Sightlines · reception
How Ocean's Twelve was received
2004 · Steven Soderbergh · Ocean's Twelve on Sightlines
The arc
Dismissed in 2004 as a smug, self-indulgent vacation movie the cast made for themselves, it's since been dramatically reappraised — a generation of critics and Letterboxd users now argue it's the most interesting film in the trilogy, the loose, jazzy one that was ahead of its audience.
What’s debated
The eternal fight is over the meta Julia Roberts gag — is it the wittiest joke in the franchise or the moment the movie disappears up its own con?
Its footprint
Vincent Cassel's capoeira dance through the laser grid, set to 'Thé à la Menthe,' is one of the most gif'd and referenced heist sequences of the 2000s, and 'the Night Fox' lives on as shorthand for showboating thievery.
Where it stands
The definitive 'actually the best one' pick — a onetime trilogy black sheep turned certified hangout-movie favorite among cinephiles.
Did you know? It wasn't written as an Ocean's film at all — George Nolfi's spec script 'Honor Among Thieves' was an unrelated heist story that Warner Bros. had retrofitted into a sequel for Soderbergh's crew.