After stepping out of the movie this evening I gotta say that George Clooney, Brad Pitt and company are friggin smooth. That's what this movie was 2 hours of cool elaborate revenge cons all directed at the bizarrely fresh faced Al Pacino. That's it--from the very beginning the boys put their criminal minds together to sabotage his new swanky casino. The fun is just watching this crew do their thing. Between the chemistry and the odd conversations that feel as if they started before we got there, Ocean's 13 just felt really--well--cool.
Reuben (Elliot Gould) gets muscled out of his new fancy casino by a ruthless but colorfully dressed scoundrel Willie Bank (Al Pacino). Reuben ends up having a heart attack over the ordeal causing the boys to spring into action over their fallen teammate. Danny (George Clooney), being the fair criminal that he is, tries to give Bank an out before they destroy him. He thankfully refuses and we're off. Now I'm sure the people who didn't like the previous Ocean's won't like this one for the same reason, the elaborate and almost ridiculously expensive cons. Well there are plenty to go around in this one in fact they get in so deep at one point they actually run out of money and, if you've seen the trailers, they are forced to take funding from an old adversary, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). Yes, they are over the top but it doesn't take itself seriously it's fun, and it totaly reminded me of classics like the original Ocean's 11, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the Thomas Crown Affair.
Again the best part about these movies is just watching this cast interact. I completely believe that George Clooney and Brad Pitt are the Newman and Redford of the 21st Century. They have a great chemistry. And to top it off you get some great scenes from Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison and even the grease man Shaobo Qin. Eddie Izzard returns as Nagel as pompous and hilarious as the last film. I guess they couldn't get Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones but for some reason they snagged Ellen Barkin? Yeah, that one was a little weird--she was great but she hasn't been in a movie since--um well I don't really remember seeing her since Wild Bill in 95 but IMDB says she was in that really bad David Duchovny flick Trust the Man in '05 so what do I know. Anyway, this was a fun reminder about comedies from the old days. Director Soderburgh does a great job piecing together this nostalgic con with technological twists. It's also great for the crew to be back in Vegas, poking fun at the gaudy monstrosity's that grow bigger and tackier as the years go by. Clooney certainly channels classic Sinatra cool as these Robin Hood style thieves kick ass the only way they know how A-Team style.
Grade: 4 Buckets
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