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| Ocean's 11 |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 117 |
| Public Rating: 8.00 (97 votes) |
Director: Steven Soderbergh |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/ Crime |
Year: 2001 |
| Writer(s): George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell, Harry Brown, Charle |
| Reviewed by: Movieman |
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"Lifeless disappointment" was what one person described Ocean's 11, the new Steven Soderbergh heist film, was anything but lifeless or disap-pointing. With Soderbergh's slick direction, some clever writing from Ted Griffin (with inspiration from the writers of the 1960 version) and the best cast ensemble of the year, Ocean's 11 is a great caper movie that kept my attention 'til the end.
George Clooney stars in Ocean's 11 as Danny Ocean, a con artist just released from prison and searches out for his partner in crime, Dusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) who teaches how to play cards to young actors in Hollywood (some cameos by Topher Grace and Joshua Jackson). Danny tells Dusty his plan to rob three casinos in Las Vegas in one grab. The owner of the casinos, Harry Benedict (Garcia), stores the money in a bunker underneath his casino hotels. Together, Danny and Dusty gather a team of nine to pull off the heist with the financial backing of Benedict's casino rival, Ruben Tischkoff (Elliott Gould).
It would take too much time to go through each of the other gang, but the major players include: Roscoe Means (Don Cheadle), Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Turk (Scott Caan) and Virgil (Casey Affleck) Malloy, Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), and Frank (Bernie Mac). Each member has a specific job, from playing a high roller to a blackjack dealer in one of the casinos.
The gang of eleven plan to hit the casinos on a major boxing night (between Lennox Lewis and Vladimir Klitschko, if you cared) where the vault would have more than $150 million in it. Add to the mix is Danny Ocean's ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts) whose dating Benedict and causing a riff between Danny and Dusty for the reason to rob the casinos.
When you put an acting ensemble as this together and have the movie helmed by Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh you get a winning combo that works through and through. Many films have tried to put together an ensemble cast but fail because of a poor plot and/or screenplay and the director trying to give each cast member their due screentime to develop their characters. With 11, the actors are so good and the main characters played by George Clooney and Brad Pitt are really the only ones who need a good amount of development with the rest needing just a taste of where they come from and who they are. I wanted to also point out Carl Reiner who did his best work in a while and deserves much recognition over his career and who showed us he still has what it takes.
Behind the scenes, aside from director Soderbergh, is screenwriter Ted Griffin. Griffin put together a nice screenplay that fits Soderbergh's vision like a glove. He took a basic heist premise and threw in great twists that will surprise some who are willing to go into the film looking for a good time, rather than analyzing every aspect as if it were touted as an Oscar contender. As a critic, I don't want to even hint what the twist is and leave to you to see it either in the theater or at the very least on video.
The score for Ocean's 11 was composed by David Holmes, who also composed the music for Out of Sight, which explains why I instantly recognized it when the film began. Holmes' score has a 60's tang to it that give the film a unique and memorable look.
Lastly, Steven Soderbergh handled not only the directing but also the cinematography under the pseudonym of Peter Andrews. Soderbergh has quickly risen to be one of the best directors of our time giving each of his film's its own texture and turning any script into a masterpiece.
Having never seen the original version of Ocean's Eleven, I could not tell you whether it was better or if the remake was even needed. Overall Ocean's 11 is not the best film Soderbergh has done (how could one surpass Traffic?) but it has a great leading man in Clooney and a superb ensemble cast with Roberts, Garcia, Pitt, Cheadle and many more.
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