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Review #467 of 365
Movie Review of Ocean's Thirteen (2007) [PG-13] 113 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.75
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 8 June 2007
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: 6 November 2007 (click date to purchase)
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh (The Good German)
Written by: Brian Koppelman (Walking Tall) and David Levien (Walking Tall) with characters by George Clayton and Jack Golden Russell Johnson
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Brad Pitt (Babel) • George Clooney (The Good German) • Matt Damon (The Good Shepherd) • Elliott Gould (Ocean's Twelve) • Al Pacino (88 Minutes) • Eddie Jemison (Waitress) • Don Cheadle (Reign Over Me) • Shaobo Qin (Ocean's Twelve) • Casey Affleck (The Last Kiss) • Scott Caan (Friends with Money) • Bernie Mac (Pride) • Carl Reiner (Ocean's Twelve) • Eddie Izzard (My Super Ex-Girlfriend) • Ellen Barkin (Trust the Man)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
— or — order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
After mixed reviews for the sequel, Ocean's Twelve. It was probably a good idea to bring in new writers for Ocean's Thirteen as many people ranked Ocean's Twelve up there with the second Mission: Impossible film as the most difficult films to comprehend ever marketed for mass audience appeal. The writing team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien of Walking Tall and The Knockaround Guys filled the bill. They did a good job of extending the lives of the characters and their personalities. They also understood that this film, in order to rescue the franchise, needed to return to its roots of big time casino heists in Las Vegas. They needed to feel at the core, though, that which made the first film so good. With three now out there, it's pretty clear why Twelve was a disaster and Thirteen is better but still not as good. Eleven got everything just right.
"… Ocean's Thirteen, while not the most anticipated movie of the month and decidedly better than Ocean's Twelve,…has continued a stroke of disappointment for the summer of 2007…"
Most importantly, it achieved the proper ratio between setup and delivery. Most people, though most writers don't seem to quite get this as can be seen in countless super hero films over the past 25 years, prefer to watch execution not setup. Think about it this way. Do people prefer to watch a car chase or people planning a car chase? If we preferred the latter, filmmakers are way off base and should be filming their long planning and discussion sessions with the designers, effects people, and the stunt drivers rather than the car chases. Give us the basics of the setup, sure, we need and enjoy that, but then let the plan unfold. Ocean's Eleven did this perfectly, and we were willing to give it a little more setup time given that the characters were new to those of us who were not alive when the original Rat Pack version of the film was released in 1960. By the third film, even if no one can really remember what the second film was about, at least, we know the characters.
Well returning director Steven Soderbergh is back in charge, and he gets things off to a great start. Koppelman and Levien have also brought in a new villain in the form of mega casino magnate, Willie Bank played grandly by Al Pacino in his best role and performance in quite a few years. He's got a Donald Trump grandiosity to everything he does that suits the bill. This time, the scheme, though, is not just to steal, it's really to destroy Willie Banks and everything he finds near and dear to his heart—not the least of which is securing a 5-Diamond rating on his newest hotel called The Bank Casino and CGIed into the Las Vegas Strip in nearly miraculous fashion. An ultra-cool three curvy tower construction, it's unclear if the marvel could actually be engineered to stand in real life but surely looks spectacular on film.
Back is the entire crew: Lenny Pepperidge (Matt Damon), Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison), Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Yen (Shaobo Quin), brothers Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk (Scott Caan) Malloy, Frank Cotton (Bernie Mac), and Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner). They must confront their former nemesis, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia)—which was fun, and Ellen Barkin provides some feminine lustor to the screen with her portrayal of Bank's right arm woman Abigail Sponder. The overall result, however, turned out only so-so, not great. Partly because, as alluded to previously, the writers are so in love with the setup, the leave little time for the execution. So, we get drawn out scenes of the labor/management strike at a Mexican Dice factory inspired by Virgil Malloy who is sent down to work in the factory and load the dice plastic with a special polymer that responds to a radio wave emitted by a fake cigarette lighter that will permit the craps games to be rigged. But, Virgil cannot just ever do any job, he's got to get involved. Here he does with the workers and their strife eventually leading a successful overthrow of the system and a doubling of the daily wage of the workers. This film was not called Guevara's Thirteen. While I share in the hopes that the economy of Mexico will grow to empower economic strength for all her people, this is supposed to be a light-hearted and fun casino heist film, wasn't it? Anyway, the focal story gets hijacked, somewhat, by these ancillary stories that drag on and have too little to do with the main outcome. Again, it's an issue of balance between setup and delivery. In general, throughout, there is too much time spent on setup and in getting Reuben Tishkoff back on his feet. In the end, the is mildly anti-climatic and, perhaps, too full of insider jokes that, maybe, are not as funny to the general audience. These are some of the finest actors of our day with the big three delivering Oscar®-worthy performances just last year (Bable, The Good German, and The Good Shepherd), and it's clear this film is more of a financial vehicle to permit them the luxury of taking the roles in the less commercially obvious films. To their credit, they do not walk through these roles. They have fun with them. They seem to enjoy the crazy disguises and off beat nature of the idiosyncrasies of their characters. The supporting cast was given less to do this time, especially Bernie Mac and Eddie Jemison. Ellen Barkin was a great addition, but nothing is going to convince me that the absence of Julia Roberts was a good idea. You can have two cameos by Oprah, but cannot get anything from Julia Roberts? Maybe she didn't want to participate. Maybe Brad Pitt and George Clooney are not two of the most persuasive male actors in Hollywood like the covers of People Magazine would have us believe.
Well, it's June, and Ocean's Thirteen, while not the most anticipated movie of the month and decidedly better than Ocean's Twelve, it has continued a stroke of disappointment for the summer of 2007 most people have been feeling since Spider-Man 3 came out. Fortunately, Harry Potter is sure to deliver.
Well returning director Steven Soderbergh is back in charge, and he gets things off to a great start. Koppelman and Levien have also brought in a new villain in the form of mega casino magnate, Willie Bank played grandly by Al Pacino in his best role and performance in quite a few years. He's got a Donald Trump grandiosity to everything he does that suits the bill. This time, the scheme, though, is not just to steal, it's really to destroy Willie Banks and everything he finds near and dear to his heart—not the least of which is securing a 5-Diamond rating on his newest hotel called The Bank Casino and CGIed into the Las Vegas Strip in nearly miraculous fashion. An ultra-cool three curvy tower construction, it's unclear if the marvel could actually be engineered to stand in real life but surely looks spectacular on film.
Banks makes the mistake of swindling Danny (George Clooney) Ocean's and Rusty (Brad Pitt) Ryan's mentor and surrogate father, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) out of his share what was supposed to be called The Midas Casino sending Reuben into the hospital with a myocardial infarction. Ocean's gang are all recalled immediately to Las Vegas to look after and attempt to inspire recovery of their comrade and beloved friend with revenge against Bank on everyone's mind. Their eventual plan will be not to just break The Bank (both the man and the casino), but to end his streak of 5-diamond awards for his hotel openings—something he treasures as much as the hotels themselves. Their plan to do this, however, will require them to rig every game in the casino at the same time on opening day. Oh, and somehow, they've got to convince the hotel reviewer to give the gorgeous and impeccably designed hotel a poor rating. Bribing him would be just too easy it seems.
George Clooney And Brad Pitt Buy From Art.com
Back is the entire crew: Lenny Pepperidge (Matt Damon), Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison), Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Yen (Shaobo Quin), brothers Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk (Scott Caan) Malloy, Frank Cotton (Bernie Mac), and Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner). They must confront their former nemesis, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia)—which was fun, and Ellen Barkin provides some feminine lustor to the screen with her portrayal of Bank's right arm woman Abigail Sponder. The overall result, however, turned out only so-so, not great. Partly because, as alluded to previously, the writers are so in love with the setup, the leave little time for the execution. So, we get drawn out scenes of the labor/management strike at a Mexican Dice factory inspired by Virgil Malloy who is sent down to work in the factory and load the dice plastic with a special polymer that responds to a radio wave emitted by a fake cigarette lighter that will permit the craps games to be rigged. But, Virgil cannot just ever do any job, he's got to get involved. Here he does with the workers and their strife eventually leading a successful overthrow of the system and a doubling of the daily wage of the workers. This film was not called Guevara's Thirteen. While I share in the hopes that the economy of Mexico will grow to empower economic strength for all her people, this is supposed to be a light-hearted and fun casino heist film, wasn't it? Anyway, the focal story gets hijacked, somewhat, by these ancillary stories that drag on and have too little to do with the main outcome. Again, it's an issue of balance between setup and delivery. In general, throughout, there is too much time spent on setup and in getting Reuben Tishkoff back on his feet. In the end, the is mildly anti-climatic and, perhaps, too full of insider jokes that, maybe, are not as funny to the general audience. These are some of the finest actors of our day with the big three delivering Oscar®-worthy performances just last year (Bable, The Good German, and The Good Shepherd), and it's clear this film is more of a financial vehicle to permit them the luxury of taking the roles in the less commercially obvious films. To their credit, they do not walk through these roles. They have fun with them. They seem to enjoy the crazy disguises and off beat nature of the idiosyncrasies of their characters. The supporting cast was given less to do this time, especially Bernie Mac and Eddie Jemison. Ellen Barkin was a great addition, but nothing is going to convince me that the absence of Julia Roberts was a good idea. You can have two cameos by Oprah, but cannot get anything from Julia Roberts? Maybe she didn't want to participate. Maybe Brad Pitt and George Clooney are not two of the most persuasive male actors in Hollywood like the covers of People Magazine would have us believe.
Well, it's June, and Ocean's Thirteen, while not the most anticipated movie of the month and decidedly better than Ocean's Twelve, it has continued a stroke of disappointment for the summer of 2007 most people have been feeling since Spider-Man 3 came out. Fortunately, Harry Potter is sure to deliver.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
Cast Members
Brad Pitt
• George Clooney • Matt DamonElliott Gould
• Al Pacino • Eddie JemisonDon Cheadle
• Shaobo Qin • Casey AffleckScott Caan
• Bernie Mac • Carl ReinerEddie Izzard
• Ellen BarkinDirector
Steven Soderbergh
Co-writers
Brian Koppelman
• David Levien| CD Soundtrack | DVD | VHS |
| Related DVDs | Related DVd | Related DVD Set |
Ocean's Thirteen (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Directed by Steven Soderbergh who has helmed all three Ocean's films, Thirteen returns to its roots in Las Vegas. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is back with revenge on his mind with his usual suspects and a new target villain, Willie Banks (Al Pacino). Banks as swindled mentor Reuben Tiskoff (Elliot Gould), and only Ocean's Thirteen can rescue him from his downward spiral. While the writing team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien accomplished something great, a superior film to Ocean's Twelve—wait, that was a terrible film—in creating this script, they unfortunately load the story with too much setup time and not enough execution time. The result is a film long on inside jokes but short on intrigue. Al Pacino is great in his best role in a long, long time; and Ellen Barkin turns up as his assistant. The result is good performances in a good but not great film.
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