Summary

• Night Fox's plan to embarrass Danny Ocean succeeds with a long-con involving a stolen Coronation Egg in Ocean's Twelve.
• Ocean and his team outsmart the Night Fox in a heist filled with twists, involving a hologram egg and a fake Julia Roberts impersonation.
• LeMarc's true identity is revealed as Isabel's father in a plot that showcases the power dynamics between master thieves in Ocean's Twelve.

Ocean's Twelve ends with a chronological twist that explains the main characters' true motivations. Steven Soderbergh's 2004 film begins with Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) plotting revenge on Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his team of thieves, who previously stole $160 million from the business mogul in Ocean's 11. In Ocean's Twelve, Danny's team is tracked down by Benedict and they formulate a plan to pay back their collective debts plus interest. They settle on an Amsterdam-based heist, which ultimately fails due to the secret maneuverings of a world-class thief known as the "Night Fox."

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Though it seems like Ocean and his team are doomed to fail, the movie features one twist after another, allowing them to come out on top. It also features the addition of Europol Detective Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a legendary thief known as LeMarc, and the return of Danny's previously estranged wife Tess (Julia Roberts) to help with the heist, which involves an Imperial Coronation Egg at a fictional gallery in Rome. Because of the large number of players involved in the heist and the many twists, it can sometimes be difficult to see just how the Ocean's Twelve ending works.

The movie franchise is based on Lewis Milestone's original 1960 spy film starring "The Rat Pack," otherwise known as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.

Night Fox's Long Con Explained

In Ocean's Twelve, the entire heist is born because the Night Fox, who is really a French citizen named Toulour (Vincent Cassell), wants to impress his mentor LeMarc. He's jealous that LeMarc is so impressed with Danny Ocean and his team, so he starts to craft a plan. Toulour wants to embarrass Danny and win the favor of LeMarc.

His long-con begins when LeMarc praises Danny's Vegas heist (from Ocean's Eleven) while speaking with an American colleague, but doesn't pay proper respect to his own protégé. Toulour secretly tips off Danny's team about a heist job in Amsterdam, which he plans to do himself, just so he can show off. He then waits for the competition to approach him out of curiosity, which then allows him to present them with a challenge. If Danny can somehow steal the Coronation Egg first, Toulour will cover the expenses owed to Benedict, and can guarantee the money through his friend LeMarc.

Ocean's Twelve's Real Egg Heist Explained

By the end of the film, the power dynamics are clear.

Danny's long-con begins six days before the Rome museum heist. In Paris, he and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) meet with the mysterious LeMarc, who tips them off about Toulour's plans. So, for nearly a full week, the Ocean's crew is already one step ahead of the competition. LeMarc informs them that the real egg will be carried in a backpack leaving Gare du Nord station en route to Rome. Ocean's team then boards the train and creates a distraction, which allows Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) to steal the egg among all the confusion and chaos by switching backpacks.

Midway through Ocean's Twelve, Isabel reveals that LeMarc stole the Coronation Egg in 1980, which is significant because approximately two dozen attempts had failed. However, LeMarc's wife essentially made him return the loot. So, in Ocean's Twelve, the real egg is stolen to make up for a past mistake, all the while allowing LeMarc to collaborate with arguably the premiere thief in the world, Danny.

In the process, LeMarc establishes the Night Fox as the actual mark, a man who needs to have his ego checked. By the end of the film, the power dynamics are clear. LeMarc is the true master, Danny is the modern master, and LeMarc's reputation is damaged but not entirely destroyed.

Why The Fake Faberge Egg Was Stolen

...plenty of bizarre occurrences took place, but everything looked normal...

Danny's team knows that Toulour will be surveilling them constantly, so they follow through with "a very elaborate show," at the request of LeMarc. They also need to confuse Isabel and somehow thwart her plans to arrest them. So, the team initially plans to use a hologram egg replica, and their contrived performance becomes even more absurd when Tess is asked to impersonate Julia Roberts. When the plan seemingly goes wrong and Isabel steps in to make her big arrest, it's revealed that the FBI agent in charge is actually Linus' mother, Molly (Cherry Jones).

At Toulour's villa, he boasts about stealing the egg days before it went on display. He first scaled the museum and went unseen by Danny's bickering recon team, and then managed to avoid a laser field thanks to his athleticism. So, all the Night Fox needed to do was focus on surveilling Danny's crew to make sure nothing odd happened. The irony is that plenty of bizarre occurrences took place, but everything looked normal in terms of what Danny and company were hoping to accomplish.

LeMarc's Real Identity

LeMarc is revealed to be Isabel's father, portrayed by the late Albert Finney. Earlier, Danny questions Rusty about why he's been talking to Isabel, a detective, and learns that her father was a thief. According to Rusty, the man got "popped" the day before his daughter's ninth birthday, and later died in jail. As an adult, Isabel ironically becomes a LeMarc expert, perhaps because she wanted to better understand the mindset of her father that she never really knew. By the end of Ocean's Twelve, Isabel learns the truth after meeting LeMarc, her long-lost father, face to face.

How Danny Ocean & His Crew Beat Night Fox

Danny Ocean and company beat the Night Fox in Ocean's Twelve by taking advantage of his egocentric behavior. Even before their Italian villa meeting, Danny is already one step ahead after being tipped off by LeMarc. From there, the Ocean's crew just needs to maintain appearances and go along with the show. Since Toulour already believes that he has won, he pranks Danny's team and watches them stumble along, or so it seems.

From beginning to end, the Night Fox lets personal pride affect his decisions. In collaboration with Danny's crew, LeMarc teaches his protégé a proverbial and valuable lesson by reminding him that pride comes before the fall in Ocean's Twelve.