# Ocean's Thirteen



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Alright, I'll take this one on since nobody else has yet.

If you are a fan of the previous Ocean's movies, I think it's safe to say you'll enjoy this one. It carries on the same sense of style, the same comedic timing, the same fun atmosphere of the first two, even if it does lose a bit of the impact of the original. This time around, the gang is reunited when Reuben (Elliott Gould) suffers a heart attack and is rendered comatose after being cut out of a business deal for a new spectacular casino by the villain of this film, hotel developer Willie Bank (Al Pacino). Pacino is Pacino, and he makes a great bad guy. It may not be his best performance ever, but I thought he carried the role well, and aside from a few corny bits did a great job as usual.

With Reuben in bed and unresponsive, Danny and Rusty reassemble the crew (minus Julia Roberts) and begin preparations to strike back at Bank. The main obstacle this time is the ubiquitous supercomputer-based security system, state of the art, uncheatable, and unstoppable. Their intended scheme this time has several paths to hurt Bank, including fixing various casino games to pay out big, not only to them, but to random people as well, since the goal here isn't to make a heist, but to have Bank lose out big. Through difficulties encountered in their original plan 
*Spoiler* 



(problems forcing them to buy a new $30m drilling machine)


 they bring in one of Bank's fiercest rivals who we met last time around, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). Benedict is still a little peeved about his last encounter with Ocean, but he hates Bank enough to help the crew out with a few stipulations, including adding the theft of Bank's "five diamond" awards (for hotel excellence), and ensuring that Bank does not win another for this project. This leads to some serious sabotage of the real reviewer (David Paymer), and planting Saul (Carl Reiner) as a mistakenly outed reviewer for Bank to focus on. You can't help but cringe and feel sorry for some of the things Paymer goes through, but it does lead to my favourite bits from the movie where The Malloy Brothers (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan) pose as hotel staff kicking Paymer out of his room. Actually, the two of them have a great part at the dice factory in Mexico as well.

I won't go into detail to ruin all the schemes, but Matt Damon has a funny sequence with Ellen Barkin, who plays Bank's right hand at the casino, and there are some other familiar faces who pop up to either help or hinder the operation, 
*Spoiler* 



and we're also introduced to Damon's father, the always hilarious Super Dave Osborne


. The gang encounters problems with their plans, as expected, and pull off some interesting solutions, with a little extra surprise for Benedict as well.

Overall it was a good, fun movie, that kept me interested, and amused. We get a few silly costumes from the main guys, some good stories, and some cool ideas. The slick interaction between the characters may not match the first, but take it for what it is, and this movie is quite enjoyable, and worth seeing.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

This is one I'm looking forward to... I'm certain I'll own it.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

I will too. There's something about these movies that makes them stand out and seem like they're always worth watching. And they tend to hold up pretty well for re-watching as well (for me, at least).


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Have you seen the original version (I'm assuming it is anyway) Review here.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Actually I haven't. I've seen bits of it on TV I think, but not all of it. Same goes for other remake classics like The Italian Job and Gone in 60 Seconds. I watch when I see them on TV, but haven't made a specific effort to see them. I probably should, if for no other reason than doing a little comparison.


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## JRace (Aug 24, 2006)

I'm on the fence...I liked the first, hated the second...and now that I peeked at your second spoiler...well that does it! I sure hope there is some genuine saskatechewan seal-skin straps with his outift.


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