Director – Steven Soderbergh
Writers – Brian Koppelman, David Levien, George Johnson and Jack Russel.
Once a thief, always a thief. This holds true for Ocean’s 11. This time they are back for revenge. Reuben (Elliott Gould) has been swindled in a casino partnership deal with sly businessman, Willie Banks(Al Pacino). This results in a near fatal heart attack. Reuben has lost all he ever had made from the previous two heists with the eleven. Now its up to Danny Ocean(George Clooney) and his team of Rusty Ryan(Bradd Pitt), Linus(Matt Damon), Livingstone(Eddie Jemison), Basher(Don Cheadle), Yen(Shaobo), Frank(Bernie Mac), Saul(Carl Reiner), Turk(Scott Cann) and Virgil(Casey Affleck) to get revenge and get back Reuben’s land and pull up “a big one” on Willie. The problem is that because Willie is the biggest casino owner in Nevada and all his hotels have the coveted 5 diamond rating, they need big funds.
The only person who can fund them is their arch enemy, Terry Benedict(Andy Garcia). Another problem is that this time the casino security is extremely tight with gadgets that even the Ocean’s 11 will find it hard to break and all the employees go through a microscopic reference check. Ocean has to get his team inside the casino, make all the gaming machines work as per his requirement, get all the gaming devices manufactured as per his standards, make sure all the guests keep on winning in a matter of 3 minutes and 20 seconds because that is the only time the casino mega server crash and reboots, so that the casino is bankrupt and on top of it, as a part of a deal with Terry, they have to steal all the diamonds from Willie’s high security room. As the tagline of the movie goes - What are the odds of getting even? 13 to one.
Critics Notes
To each one his own and I feel this is one classic heist movie. To come up with so many plots running in a movie whose soul is based on that one night is remarkable. Though the actions are not as much and as fast paced as the first part, this one is a must watch for all Ocean Fans. The Cast is perfect and have acted perfectly but its God – Al Pacino who stands out as a villain from scene 1. Director Steven Soderbergh has given almost equal footage to all the characters and all of them have an important role to play. The cinematography by Soderbergh, Editing by Stephen Mirrione and the score by David Holmes is just about perfect. The script has some nice one liners and is quite witty. Hats off to Soderbergh for making it as good as the earlier parts, specially when two other movies whose third part have been released within a span of one month (Spiderman – 3, Shrek – 3 and Pirates Of The Caribbean – at world’s end) have been slightly disappointing.
Psst
1) Al Pacino’s scenes were filmed in matter of only 3 weeks while the entire movie took 6 months and Al was the first choice for Soderbergh for the role of Banks.
2) The movie had a world wide release on 08/06/2007.
3) Like the previous parts, Rusty Ryan is always shown munching something throughout the movie.
4) This is the first time in history of movies that 4 movies have come out with the third part and that too within a span of 3 months. Starting with Spiderman, Shrek, Pirates Of the Caribbean and now Ocean’s 13.
5) Soderbergh used a pseudonym credit for cinematography – Peter Andrews.
Quotes
1) “I want the baby not the labour pains.”
2) “ Think he’s gonna fall for this ? You did. You Ready ? I was born ready.”
3) “This town might have changed, but not me. I know people highly invested in my survival, and they are people who really know how to hurt in ways you can’t even imagine; Well, I know all the guys that you’d hire to come after me, and they like me better than you.”
4) “Hexa Byte ? You know what’s a Tera Byte ? Yeah, its uh hmm; Hexa Byte’s a million tera bytes.”
5) “Are you in yet ? I hate that question.”
6) “You know the deal with people who shook hands with Frank Sinatra ? Screw Frank Sinatra.”
7) “Where are Tess and Isabel ? Its not their fight.”
8) "He is a VIP; So what am I, a VUP?"
Oops
Didn’t notice any goofs.