With school starting back up tomorrow, I figured I would sneak one more film in, since I'm not sure how much time I'll have to go to the theaters after this. Luckily, the budget theater was showing Ocean's Thirteen; the last of the three-quels I've seen this summer.
After the Ocean's gang ruined all of the goodwill they established in Eleven with the abysmal follow-up Ocean's Twelve, I had some trepidation about how this one would be. Fortunately, they got their groove back here and returned to their roots. What is interesting though is that while the film was good, I felt nothing leaving the theater. I was thinking to myself what I would write about because there was nothing glaringly bad about the film, yet nothing significantly great about it either. I enjoyed myself watching it, but I'll also probably forget most of it by tomorrow.
As I mentioned above, this one feels more like the original film and I feel a lot of that has to do with the gang returning to Vegas. There's just something about these characters and that setting that makes for a good fit. Cavorting through all of Europe in the second film came off as boring and uninspired. It also helps that they have a fresh new target to spring their trap on in the form of Al Pacino. Playing Wally Bank, Pacino hams it up just enough to make the character a fun villain.
While all of the characters that make up Ocean's gang are great, the one who truly shines in this film is Matt Damon. While many of the guys have been shoehorned into their specific role, Damon's Linus has evolved over the course of the three films. He has some genuinely funny lines throughout the course of the film and also appears to be the only one who's trying. That's not necessarily a knock on the other actors, but guys like Pitt and Clooney just seem to be there to have fun instead of giving their best effort. Damon, on the other hand, never phones it in and is becoming one of my favorite current actors.
Lucky for me, Damon gets a lot of screentime in this film, including a number of scenes with the other newcomer to the franchise, Ellen Barkin, who plays Pacino's assistant. She is fantastic here and brings an energy to the film that Catherine Zeta Jones wishes she could have done in the second film. I haven't seen a lot of other stuff that she's been in, but she was perfect in this role. It also helps that she was also damn sexy in that "cougar" sort of way.
I should also mention that there are a handful of cameos from guys like Eddie Izzard, Super Dave Osborne, and Julian Sands who add some additional flavor to the film. These roles could have been done by anyone, but using some relatively well-known actors provided some additional importance to the roles.
There are only two real negatives I had with the film. The first is Soderbergh's stylistic direction of the film. While I will always respect a director for trying to take an unconventional approach in presenting the film's events, I felt that at times it was unnecessary and annoying. The other problematic area of the film is that Ocean's plan to screw Wally Bank is really complex, and I mean really complex. There are several things that need to be accomplished for the plan to be a success. And they are all dealt with at the same time by going back and forth between each of them. At times it was tough to keep up with where they were at and what still needed to be done. I'm sure on successive viewings it won't seem as complicated, but on this initial viewing, I felt like I needed a checklist in front of my to keep everything straight. While I mention these negatives because I picked up on them while watching the film, they really weren't severe enough to detract from my enjoyment of the film.
I have a feeling this will probably be the last in this series. Not because the film really provides a sense of closure on the characters, but because I think the primary actors are ready to move on to other projects. But if they do decide to do another one, let's hope they just ignore Twelve ever existed and make them more like this one. This one does a nice job of redeeming the franchise and making the audience remember why we liked this ragtag bunch of con artists and thieves in the first place. Now that it is at the budget theaters and soon on DVD, I can say with confidence that it is a safe bet you'll get your money's worth out of seeing this. Grade: B+
1 comment:
I've looked at the films as just a bunch of guys goofing around, the plot being secondary to their own amusement. One reviewer remarked that the film's actors are self-indulgent. They're not getting my money. Those pricks are much too rich already.
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