Ocean's Thirteen: Review

I don't care if people say it makes me a commercial uncultured swine, I like the remake of the Ocean's films better! I like the glamour and the fantasy of the whole thing.

Sequels are a bit of a touchy subject with me, and with quite a lot of people. There is a fine line between cashing in on a good thing and just plain milking it. Sequels rarely have the impact that the original film had and the more sequels made, the thinner the plot seems to get, especially with its desperate attempts to tie the story back into the original.

Fortunately Ocean's Thirteen is not one of those films, it has lost none of its glamour or charisma and it retains the panache held by the other two films.

In my opinion, in terms of plot, I would say that Ocean's Thirteen surpasses Ocean's Twelve. It is slicker, funnier and more gripping.

Catherine Zeta Jones and Julia Roberts are the only ones from Ocean's Twelve that do not appear in Ocean's Thirteen, but don't worry, you won't miss them as the plot focuses entirely on the boys and not their failing romances.

Al Pacino more than makes up for their absence, his performance as heartless casino mogul Will Bank is flawless.

Rueben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) thinks that he will get a partnership with Willy Bank and when Bank goes against his word, Reuben suffers a heart attack and slips into a coma. Naturally the boys want their revenge, and without wanting to give too much away, they get it.

There is not an actor among the cast that doesn't give an amazing performance, Eddie Izzard as the technical genius Roman Nagel is no exception.

But for me one of the best performances of the film has to be Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell, the aspiring technical genius, who is still a bit useless. Dell doesn't profess to be as cool and calm as Ryan and Rusty, but he so desperately wants to be.

Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) is so thrilled to finally be given some responsibility, a chance to prove himself by winning the trust of and seducing Banks' personal assistant Abigail Sponder.

But things go a bit awry and they need to enlist the help of an unlikely source.

The only thing I can complain about in the whole film is Basher Tarr aka Don Cheadle's cockney accent, it's terrible! I'll admit it's better than in the first one, but it's still reminiscent of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

The film may not be the most realistic in the world, what with all of the unbelievable technology they employ and some of the stunts that they get away with, but with such a brilliant performance from such a stellar cast, it's easy to overlook the unrealistic bits.

The sets of the Hotels and casinos are luxurious and beautiful, and to having Las Vegas as a backdrop for the Movie is totally stunning, it made me so desperate to go there.

George Clooney - Danny Ocean

Brad Pitt- Rusty Ryan

Matt Damon - Linus Caldwell

Elliot Gould - Reuben Tishkoff

Al Pacino - Willy Bank

Don Cheadle - Basher Tarr

Eddie Jemison - Livingston Dell

Casey Affleck - Virgil Malloy

Scott Kaan - Virgil Malloy

Bernie Mac - Frank Cotton

Carl Reiner - Saul Bloom

Shaobo Qin - Yen

Eddie Izzard - Roman Nagel

Ellen Barkin - Abigail Sponder

Julian Sands - Greco Montgomery