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Bill Geiger

The review from my local paper which gave it 3 stars out of 4.:

http://www.philly.com/philly/enterta...lm_afloat.html

Cool stars keep film afloat
By Carrie Rickey
Inquirer Movie Critic
Hollywood A-listers Matt Damon, George Clooney and Brad Pitt bring their suave selves to a scheme to avenge a friend swindled out of his casino.

There's a new kid on the Las Vegas Strip. Depending on your point of view, The Bank, a luxury hotel and casino, looks like a red metalflake bowling trophy about 1,000 times larger than scale or a colossal triple-helix of ruby glass.

And, depending on your point of view, Ocean's Thirteen is the third retread of a remake or a flashy vehicle fueled by the starpower of George Clooney and Brad Pitt, smiles brighter than all the neon in Vegas.

Reuniting his posse plus one (Andy Garcia's Terry, previously Danny Ocean's adversary, is now an ally), Steven Soderbergh plunks his chips on 13 black. Since the house is rigged, there is a payoff.

Ocean's Thirteen follows Danny Ocean (Clooney), his sidekick Rusty Ryan (Pitt) and their buds as they load dice, decks and wheels against The Bank, a casino roughly the size of its owner's ego. They do this because casinisto Willie Bank (Al Pacino) has scammed their pal Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould). And if The Bank fails, ownership reverts to Reuben.

Overplayed by a toupeed'n'tucked Pacino, Bank is made up to resemble Hollywood mogul Robert Evans, who produced Pacino in The Godfather. It's an inside joke for outsiders. As are the many references to the Corleone family saga.

Evocatively shot (by Soderbergh, under his nom de camera, Peter Andrews) with the saturated color of '60s film and accompanied by David Holmes' retro-mod score, Ocean's Thirteen is a boy's-night-out lark that girls can enjoy.

Speaking of the girls, Oprah gets a couple of shout-outs, but don't look for Julia Roberts or Catherine Zeta-Jones, who wore the skirts in previous episodes of Ocean's. Here Ellen Barkin is the femme, Bank's right-hand woman, so distracted by the scent of Matt Damon that she doesn't notice the 13 ways his confederates are planning to rob her boss. While it's great to see Barkin back on screen, Soderbergh is less interested in what she has to offer above the neck than in her assets below.

Does the movie have any point apart from being a showcase for the golden glow and infinite cool of Clooney and Pitt? Danny and Rusty are dedicated to disproving the fellow who puts them down as "analog players in a digital age." For Ocean and his merry men, the fun is in showing how man can beat machine. The movie does a winning job of demonstrating how wit trumps technology every time.

GreenVulture

Sweet Jesus, that thing reads more like a press release filled with horrible gambling/Vegas puns than an actual review.

Mr. Cinema

68% at RM, counting 120 reviews. Ocean's Twelve had a 55% rating.

Patman

I thought it was pretty entertaining in that it was paced rather well, but it was a little shallow in character development (almost impossible to do the entire crew justice in that area, but they all got a chance to shine in the film). The film pretty much expects viewers to know the crew from the previous installments, so little is mentioned of who's who, and the film just hits the ground running and never lets up.

The conclusion had some good all around moments where pretty much everyone got their just desserts.

I give it 2.75 stars or a grade of B-.

Deftones

Why would we need character development? We've already had two movies, so we somewhat know the backgrounds of the major players.

FinkPish

Exactly my thought as well. Why should we have to spend any time at all getting to know any of the main cast, aside from being updated as to where they are now?

Depression

Agreed. I was actually pleased with how fast the movie actually jumps right into its main storyline.

Is it just me or was the Bank Hotel the best special effect of the summer so far? I was amazed at how realistic it looked in those wide shots of the strip.

slateef

Good movie. Not as good as the original, but loads better than 12.

DJLinus

Saw it last night and I, too, didn't mind the movie jumping right into the story.

I enjoyed it a lot, but didn't find it as funny as the others. But they did redeem themselves for the second movie (which I didn't care for when I saw it in the theater - mostly for the winking "she-looks-like-Julia-Roberts" part - but later grew to like the film better after repeated cable viewings).

I'd rank it: Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Thirteen, Ocean's Twelve

Shannon Nutt

It's an okay film...it was fun enough to watch, but I don't see myself wanting to see it again. I'd give it 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. I think a lot of the "great" reviews are more a reaction to the fact that this is much better than Ocean's Twelve, and not really an honest opinion of how good Ocean's Thirteen is.

It's basically the heist from begining to end...there are no subplots, and surprisingly (the biggest disappointment) little humor - a chuckle here, a laugh there, but the script isn't as sharp and witty as Ocean's Eleven was. The funniest lines, like many movies, have already been seen in the trailers.

Nabalab

I have a hunch that you're not going to be alone with that ranking.

I didn't like 12 at all, but I thought 11 was the best one.

Robert

Loved the final exchange between Clooney and Pitt in the airport.

Depression

There were a few of those inside jokes tossed around.

Did you catch the "Jason Bourne" gag when Linus was tracking down Greco?

Robert

I missed that one.

fryinpan1

I liked 13 and it was good overall. Like most everyone else, I would rank the movies 11, 13, then 12.

13 felt more like the standard blueprint type sequel that people want and expect compared to 12.

Dr. DVD

Saw it. Liked it. I only skimmed 12 on HBO and felt like I didn't really miss out on anything, just the bit with Vincent Cassel, and the girl I went with filled me in on him as she loves all three.
Not as good as 11, but a solid movie, nonetheless.

Patman

I guess watching the same Ocean's gang pulling off a revenge heist is fine for a generic followup, but with minimal character development, it just feels like a film going through the motion for most of its running time. Sure, there are some double-edged bits at the end of the film (more about the actor's future plans, not so much their character's plans), but not enough to make you care to know about what's going to happen to any of these thieves in the future. I think good character development makes the viewer more emotionally invested in the characters. Perhaps, I just wanted to be more surprised by at least some of these characters in this 3rd installment of the Ocean's trilogy, but got mostly the same-old, same-old.

The film is somewhat charming in its battle of the analog age vs. digital age of thievery and surveillance/security, but lacked the humorous and wink-of-the eye undertones from the Ocean's 11. With a crew this big, it's mainly all heist, with superficial human elements providing the close calls inherent in pulling off such a heist. The all-too-convenient setups against Willie Bank's character flaws are just too predictable (as well as other power plays) and made Willie Bank far too one-dimensional of a villain, and the tension somewhat simmers, but never approaches boiling point to get you to the edge of your seat by the time the film concludes.

danstheday

Did anyone notice that the head nevada game agent in the film was Bob Einstein..aka super dave osborn. This film was great fun. The film got straight to the point and was excellent fun from start to finish....It had laughs just not as much as you would think. It was well made and looked great. A lot of times when you have a movie with so many characters it can be long, drawn out and boring. This one was alot of fun.

eatntae

I thought that was him, mainly because his voice. I forgot to check IMDB last night when I got home. I was looking for the name "Dave" in the credits, since I never knew Bob was his real name.

I enjoyed the movie a lot. Like a lot of people here, I thought it was better than 12 but not as good as 11. The movie didn't even seem like almost 2 hours in length to me.

lukewarmwater

Saw it, didn't like it. The actors were all playing themselves. It didn't have the "you look like julia roberts" moment from the second one, but it still felt like a vanity project. I didn't even mind the smugness if they at least had the story or laughs to back it up, but they didn't. The credits were good though.

QuePaso

I loved it. 11 was the best, this is 2nd best, then dead last is 12. I really enjoyed the performances by everyone and some excellent twists here/there. Acting rocked, soundtrack rocked, pacino rocked. 2 thumbs up.

d2cheer

I enjoyed it quite a bit, I liked how they all seem to fit together and are comfortable in these roles. I for one actually hope they make another one but am not really sure what else they could do. This one will play even better on repeated viewings. The inside jokes were fast and some I missed. I watched 12 before this one and liked that better the second time.

B+ for ***1/2 (out of 4) for me.

The Bus

I saw this in Vegas on opening night although I got there too late the night before to go to the Palms and see everyone at the red carpet.

To the film's credit, I had had a very long day and saw it at the equivalent 3AM going by my internal clock. I almost fell asleep a few times during the previews but the movie was engrossing.

But it just wasn't as good as the previous films.

I'm in the minority here in that I loved, loved Ocean's Twelve. I went into it knowing full well it wasn't a heist movie and it paid off. As Linus might say, it played.

Ocean's Thirteen lacked the humor and surprise from the first movie and the character development and humor from the second. And because we were back in Vegas, it seemed like a bit more of the same-old same-old. I would've liked it set in Macau (the gambling capital of the world) but I guess this movie was made to please people who didn't like the second one: just focus on the heist from start to finish. Yawn.

It didn't feel fully realized and what's worse, there was no tie-in to the second movie, character wise. It's almost as if Ocean's Twelve never happened. I really enjoyed seeing Rusty as owner of The Standard, Danny trying to make it in suburban Connecticut, etc. I hope Soderbergh filmed some of this stuff and it just didn't make it into the movie.

I will see this again but so far it's easily my most disappointing movie of the year. Not the worst, by far, but certainly it didn't live up to the promise shown by the first two.

majorjoe23

And Albert Brooks is his brother. Einstein is their real last name, meaning Albert Brooks' real name is Albert Einstein.