorn movies are supposed to be: effortless pleasure.

San Francisco Chronicle:

Ocean's Twelve" presents a couple of serious impediments to viewing pleasure -- it goes on forever, and its story is impenetrable. But looked at in another way, as a party to which the audience is invited, the film is something else again -- comfortable, amusing, friendly; an in-joke among pals, and you're one of the pals.

Washington Post:

"Ocean's Twelve" seems to be a now-you-see-it, now-you-still-see-it movie....The whole thing is a piffle of fluff or a fluff of piffle. About halfway through you'll get an incredible hunger to see a movie.

The MediaDrome:

Where "Ocean's Eleven" was a colorful, smooth, fun party that built up to a satisfying payoff, "Ocean's Twelve" is a dark, slow-moving, convoluted hangover that fizzles out to end up as one of the year's biggest disappointments.

Unlike most of the Western World, I wasn't totally enamoured by the first Ocean's Eleven (either the original or the remake) so I'm not in a rush to see the sequel. However, the movie fan in me knows I'll make the trip to the cinema regardless, whilst the gambling person in me craves to watch The Cooler once more.