I, too, fell for that red herring, Enright.
–Cliffy
Saw it today and enjoyed it. Plot and the overall heist weren’t as good as the last one, but the cast was obviously having a blast. I love the scenes where the director basically stuck the actors in a room or scene and set them free. At least, that’s what it looks like happens.
I thought I saw some plot holes, but my wife seemed to have explanations for them all.
What plot holes did you guys see?
I thought the worst offender was
when, after CZJ’s character followed Brad Pitt’s (character’s) FBI truck to an airfield, and then got out, her police car driver just took off. She protested, but then that whole issue was just dropped. I saw no good explanation as to why the police car took off.
But my wife says that
that police car pulled up with all the FBI vans and so was one of “them.”
I didn’t notice this–is it true?
Also, should I just lie back and take the idea that
the “mom” knew about the “forged 1077”
and
the older gentlemen was able to come in at just the right moment and know just exactly what to say to get Tess/Julia out of trouble
?
Or am I right to feel I am owed an explanation?
-FrL-
We just saw it last night - I’d give it about a 4 out of 10, and I LOVED Ocean’s 11. This one was pretty disappointing, but there were some funny bits.
Maybe someone can explain to me:
Since the Ocean’s 12 guys snatched the real egg so early on, why did they go through with the whole museum ‘scam’? Was it just to mess with the Night Fox’s head and make him think he won? Was the whole gang in on it? Why did they need Julia to go to the museum, or was that just filler?
Frylock:
- I agree with your wife.
I can’t remember if Damon’s mom mentioned the 1077. Though I would imagine such documents are public record, and she could have been an hour ahead of the real Interpol authorities coming to arrest CZJ. But you’re right, this one’s a stretch.
- I don’t doubt Saul’s ability to adlib on the spot. He’s been doing it his entire life. I suspect he was in the hotel lobby, and knew about the Julia thing.
I enjoyed the film. It wasn’t as good as the first, or as cohesive. But it had wonderful scenes and snapshots. The look on Brad Pitt’s face as he first sees CZJ while fleeing from the police was priceless (and she looked 19 years old in that scene. Good Lord!).
Stainz:
Remember in the flashback scene when La Marque says that they have to act as if they’re under surveillance all the time? The remaining members act flustered and out-of-sorts because they don’t want to lety the Night Fox know that they are indifferent to their comrades’ plight, because then he will know something is amiss and maybe wonder why, and realize he’s been scammed. They’re fooling the audience in the same way that they are fooling the Night Fox’s surveillance.
I loved the movie. I love caper flicks in general.
One of the most fun things about them (and this movie) is watching it twice and three times to figure out why something that looks like a plot hole is actually storytelling ingenuity.
And forget realism, circumstance, whatever. The whole idea is that these guys are audacious, daring, and skilled enough to do ANYTHING, so it’s fun trying to explain to yourself and your pals just HOW they did it.
And did anybody else notice that the guy who comes to
get Frank out of jail
is actually
Bruiser, the guy who “interrogated” Danny in the first one?
And it was great just watching them all have fun.
I have always expected watching a movie like this to be like watching a magic show–and then having the tricks explained. But in this movie, I was left to explain some of the tricks to myself.
I’m not a huge fan of magic shows unless I can find out how the tricks were done. I’m just that kind of person.
Hence, my enjoyment of this film was diminished. But I recognize that if I went in expecting to have to figure it out for myself, I might have liked it better–I would have been less eager to call things “plot holes”, as one poster mentioned.
-FrL-
Happy Scrappy - thanks for the explanation, but I still don’t understand why:
is it so important that the Night Fox not learn about the egg until the very last minute ? Maybe I’m just thick … 
Because:
He’s beaten them to the punch every time they’ve tried to pull something. He knows who and where they are. And so they want him to think that they beleive themselves to be screwed so that he will believe that the replica currently on display is the real one and will focus his attention on it, rather than the real one, which they already have.
I generally liked it, but was disappointed with the ending. It just lacked oomph.
As for possible plot holes…
The Night Fox ends up dancing his way through the laser maze, a tack the Ocean’s crew considered but abandoned because the lasers move in randomized paths. So how did the Night Fox do it? He appeared to have a pre-set routine, which possibly could have been explained if he’d somehow ‘cracked’ the random number generator the lasers were using, but this was never mentioned. Alternately, he was making the dance up on the spot, which I find incredibly hard to believe.
The original 1960 version of Ocean’s 11 was just a scaffolding for Frank, Dean, and Sammy to drink, smoke, and tell misogynistic jokes, so it’s nice that Soderbergh is finally recognizing the rich cinematic heritage. 
I think he was supposed to be improvising as he saw each laser coming. Incredibly hard to believe? Yeah, but so was the rest of the movie and I still thought it was fun.
I think that this scene was meant to poke fun at Zeta-Jones’s idiotic capering through the string/lasers in that horrible movie she was in with Sean Connery. What was it? Entrapment, I think. You know, where we get long, loving shots of her ass and legs in weird contortions as she maneuvers through string, then again through lasers? I thought that the Night Fox’s scene was a send up of that, and I found it hilarious.
duality, he wasn’t dancing. That was a Brazilian martial art. It was supposed to demonstrate just how good his reflexes are (as well as make fun of CZJ).