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Ocean's Eleven (2001) ...
"Ocean's Eleven" is Soderberg's lightest movie for sure. Forget about some flaws in details, forget about too-often underrated director skills, this is a giddy fun movie!
| Released: | 2001 |
| Running Time: | 116 minutes |
| Cast: | George Clooney .... Danny
Ocean Bernie Mac .... Frank Catton Brad Pitt .... Rusty Ryan Elliott Gould .... Reuben Tishkoff Casey Affleck .... Virgil Malloy Carl Reiner .... Saul Bloom Matt Damon .... Linus Caldwell Julia Roberts .... Tess Ocean Don Cheadle .... Basher Tarr (uncredited) |
| Writers: |
Harry Brown (1960 screenplay)
and |
| Director: | Steven Soderbergh |
| My Rating | ****1/2 |
If you still need an
argument for remakes, you don't have to look further than Soderberg's "Ocean's
Eleven". Featuring names like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia
Roberts or Andy Garcia, this movie becomes a veritable visual feast. But with
Steven Soderberg as director, everyone expects
more than famous faces. And they get more!
Ocean's Eleven's director updates the 1960 Rat Pack story with contemporary freshness. The two versions have only two common points: the plot (a huge robbery) and the setting (Las Vegas). But Soderberg's new version is far more delicious to the viewer as it boasts sharper writing (Ted Griffin's), quicker pacing of the action, not to mention wittier visual effects. The atmosphere is by no means boring, the characters are full of energy and the viewer can't hardly wait to see the next thing happening. The new Gang of Eleven surely is among any fan's favorites. Infectious, non-violent, cleverly funny, inciting, bright-light and mysterious, these are some attributes that should make you buy enough popcorn for a movie night.
The plot is simple but with twisting intrigues. The main character, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is a dapper thief who just got out of prison. He obviously can't stay out of trouble and apparently his life is no fun without stealing, so he masterminds an enormous heist in Las Vegas. Ocean and his 10 accomplices (all of them fellow cons) attempt to steal $160 million from three casinos, all owned by Terry Benedict (Garcia), Ocean's nemesis. The latter's ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts) is the first's new girlfriend. How convenient. She gets to wear Tiffany jewelry and watch the two men fight over her.
So Ocean decides to
make this thing and calls on long-time friend and collaborator Rusty (Pitt) to
help choose and recruit a professional crew. As you expect, this is no mere crew
... it's a well-chosen pack of wickedly grinning guys: Don Cheadle, the cockney
explosives expert, Matt Damon, a callow young con artist (looking as nerdy as in
"The Talented Mr. Ripley"), Elliot Gould as Reuben, an old-school Vegas
entrepreneur and Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), a cantankerous geezer retired to
Florida but called back to enter the game.
As the Ocean in the title, Clooney has an
astonishing performance. He offers the movie a breezy confident tone and his
character fits all the others in an amazing way. Aft
er watching this movie you'll wish to see him doing others
featuring each and every one of them (Just imagine Clooney and Pitt together in
the next year's block buster! Or Clooney and Damon...it doesn't matter!).
And yet, the beauty of "Ocean's Eleven" doesn't stand in one man's performance. This crooked team is flawless, the chemistry between the lads is impeccable, and their plan works perfectly! A simple story with a straightforward execution. It's impossible not to like it!
"Ocean's Eleven" is Soderberg's lightest movie for sure. Forget about some flaws in details, forget about too-often underrated director skills, this is a giddy fun movie! It's one of those don't-worry-be-happy films which do all the work for you. No wonder Clooney decided to work together with Soderberg again and again and even more, they founded the Section Eight Productions company!
And guess what? The gang's adventure doesn't stop with "Ocean's Eleven". In 2004 "Ocean's Twelve" appeared and had the same success as the first one and the top cherry is to arrive on the silver screen in 2007 — "Ocean's Thirteen".
