Ocean's Thirteen

Well, it’s time to wrap up the “Ocean’s Trilogy” with the final installment, “Ocean’s Thirteen,” released in 2007. The basic story is after the team’s member Reuben Tischkoff, played by Jack Geller from "Friends," Elliott Gould, is double-crossed in a business deal and is hospitalized; Danny Ocean joins his old team and heads to Las Vegas to execute revenge on the man who put Reuben in the hospital: shark-like hotel manager, Willy Bank, played by Al Pacino. Their plan is simple: break the Bank by ruining his new multi-billion dollar hotel. However, this isn’t easy.

This is because the experience has to do with watching so many A-list actors having a grand-ole time; the Ocean’s movies have always felt like an enjoyment. Sadly, since “Ocean’s Eleven” was an all-complete affair, “Ocean’s Twelve” felt like we had our faces pressed up against the screen watching Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon in the VIP lounge have considerably more fun than we were having. Well, thank goodness, the trilogy (of sorts; it’s more a series of films that apparently has the same characters) is complete with “Ocean’s Thirteen,” and the invites are definitely back in the game.

Empire stated in their review, “In fact, Thirteen occasionally feels like a two-hour apology for the French New Wave noodling of Twelve, with a dialing down of the smugness that alienated so many last time around, a recalibration of focus onto the gang themselves (no love interests here; Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts’ absences are explained very early doors), and a return to the Vegas milieu.” Besides the first half, as transvestite English comedian Eddie Izzard’s electronics genius Roman Nagel arrives, with a plan already in the blueprints, to receive a very detailed meeting from Danny and Rusty, who have become seriously stuck in their attempts to break The Bank, Willy Banks’ hotel-casino. This extended segment, twisted in flashbacks within flashbacks, shadowy camerawork in dimly-lit rooms and reams of machine-gun explanation, feels as tentative as anything Soderbergh has done in the series so far. However, besides from an absolutely cracking opening one-liner, it’s worryingly flat and difficult to make sense of.

Empire went on to say, “But by frontloading the spadework, Soderbergh ensures that the second half of the movie is bright, breezy and sumptuously entertaining.” The camerawork is improved (one astounding tracking shot, covering a series of crash zooms and pans across a casino floor, is a technical miracle), the performances get tastier and the movie virtually jumps towards its finale as their complicated plotting come together like clockwork, with twits upon twists, punchline following punchline and pay-off following pay-off. In a summer filled with darkness, this movie’s late lightness of touch is a huge sigh of relief.

It’s also a masterclass on how to film an ensemble work, with each actor of the gang given their moment to shine (Casey Affleck’s inspired diversion down to Mexico in particular) as they exchange ironic one-liners, mean-looking grins and nonsensical con artist mockery about Bellinis, Billy Martins and Susan B. Anthony. Of the real A-listers, Pitt and Damon are once again enjoyable, but this is Clooney’s movie. As he gets older, the former ER cast member just becomes more charming and commanding, quietly dominating with two standout moments – an intelligently-developed joke about Oprah that is the movie’s funniest scene, and a commanding parting shot to Andy Garcia’s Terry Benedict – that remind you why you’re not watching, Empire states, “Rusty’s Thirteen.”

In such memorable company, you’d still expect Pacino to shine but – a few quiet moments aside – Willy Bank is not fully developed into the cold enemy he could have been. His dishonest planning does timely a lovely and vaguely poetic frequent logo about ‘shaking Sinatra’s hand’ (the only direct reference in the franchise to the star of the original “Ocean’s Eleven”), but really, the honor amongst thieves subtext is almost an afterthought. Empire described, “Ocean’s Thirteen is about gloss and glitz; here, the style //is// the substance, and the result is the first genuinely enjoyable movie of the summer.”

Final verdict: I agree with Empire when they say, “You can beat the house and you can break the bank, but sequels always get long odds on defeating the law of diminishing returns – yet Ocean’s Thirteen just about pulls it off.” I personally think this is better than “Ocean’s Twelve,” but “Ocean’s Eleven” just can’t be topped. I don’t think there will be a fourth movie in this series, seeing how much time has passed since the last one and plus Bernie Mac has passed away. Anyways, check the “Ocean” movies out when you get the chance because they are enjoyable. I personally liked them, and I think you will too.

Thanks for joining in on my reviews of the “Ocean Movies.” I hope you enjoyed them as much as I have making them. Stay tuned for Monday on the finale of “The Nutty Professor reviews.”