Oceans 13
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007
By Caesar Martini
And let the deluge of trilogies thunder forth, and drown us all! Of the past five movies I have seen, only one of them has not been the third part of a trilogy. Way to go, Hollywood originality. Thankfully, unlike some of these ‘third parts,’ Oceans 13 actually doesn’t make me feel like an entire franchise has been ruined — I was pretty sure Oceans 12 did that, but this third installment proved me wrong.
Thankfully, this film takes the franchise and characters back to the sharp style and smooth delivery that made the first movie one of the most enjoyable heist movies ever. No sparring with French cat burglars over the title of bestest thief ever, no cameos of Bruce Willis playing himself, and no ridiculous plot points based around the idea that one of the characters in the movie, played by Julia Roberts, happens to look exactly like actress Julia Roberts. Yeah, you heard me. Damn, Oceans 12 was stupid.
Anyway! Oceans 13 has none of that tomfoolery — it’s all Vegas, baby! When one of the Oceans crew enters a partnership with hotel owner Willie Banks (Al Pacino) and is subsequently screwed over so badly he has a heart attack and nearly dies, the rest of Danny Ocean’s (George Clooney) gang gets together for a giant revenge-heist. They hatch a complicated plan for taking away Banks’ money, image, and reputation. They hatch a plan for…dare I say it…breaking the Bank . Oh, ho ho ho, I’m funny! You’d think it would be hard for me to be this awesome, but it’s not.
The story and plot of Oceans 13 moves along fairly smooth and briskly (you don’t really notice that the movie is two hours long), and it’s well made, but that’s not really the point. The point is, Oceans 13 is entertaining. It’s fun and it’s cool. The best parts in the movie have to do with the Oceans crew just interacting with each other. Everyone has this great dynamic with one another; it’s just fun to watch actors having fun. I honestly just wanted to see more of these guys just shooting the shit.
And yeah, I’ll admit I may have a bit of a man-crush on George Clooney and Brad Pitt. What of it? Those guys rule. And you can just get lost in their eyes… uh, anyway, I’d love to see a behind-the-scenes feature on this film, because it looks like the cast is having a great time — their chemistry is great, and it comes through on screen.
What also comes through on screen is a sharp, cool story with a big payoff that’s just fun to watch. Oceans 13 is a hugely entertaining heist movie oozing with Vegas charm.
