Finally...Ocean is back!!!
Written: Jun 10 '07 (Updated Jun 10 '07)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Great plot. Fun twists and turns. Great cast!
Cons: Nothing is a great as Ocean's 11.
The Bottom Line: Definitely see this movie. Be sure you have seen the first 2 so that you understand the character development. As always, a refreshing change from the typical Hollywood junk.
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| dvlish's Full Review: Ocean's Thirteen |
Just home from seeing the long anticipated Ocean’s 13 in the “all new” drive-in theater here in SoCal. Other than it being tough to hear in some parts since we sat outside of the car, I enjoyed the show immensely.
I went with a large group, some of who had not seen the first 2 (Ocean’s 11 and Ocean’s 12) and had slight difficulty keeping up with the 3rd in this series. If you plan to see this one, definitely rent the first 2 before you do. You will be more in touch with the characters and better understand why they are so intent on the heist they are pulling the 3rd time around.
Spun from the remake of Ocean’s 11…the modern version introduced a cast of Hollywood A-listers, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon to name a few. Ocean’s 12 added Catherine Zeta-Jones to the cast. Ocean’s 13 is missing Roberts and Zeta-Jones but gains Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin. The original group of high dollar thieves comes back together in 13 for another heist. Set in Vegas, this time the job is personal for all of them.
Enter Willie Banks (Al Pacino) who is opening the newest mega hotel on the Las Vegas strip. Reuben Tiskoff (Elliot Gould, one of the original 11) is a partner in the new Banks hotel and has provided the piece of land it sits on in exchange for 50% ownership. Although he has been warned about going into business with Banks, he chooses to do so anyways and ends of being double crossed. He has a heart attack as a result of being double crossed.
Enter Danny Ocean and all the gang. Instead of just having Banks killed as repayment for hurting Reuben, the gang does what it does best and plans the ultimate heist as revenge. They will strike Banks where it will hurt him the most, his latest hotel venture. Arrogant and overly confident, Banks is sure his new hotel will be awarded the prestigious ׃ diamond” award. The gang sets out to make sure that doesn’t happen and that he loses 500 million on opening night as well, all as a result of a “natural disaster”. Well, as natural as anything can be in Vegas with Danny Ocean around!
Pitt and Clooney play the main “planning” parts in this movie just like they did the first 2. A complicated scheme that plays out both in Las Vegas and south of the border in a factory in Mexico, the players all work together in their assigned roles to get revenge for Reuben. Working to rig craps, black jack, slot machines, and roulette all to pay out huge, they must find a way to get around the hotel security system so that all those pay outs have a reason to walk (or run as the case may be) out the door. The most complicated system in the world, it can read body language, heart rate, pupil dilatation, etc. all in effort to determine if a win is a surprise or expected by the player. The problem this causes is that they can’t rig the games without the system knowing they are expecting to win, so they have to find a way to shut it down at least long enough to trigger the 500 million in pay outs and then give the winners a reason to take their money and run instead of giving it all back at the tables or in the slots. Instead of a vault, this time Danny Ocean must find a way to beat a security system that can’t be beat.
At the same time they must also find a way to sabotage the hotel’s 5 diamond review to keep Banks from getting it for the 5th time. As confident as he his in his impending success, this will hit him the hardest. Not only will he be out millions of dollars, but he will fail to open a world class hotel that his investors and underwriters are expecting and his reputation will be ruined. The way they go about this is very clever, but I won’t even get into it. This is a very funny twist in the move and I don’t want to give it away. I can’t remember the name of the actor who plays the critic but he was one of the ice cream brothers in the first “City Slickers”. All I’ll say is that ‘hazmat’ is involved…
Enter Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), another Las Vegas hotel tycoon. The vault in the Bellagio hotel is the location of the Ocean’s 11 heist and Terry was the ‘victim’. As payback for stealing Ocean’s wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), while he is away in prison, Ocean and the gang break into a vault that is untouchable. A different twist in 13 comes when they run out of money to make their plan work and have to turn to Terry for a buy in. He makes his own list of demands, which make the job much more complicated, but with no other options Ocean accepts his deal. Terry Benedict has his own list of reasons for wanting to see Banks de-throned and even plays a small part (besides kicking in the money) to help see that that happens.
The dialog between the cast is again witty and humorous. Bernie Mac is always hilarious and Pitt has the same subtle, quick-witted humor as he did in the first 2. There is a camaraderie and easiness between them that makes you feel like they truly are all dear friends coming together to help one of their own. Pitt and Clooney are very believable as best pals and if I didn’t know they were good friends in real life, I would think they were simply from their easy interaction on screen. Their friendship is very believable. It is refreshing to see a movie with a cast that is so believable in their roles. Even if the story was goofy at times, the cast was still great! The newest members are great as well. Al Pacino always plays a good bad guy and Ellen Barking is great as his right-hand gal. She is very believable as a tough, driven business woman making her way in a man’s world.
Overall this 3rd installment of Ocean’s was great. The same twists that keep you guessing are once again present and just as clever. The acting was excellent and although the special affects are minimal, the sets and scenes are great. All of the on location stuff in Vegas is great and even the shots of the Bank’s hotel that are obviously computer generated are real to life. If you didn’t know that they hotel wasn’t actually on the strip, you would never know the difference.
My only complaint was that I saw this for the first time at the drive-in. I know that I missed some of the dialogue and that there are little nuances that I missed due to that as well. I look forward to seeing it again in the theater and so I can catch all the little subtleties that I know I missed the first time around. It seems like each time I watch one of the others (11 and 12) I catch something I missed the last time. I have know doubt the same will be true here.
If you liked the first 2, then definitely go see this one. Although, in my opinion, nothing compares to 11㐁 was very fun and definitely worth my time. Sure to be my favorite summer movie this year!
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Guy Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
dvlish
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Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Married. Live in the Long Beach, CA area...
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