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Ocean's Thirteen
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: George Clooney
Genre:
Action-Adventure/
Comedy
Run Time: 122 min.
Release Date:
June 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Being a pretty big fan of
the OCEAN’S series, I was looking forward to something new and
fresh from director Steven Soderbergh. He did a nice job on OCEAN’S
ELEVEN and OCEAN’S TWELVE but here, with thirteen, this tired
franchise gets soggy.
The back-and-forth banter is still there (thankfully!) as are some great
comedic moments. Most notably is a scene between Rusty (Brad Pitt,
BABEL) and
Danny (George Clooney,
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK) when Rusty visits
Danny in his hotel room and catches him tearing up at an Oprah show;
this also comes up toward the end of the film when a large donation to
charity is made. Also the banter between Rusty and Lenny (Matt Damon,
THE GOOD SHEPHERD) is nicely played when Lenny has to don a massive
costume nose as a disguise (“Oh the nose plays.”)
But this is where we leave entertainment and hit some rough seas. The
story of one of the Ocean’s crewman getting wronged and becoming deathly
ill is the pivotal point upon which the entire story swirls, and yet we
feel nothing for this person because so little time is spent on him and
too much time spent on the extremely intricate plot devices surrounding
their latest “get even” gig. The fixing of blackjack tables, slots, and
roulette are given far too much film time, as is a Mexican uprising for
fair wages in a factory where some dicey dice are being made for Ocean
and his team. The point was supposed to be on getting some payback for
the wrong done to one of their own and yet ...we don’t see much of that.
It’s noteworthy to point out, too, that the film, however faulty, is
very well acted. George Clooney and new bad-guy Al Pacino play well
against each other on-screen (“I know the guys you’d send after me and
they like me better than you”). Even the heavily busted Ellen Barkin
does a good job as an uptight hotel manager bent on profit (the only
ridiculous scene with her was when she is somehow overpowered by a sexy
scent worn by one of Ocean’s manly men).
The final damaging blow to the film comes from its beginnings in which
we’re re-introduced to Roman Nagel (Eddie Izzard,
MY SUPER
EX-GIRLFRIEND) and he is supposedly utilized in the Ocean team’s plan to
get even. But after he gives them some information on how to break into
certain high security areas, he’s lost forever from the script. That was
very jarring.
Even with these problems the movie is fun if the story is not. The
strong acting make it watchable, but don’t think too hard about its
intricacies or your brain might explode.
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Image from Ocean's
Thirteen
DVD cost: $19.99
Purchase:
BestPrices.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
Two members of Ocean's
crew, The Malloy Brothers, are named Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk
(Scott Caan). This is a reference to The Godfather (1972) in
which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) guns down a character named Virgil
"The Turk" Sollozzo.
Movie Quote: "There
are a couple of characters here I'm not too sure about."
Other Actors/Actresses
from Ocean's Thirteen
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