Last night I had a chance to attend the LA premier of Ocean’s 13 (which I had totally forgot about. I had JUST got in from seeing Mr. Brooks and was ready to just stay in and relax for the evening when my friend called to remind me last minute). I enjoyed the first Ocean’s movie…. I wasn’t thrilled with the second one at all, although I think I liked it a little more than most… and I’ve had guarded optimism about Ocean’s 13.
With a cast like this, and characters like this… this COULD have been one of the best film franchises of all time. However, the first one was solid, yet not up to potential… and the second one seemed to lose its way. The synopsis for Ocean’s 13 looks like this: “Danny Ocean rounds up the boys for a third heist, after casino owner Willy Bank double-crosses one of the original eleven, Reuben Tishkoff.”
THE GOOD
Style baby… all style. There is a smoothness to the ensemble of the Ocean’s movies. You look at these guys on screen and just wish that you could hang out with them…. but then also sadly realize that they’d never hang out with you in a million years… which only makes you wish you could hang with them even more… or BE them.. either way. The fashion, the talk, the walk, the music… this whole freaking movie just screams style. After all, this is Vegas baby.
The film wastes no time at all. Right from the opening of the film they dive right into the plot. They’ve already done 2 movies to introduce you to the characters and give you an idea of what makes hem tick and what it is they do. There is no need to waste any time on that stuff… and they don’t. This film centers on exactly what they should be focused on… the HEIST! This is a heist movie with a smooth stylish and charming crew. This film wisely just plays to its strengths and leaves out most of the fluff.
SUPER DAVE OSBORNE!!!! I almost didn’t recognize him. Holy crap! For all our international friends, Super Dave Osborne is one of the funniest characters ever to come out of Canadian Television. The worlds greatest stuntman who always puts safety first by using “Genuine Saskatchewan Seal Skin Bindings” on all his gear. Oh man it was such a treat to see him on screen… and he was hilarious too.
This film was much funnier than the first two in my opinion. The very last line of the film that George Clooney gives to Brad Pitt was total gold too (you’ll see what I mean when you see it).
THE BAD
Like the first two films, there are times that it becomes a little bit hard to follow what the plan is. Maybe they just fly through things too fast, or make it overly complex (but then again, i guess it’s supposed to be complex). Still, there are times that they don’t do a very god job of making sure the audience is with them when they’re supposed to be with them.
Al Pacino. No, it’s not that Pacino did a bad job in the film… but you really didn’t need Al Pacino for that role. It was a pretty easy role, that honestly wasn’t that major and didn’t have tons of screen time. Put story first… but if you’re going to go out of your way to put Al Pacino in your film, I’d say give the man a little more to work with.
In heist films it’s always cool to see how the thieves are going to pull off the impossible. But having said that… even when pulling off the impossible, you’ve got to at least give a FEEL of believability to give the finale a real satisfying conclusion. There are things in Ocean’s 13 that are just way too out there on the believability scale and thus leaves you feel a bit wanting.
OVERALL
Ocean’s 13 is easily the best of the “THREEQUEL” movies so far this summer… maybe the only watchable one at that. It’s quite funny, has amazing style, great characters…. and I’m always a sucker for a heist film. Ocean’s 13 pulls off what VERY few film franchises have done… make pat 3 the best of the series. Sometimes too confusing, sometimes too unrealistic, the film still works for me a lot. I really enjoyed this movie. On a scale of 1-10 I give Ocean’s 13 a 7.5 out of 10
