Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta Jones, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts. Directed by Steven Soberberg. (2004, Warner Bros/Village Roadshow)

'Oceans 12' has no right associating itself with its predecessor 'Oceans 11'. There is no sparkle from the original. It's like bumping into an old flame and realising the chemistry isn't there anymore, but 'Oceans 12' just keeps on trying to replicate something that isn't there. For a heist movie, it's awfully talky, tediously paced, weirdly incoherent and a brutal waste of such a talented cast of actors who surprisingly add to the problem by mostly phoning in their performances. If you read the press and media kits, the cast had a ball making the movie together. They all look bored and stiff here, perhaps there was too much fun off screen?

Over to the mess of a plot: It's been three years since the gang of Oceans 11 headed by Danny Ocean (George Clooney) cleaned out Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) and his casino. But Terry wants his money back and gives the gang 2 weeks to come up with $190 million dollars. Of course, this prompts the old gang to reunite and pull off some scams in Europe. But thing's don't go according to plan and they discover there plan has been thralled by a fellow master thief known as the Black Fox. The most interesting aspect of 'Oceans 11' was that the set-up in robbing the casino, but here there's no real big payoff and it's difficult to keep track of the story despite it being quite simple. There's too much banter, too many scenes involving the characters exchanging words that don't relate to the story of the movie. A LOT of this to be exact. There's not much action of even a nice caper, perhaps the budget was bloated by hiring Julia Roberts for what looks like a week's worth of shooting?

All of this is pure Soderberg and he is the problem with this film. It's the good old "let's be hip" trick that 'Get Shorty', 'Out of Sight' etc used to be referred to as "cult" and "edgy" by pretentious audiences who are anti-Hollywood. Steven Soderberg may have an Oscar to his record and credit must be given for trying to replica an old style of Hollywood filmmaking, but his quick edits, zoomed shots and abrupt style is too shaky and it adds to one big headache. The cameras move around too quickly like a documentary and the style worked for his Oscar winning 'Traffic', but enough already. Just make a conventional movie, stop trying to be artistic, this isn't the movie for this style. If you are going to have such a big cast, use them effectively.

With a cast this big, it's not a surprise that many actors don't have much to do other than play in the background. The rest of them are strictly on autopilot. Brad Pitt's the only actor with a pulse here and although her character is quite confusing, Catherine Zeta Jones plays the role as best as she can. Pitt and Zeta Jones have chemistry, they belong in a better movie of their own. George Clooney is on smug patrol with his annoying attempt to use charm over acting abilities; Matt Damon is phoning in his performance; Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia have very, very small roles that there inclusion seems wasted while the supporting cast including Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan and Elliot Gould have barely any scenes of merit. Funny enough, the only actor having fun is Bruce Willis' cameo as himself. It's quite an odd performance, but he seems better at playing himself rather than a character (see the recent 'The Whole Ten Yards' mess).

'Oceans 12' is on par with 'Speed 2', a sequel to such a classic that tries to destroy the credibility of the original. 'Oceans 11' is a masterpiece, a stroke of perfected timing, strongly directed and wonderfully played. The cast bumped off each other like they have been friends for years; they had magic and immense chemistry. Here they look like a group of friends reuniting for a high school reunion and realising there old glory days have passed, everyone has changed. Even worse, it's directed by a Best Director Oscar winner who won just three years ago? Perhaps the Academy should be asking for his Oscar back? One of the year's most disappointing movies.

4 out of ten

Reviewed by Chris Cappola