'Ocean's Thirteen' review

Rating: *** out of ****

If Danny Ocean were a timeless character in the tradition of James Bond, I bet he would have escaped from Alcatraz, robbed Fort Knox, and infiltrated Area 51. There simply is no feat this character cannot pull off if he has his usual crew of people. Said crew has returned for their greatest challenge yet in ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’, the latest caper flick from Steven Soderbergh, who has become a simultaneous master of gritty, intelligent films, and polished Hollywood moneymakers.

This time around, Danny Ocean and his crew bring the caper back to Vegas to pull off the robbery of a lifetime against Willy Bank (Al Pacino), the biggest boss in Las Vegas. As most villains in these kinds of movies do, Bank gains power through muscle and intimidation. Through a business deal gone wrong, Bank leaves Danny’s old friend Reuben (Elliott Gould) catatonic and near death. In an act of revenge, Danny gathers the crew together yet again to get back at Bank by robbing him of what he treasures most – his collection of diamonds that he wins every year for having the best hotel and casino on the strip. Oh yeah, and they also plan to steal 500 million dollars from him in a window of three and a half minutes. The latter part of this scheme is impressively pulled off and is the most exciting moment in ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’. To pull this off, the ‘Ocean’s’ gang go to such lengths as heading to Mexico to rig the casino’s dice at the source, magnetizing the casino to rig the roulette balls, and using the drill used in the construction of the Chunnel to create a man-made earthquake underneath Las Vegas. Uh-huh.

The crew once again consists of Rusty (Brad Pitt), Linus (Matt Damon), Basher (Don Cheadle) and a slew of celebrities that make the film look like a moving version of People’s ‘Most Beautiful People of The Year’ issue. There are some new additions to the cast this time around, including Pacino, Eddie Izzard and the great Ellen Barkin as Bank’s personal assistant. Not returning is Julia Roberts, which I enjoyed, as I found the ‘Julia Roberts playing Julia Roberts’ shtick from the second film to be one of its major downfalls.

While I was a big fan of ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and I was extremely disappointed with ‘Ocean’s Twelve’, ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’ falls somewhere in the middle. It’s more fun than the second movie with a plot that makes more sense, but the magic of the first movie is gone. Soderbergh is a great filmmaker, which shows in ‘Traffic’, ‘Out of Sight’ and ‘Sex, Lies and Videotape’ and the ‘Ocean’s’ films are well made. It just feels like every time Soderbergh wants to take a chance with something (‘Bubble’), or has a colossal letdown (‘The Good German’) he has to run back to the ‘Ocean’s’ franchise to make a quick box office smash and get back in the game. It’s almost as if he’s contractually obligated to make one every three years. The only problem is that the first two times, we could sense the actors having fun, while this time you can feel them going through the motions.

The ‘Ocean’s’ films have always contained enough plot to fill two or three movies and ‘Thirteen’ is no exception. It is near impossible to follow every detail of the wheeling-and-dealings that go on in these films and so it’s best to just hang on and enjoy the ride. As usual, there are elements that don’t make much sense. Vincent Cassel has a pointless cameo as François Toulour, his character from ‘Twelve’, and there’s a reprisal by Andy Garcia which serves nothing. Not everything that happens in ‘Thirteen’ is made entirely clear and as usual you’ll leave the theater running the film back through your head to put the pieces together. The plot is far easier to follow than ‘Twelve’ which is a positive mark on the film.

In the end though, no one watches this franchise to ‘get’ everything anyway. We watch them to see attractive celebrities doing cool things while looking, acting and talking slick. In that measure, ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’ does not disappoint. It’s a fun piece of eye-candy that is able to revive some of the classic Vegas feel of the past. With the third film in the series, you get exactly what you’ve come to expect. No more, no less.

That being said, I hope the ‘Ocean’s’ franchise can be put to bed and Soderbergh can get back to making some of those great films again.