Ocean's 13

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and company are back in the fourth threequel to hit theatres this summer: Ocean's 13. After the 700-odd million bucks earned by the first two and the so-so reviews for the second, its clear they felt they had something to prove, to apologize for it.
And so, they tried a new tactic. How about ditching megastars Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones for screen legends Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin? Call it a plan and count me in. This film ups the budget, the wit, the style, and the quality over Ocean’s 12, but falls a tad short of 11. George Clooney jokingly suggested they call it Ocean’s 13: The One We Should Have Made Last Time. Well, Mr. Clooney, I enjoyed your picture, Ocean’s 12. But that title you suggested was fitting.

Here’s a list of the (several) characters in this film, for reference.
1. George Clooney is Danny Ocean, the mastermind behind this entire plot.
2. Brad Pitt is Rusty, the macho guy designed for the purpose of staring at.
3. Matt Damon is Linus, the pickpocket-in-training who debuts a fake prosthetic nose.
4. Andy Garcia is Terry, the cigar-chomping ex-baddie who joins Danny and his gang.
5. Don Cheadle is Basher, the stubborn explosives expert.
6. Bernie Mac is Frank, the fast-talker.
7. Al Pacino is Willy, the bad guy hotel-owner with more than one dirty secret.
8. Ellen Barkin is Abigail, Willy’s gal-pal and hotel co-owner.
9. Elliot Gould is Reuben, the mentor who lies catatonic after Willy betrays him.
10. Casey Affleck is Virgil, the first of two bickering brothers.
11. Scott Caan is Turk, the second of two bickering brothers.
12. Carl Reiner is Saul, the old-timer/disguise supplier.
13. Eddie Jemison is Livingston, the stereotypical nerd.
14. Shaobo Qin is Yen, the Chinese midget.

Now that I got that out of the way, I’ll tell you the plot. Despite warnings from Danny, Reuben makes a real-estate deal with Willy and (surprise surprise!) is betrayed, and after extreme shock lies catatonic for a long time. Now Danny and his 11 other goons are out for revenge. So to fund the operation, they need to call in their ex-nemesis, Terry Benedict. Who only will fund the job if they steal diamonds from an extremely well-guarded vault.

Whilst the first one, Ocean’s 11, was good, stylish fun, Ocean’s 12 was agreed by many (including yours truly) to be probably a lot of fun to make, but not as much to watch. (Despite my positive review of it.) This is slick, funny, witty, smooth, and ultimately better than 12.

Everyone is very good in this film. Al Pacino does his thing, which is a very entertaining thing. George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt have true movie-star potential, and you can see that’s hard at work here. Ellen Barkin is good in an under-written role, with one fantastically funny scene where she absolutely steals the show. Let’s just say it involves Matt Damon and…elevated romance? (Saying it lightly)

The one thing that got me is the plot holes. Okay, so they get a drill to fake an earthquake to disrupt a security system. Fair enough. But how do they move it, how’d they get it underground? And while we get all the Brad Pitt and George Clooney one needs, the really likable characters, like Eddie Jemison and Don Cheadle, are wasted.

Overall, Ocean’s 13 is slick, sleek fun. It’s dialogue-driven (try that on a summer movie), but under-developed characters and plot holes bothered me. B