I will admit that I am one of only 578 people in this entire world who genuinely enjoyed 'Ocean's Twelve.' Every other person seemed to tear the movie a new one. Still, I was skeptical about a third one, appropriately titled 'Ocean's Thirteen.'
Willy Banks (Al Pacino) has promised Rueben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) a significant financial stake in the hottest new hotel on the Las Vegas strip. Only Banks doesn't think that shaking the hand of Frank Sinatra makes you abide by certain unwritten rules, codes and morals. Rueben begs to differ. Thats why Banks cuts him off and takes total control of the hotel. This causes Rueben to have a breakdown and shut off into shock.
Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) step in with the rest of the crew to intervene and defend their friend.
The movie thens turns back to the outlandish, elaborate schemes of the first of the series. First off, they determine to outbank Banks during the grand opening by rigging every game to make the house lose. To pull it off, the scheme ranges from sending Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck) to Mexican factory to add weight to the dice to having Basher (Don Cheadle) to fake an earthquake so that the sophisticated security system in Banks' hotel known as the Greco--which can read pupil dilation, heart rate, etc. to determine in cheating is going on, according to Ocean's tech wiz Roman Nagel(Eddie Izzard)--will have to reboot and give the standard cliche of three minutes to break the Bank. Financial difficulties to accomplish the heist force the gang to call upon old nemesis Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). In addition, Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) gets cozy with Banks' second hand (wo)man Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin) to get closer to accomplishing the goal--even with a freakish prosthetic nose.
Really, all these movies are all about is people richer and better looking than all of us get to jet around and do really cool things. This brings the series back to the outlandish fun of the first. They're back in Vegas doing their thing.
Clooney, Pitt and Damon are the top stars, naturally. But the best part of this movie is them not hogging the limelight. Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison and Scott Caan all get to show their stuff, but it is Casey Affleck who just about steals every scene he is in. Yeah, he's working for pennies at the Mexican factory but stirs up trouble when he is the only one there who finds the conditions inhumane. So when he talks with a few of his befriended amigos about striking, the scene is hilarious to see him keep a straight face and stand up for THESE guys while putting Rueben on pause.
Al Pacino is probably the reason why Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones are the only to not return, but--hey, they have to open up payroll for the man known as Michael Corleone. Pacino does his typical tough guy roll with the exception he isn't likable. In a nutshell, he's playing Garcia's Benedict from 'Eleven.' Still, he was a nice addition. Plus, his hotel is supposedly the one everybody clamors for to stay at. After first seeing it, three spire shooting and twisting up in the Vegas sun like a roided-up Twizzler don't really look physically possible to construct--or stay in--but that only adds to the fluffy fun of it all.
It is also great to see Ellen Barkin return to form--and my, what a form it is. Barkin gets to vamp it up and play to why she had (and still has) an enormous amount of sex appeal.
In the end, the gang's return to Vegas also gave them their return to form after a so-so last outing.
What were the odds of that happening?
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"With all the intricacies, double crossing and delicate planning, this story is imaginative, as usual, but it lacks a little of the sparkle and pizzazz of the other films." ByFrancine Brokaw
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