Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould
RunTime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Released By: GVP
Rating: PG
Official Website: http://www.oceans13.com/

Opening Day: 7 June 2007

Synopsis :

Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and the gang would have only one reason to pull off their most ambitious and risky casino heist—to defend one of their own. When ruthless casino owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino) double-crosses one of the original Ocean's eleven—Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould)—Danny and the gang team up one more time to see if they can break "the Bank."

Movie Review:

Every popular franchise in this year summer blockbuster season seem to be reaching the big “3”.

So what are the chances of Danny Ocean and gang beating the odds despite this already being the third chapter of the “Ocean’s Eleven” series?

To much surprise, they indeed pull it off! Despite the lackluster “Ocean’s Twelve” which have a muddled, incoherent plot (fun still) and a pointless appearance of Catherine Zeta-Jones, the third smartly discard the girls (Julia Roberts too) and bring in the ageing but delicious Ellen Barkin and a new nemesis played by yes, Al Pacino.

The story has it that a slimy casino operator Willy Bank (Pacino) has swindled old-timer Reuben Tishkoff from the original eleven (Elliott Gould) out of the partnership of a planned lucrative business venture. The impact causes Reuben to suffer a heart attack and Danny (George Clooney) decides to exact revenge by what else, assembling the usual suspects to pull a fast one on Bank.

Now if you can recall, the first one was getting the money out of Terry Benedict’s (Andy Garcia) casino. This time, it’s not about the greenback anymore, the gang’s ultimate aim is to sabotage the opening of Bank’s casino, ruin his reputation and most importantly, deplete his resources.

The fun thing about “Oceans” is that you are familiar with everyone’s role. There’s no longer the need for the scriptwriters to setup the characters. You want to see how the boys concoct their naughty plans and bring them to action. And that’s how “Ocean’s Thirteen” laid out their cards.

Of course there are the usual memorable highlights and amusing moments, which might appeal to you. If you have seen the trailer, you might notice Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) with a fake cheesy nose, his task this round is simply to romantically distract Bank’s assistant, Abigail (Ellen Barkin). And how about our fave “demolition man” Basher (Don Cheadle)? His task – to bring in a massive drill to artificially create an earthquake underground!

As usual, the rest of the supporting members of the Ocean’s gang such as Frank (Mac), Virgil (Affleck) and Turk (Caan) are there for the fillers and the fun banter. Who cares because Danny and Rusty (Brad Pitt) have orchestrated a fast-moving, efficient master plan regardless how small everyone’s roles are.

It seem that Warner Bros themselves have pulled out every single dollar out of their bank vault for this new instalment. The casino interior sets are lavishly built on the soundstage and the CG structure is faultlessly replicated on the Las Vegas strip.

Even Steven Soderbergh who shot and lit the movie under the pseudonym Peter Andrews gave it much grandiose as compared to the first two.

The cool slick gang has done it once again. The sweat-less heist, laidback wit and humour and superb chemistry of the new Rat Pack makes this a must-watch of the perhaps, last chapter of the series.

Movie Rating:

(Ocean’s Thirteen beat the odds to become a winning chapter of the series)

Review by Linus Tee