Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Premise: After Rueben (Elliott Gould) is double
crossed by Willy Bank (Al Pacino), the owner of the newest Las Vegas casino,
Danny Ocean (George Clooney) leads his team of swindlers and card sharks to
bring down Bank’s casino on its grand opening night.
What Works: After the disappointment of Ocean’s
12, this film is a return to the fun and energy of Soderbergh’s first Ocean’s film. As is typical for a Soderbergh picture, the technical
elements are in top form and the film is shot with a slickness beyond what has
come to be expected from his other films. Most of Ocean’s gang is back, minus
female stars Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones. For the most part, the film
is playing off audience expectation and manages to fulfill it. While Ocean’s
13 does not do much that is new, (something Ocean’s 12 tried to do
but failed), the film does elevate the intricacy of the heist and is more
complex in its ins and outs. Aside from watching this group of actors work
together so well, the best part of Ocean’s 13 is the return of Terry
Benedict (Andy Garcia). His relationship to Danny Ocean is more interesting to
watch in this film than in the other two pictures, and the tenuous relationship
allows for a greater sense of jeopardy.
What Doesn’t: The weakest element of the film is,
surprisingly, Al Pacino. He underplays a role that does not make him very
threatening to begin with. Only in the end does he start to pull the claws out,
but the lack of menace during the duration of the film seriously weakens the
conflict. Since the antagonist does not really do anything antagonistic, the
film has little conflict to escalate toward a climax. Also, the loss of the
Julia Roberts storyline seriously weakens the film. In Ocean’s 11, the
love triangle between Roberts, Clooney, and Garcia’s characters provided
emotional weight to the story. Without that, this Ocean’s film feels
much more hollow.
Bottom Line: Ocean's 13 is not brilliant in
its storytelling, but it is a great deal of fun. Reuniting the Ocean’s team
is like getting to hang out with the cool kids for an evening; it might not lead
to much, it may be filled with superficiality, it might not even be that good
for you, but it’s too enjoyable to pass up either.