Grade:  B

Director:  Steven Soderbergh		Released:  December 2004
Writer:  George Nolfi		MPAA Rating:  PG-13
Players:  Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts, Vincent Cassel, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle		Running time:  125 minutes

Ratings System

The thieves are back, witty and cool as ever.  This time Benedict (Andy Garcia) wants his money back which sets off European hi-jinks because the gang is too "hot" to work in the United States anymore.  Good thing, that, because there's a competing thief, the Night Fox, who is up for a little uninvited competition and happens to operate in Europe.

I'm not sure why the gang so quickly agreed to pay back Benedict the money they stole in the first movie.  Because he threatened them?  What kind of master thief caves in from a little threat?  Another question: How did Benedict find out who the eleven culprits were?  The movie makes a subplot out of that question, but never really answers it.  Sure it tells you WHO told Benedict, but it never explains how that person knew their identities.

When a film is THIS clever, the not-so-clever things stand out.  Like Night Fox's security dance, which has been done so often it was parodied in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Okay, look.  It's a heist movie with a superstar cast where the point is to give audiences two hours of entertainment.  Mission accomplished.  It's definitely entertaining.  I could nitpick the plot devices and the conveniences for a few more paragraphs but I'd be missing the point.  The point is that these guys are super-cool and so is the movie.  Not quite as super-cool as Ocean's Eleven, but still cool.

- crocoPuffs