Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) June 23, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Cinema, Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Steven Soderbergh
After a slightly lacklustre second outing, the boys set out to give it one more try with a movie that certainly plays closer to the original in terms of story and structure. And it really is ‘the boys’ this time; with Julia Roberts not in attendance it’s solely up to Danny, Rusty and Linus to hold the film together, with a little help from their friends, of course.
This time around, the plot centres on a revenge job for the infamous master criminals, as one of their own, Reuben, is bed-ridden after he is screwed over in a Vegas hotel deal by the ruthless Willy Bank (newcomer to the fold, Al Pacino). A plan is set to ruin the opening night of ‘The Bank’, and humiliate its owner as payback for his betrayal. But this time even Danny Ocean may have bitten off more than he can chew, so when complications arise, the crew are forced to go to an unlikely source for help.
The script comes from Rounders writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who inject the right amount of humour into the proceedings, as well as a story set-up that presents a realistic motivation for the team to get back together. Their heist and its execution is not as clever or involving as in the original though - and this is a problem - but at least the plot is coherent and it takes the time to drop in a few much-needed twists to keep the audience guessing.
One could make the observation that this film is a little too like Eleven, just not as fresh or clever. The narrative structure is exactly as you’d expect – a heist is planned, the team pull some clever turns, they hit some problems, more turns, some good fortune intervenes, problems are resolved and we’re lead into a ‘pulling the job’ third act. It’s all enjoyable stuff, but I have to wonder whether this rigid attentiveness to the formula set out by the Ocean’s movies is a product of wanting to go ‘back to the roots’, or rather, just playing it safe after the reception that Twelve received.
On the plus side, director Steven Soderbergh has had plenty of time to find his groove stylistically and is clearly comfortable controlling the pans and zooms he has made such as staple of the franchise. Meanwhile, the cast show a similar level of comfort, playing the fun side of their characters safe in the knowledge that we’ve already established who they are and what role they perform. It’s
obvious that working on this set was never a chore. And just like in previous instalments the movie gets a chance to play with its own self-awareness, but thankfully it’s back to being hidden in dialogue and exchanges rather than the somewhat forthright ‘Julia Roberts’ sequence from the second movie.
The legacy of Danny Ocean may well have reached a deserved conclusion with this movie, and the subtle callbacks to Eleven are hopefully attempting to round out the trilogy, giving us a sense of full-circle. Having said that, if somebody has the creativity to come up with a cunning new heist and another banter-laden script, I can’t say I’d be adverse to seeing the gang get back together for ‘one last job’.
As for this film, to say that it’s better than Twelve but not as good as Eleven is a little unspecific, since the gap between those two movies is an expansive one. It certainly tries to emulate the original, but falls down by not being anywhere near as intelligent or calculating as its 2001 predecessor. However, it’s still great fun to watch this cast get together, and if you’re willing to go along for the ride then it’s just like getting together with a bunch of old friends.
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