Saturday Movies: Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Steven Soderberg is back with his final installment in the Ocean's trilogy, and this time it seems he's gotten it back together as far as plot, and a direction and put us back in Vegas with the crew. The movie has a lot of the fun qualities that the first one did though it is missing the magic that the first one still managed to put together among the cast and cinematography. Ocean's Thirteen though is a definite improvement from the previous though.

One of the original eleven members, Reuban, is betrayed by one his associates, Willy Bank. The betrayal of having his estate stolen from under him devastates him so much so that it sends him to the hospital. Danny Ocean is now wanting to get revenge for his friend with the help of the other members of the team. This time the plan is to rob Willy, but they are going to need the help of an old enemy if they want to pull it off and that would be no other than Terry Benedict. He will only help if they can also nab a diamond kept in the casino for him. The guys now have to pull off one of their biggest heist yet.


The actors also seem to be back in gear for this movie as they seem to still have their fun side, but they are immersed in their roles again instead of just the fun antics that seemed like more of a cast get together. There are two obvious people who don't make a reappearance though, and considering Julia Roberts was such a huge part of the last two movies her obvious no show is very present in the movie as Tess. There is also Catherine Zeta-Jones who doesn't make an appearance either, but she isn't really missed as her appearance in the prior one wasn't anything groundbreaking as is.

What is nice is that the crew has seemed to lack some feeling, and now that their friend has been betrayed and hospitalized it seems to show some different colors as they truly want revenge, and they want this to go well, so much so that they will even team up with an enemy who could very well back stab them to get it. This brings out a certain chemistry among the cast.

George Clooney seems a little revived as Danny, and Brad Pitt is what you expect from Rusty, but the character that really probably emerges as the interesting one is Matt Damon as Linus. His part is a lot of fun, and he seems to just go with the flow of it. As always, Andy Garcia is really good as Terry Benedict. His feelings for the Ocean's crew is so obvious even without him saying it. The new addition to the movie is Al Pacino as Willy, and maybe what bothered me most about him is that he doesn't look as slick as he did in The Godfather days. He seemed to fit the part, but also just seemed way over done.

Ocean's Thirteen has a little bit more of the fun that Ocean's Eleven did, but it lacks a lot of the catchiness that made it memorable. There isn't the very nice use of color, and the cast is missing some elements. It's nice to see a return though with a good plot line, and the actors seeming ready to act, and it's much more interesting to watch.

Rating 7 of 10.