"Ocean's Thirteen" nicely redeems and revives franchise...
A few years ago, I actually FELL ASLEEP while watching "Ocean's Twelve" at The Grove. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Hated it. Was bored by it. Was actually pissed off by it because it was such a bad follow-up to "Ocean's Eleven" which I had absolutely loved.
Well, good news: "Ocean's Thirteen" is terrific.
I attended a packed screening Monday night at the Bruin Mann Theatre in Westwood of the film, which opens on Friday. As I walked out, I heard people say things like: 'That was so much better than the second one" and "That was pretty good!" and a few 'I loved it!" It's fun to hear that kind of positive buzz about a movie that deserves it.
Brad Pitt, George Clooney and to a lesser degree Matt Damon are the heart of this franchise and have a wonderful, easy chemistry on-screen. Clooney and Pitt in particular play off each other well - literally finishing each other's sentences at some points and ribbing each other at the end with some not-so-inside jokes. As they part ways at the end, Pitt says to Clooney someting like: "Don't let your weight go between jobs" (a reference to the weight Clooney gained for his Oscar winning role in "Syrianna" and Clooney responded with: "Why don't you have a couple of kids." The preview audence laughed knowingly.
Another comic highlight: the Oprah moments. That's all I'm saying on that.
This "Ocean's" greatly benefits from being set in Las Vegas as the first one was (the second film was set in Europe) and the addition of Al Pacino as a souless casino order adds a whole new level of excitement to the proceedings. Pacino doesn't overact! His character of Willy Bank double-crosses Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) and sends the guy into a deep depression. Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his gang spring into action to get revenge on Bank by sabotoging the opening of his new casino.
We know they will succeed but it's so fun to watch them do it. There are so many clever ways they go about hatching their plan and to see it all unfold in the end was very satisfying.
Pitt and Clooney are first-rate and anchor the movie with Damon funny as Linus Caldwell. Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom steals every scene he is in. Ellen Barkin looks sensational and has some fun scenes with Damon near the end but otherwise is wasted. The young hotties in this movie are Scott Caan and Casey Affleck who play Virgil and Turk Malloy. Bernie Mac is back as Frank Catton as is Don Cheadle who plays Basher Tarr and has a very funny scene when he storms into Pacino's office hamming it up as a daredevil motorcycle rider.
Anywho, loved it. Laughed a lot, didn't get bored and I think this movie is going to be an absolute smash!
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.