Plot: What’s it about?
Any movie with George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon on board is sure to be a hit or at the very least, cost a lot to make. Granted, this trio has starred in the two previous “Ocean’s” movies and in no small part these three have made the ensemble cast look a bit paltry by comparison. That’s not to say that the likes of Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle and Andy Garcia didn’t make the first two movies work – but if you had to pick a few members of the cast that really stood out above the rest, I think we all know who they’d be. “Ocean’s Eleven” started out as a remake of a campy Rat Pack movie of the same name and though it was forty years later, the movie was a commercial and critical success. The movie is now a trilogy, somewhat of a gold star in Hollywood (pardon the pun) and is still as popular as ever. As the numbers go up, so do the number of stars and this go around we get Al Pacino and the ever-so-sultry Ellen Barkin (and we lost Julia Roberts from the cast…thank God)! How does “Ocean’s Thirteen” stack up against its predecessors?
Rusty (Brad Pitt), Daniel (George Clooney) and the gang are all back up to their old tricks. A new casino is set to open and owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino) has pulled the rug from under Reuben (Elliott Gould) in a casino deal gone wrong. Willy represents all that’s wrong with Las Vegas, putting up lavish casinos solely to win the coveted “5 Diamond” seal of approval. By crossing one of the original eleven (Reuben), this prompts Daniel and the gang to seek some revenge. Naturally they need financing and the group faces a series of nearly impossible tasks to make sure that the casino will fail and take down Willy in the process. This time around, there’s an artificial intelligence machine that can monitor every gambler in the hotel, new security and about a dozen other things that make this task impossible to pull off. But this is “Ocean’s Thirteen” and we know it must and can be done.
I have to admit that I love all of the “Ocean’s…” movies, though the first was surely the best. I thought the second one was a bit over the top and by this installment, the film is almost a parody of itself – but it’s a fun parody of itself. There’s something about heist movies that has always intrigues me and short of turning to a life of crime myself, I’ll have to live vicariously though the characters in these movies. Once again, Steven Soderbergh is behind the camera and he and longtime pal, George Clooney, are clearly calling the shots here. The cast has amazing chemistry and works well together (a tip of the hat to the film’s international success, no doubt) and as I mention again, the loss of Julia Roberts from the cast was the ace in the hole. If you enjoyed the first two “Ocean’s” movies then this one delivers more of the same, though it’s up in the air as if there’ll be an “Ocean’s Fourteen”.
Video: How does it look?
Like its predecessors, “Ocean’s Thirteen” is presented in a very nice-looking 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer. The glitz and glamour of Las Vegas looks about as good as it can short of being there. Colors are warm, very bright and vivid and Soderbergh uses a nice color palette to really reflect the mood here. Flesh tones seemed warm and natural and short of some minor softness in a few key scenes, I really couldn’t find much wrong with this transfer. It’s clearly what we expect from Warner with a typical big budget new to DVD movie.
Audio: How does it sound?
A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is included and sounds pretty good here. Granted, there isn’t a whole lot going on during the middle of the movie, but the jazzy, hip soundtrack sounds pretty good while emanating from the surround channels. Dialogue is reproduced very naturally and sounds true to life and though the majority of the action takes place in the front stage, the end of the film has some unexpected surprises which sounded decidedly good in surround sound. In short, “Ocean’s Thirteen” isn’t something that you’ll use to demo your system with, but you won’t be disappointed either.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Given the success of all three of the films, I’d have expected a bit more in the supplemental department but sadly all we get are a few canned featurettes and the original theatrical trailer.
