Ocean’s 13: Revenge is funny….enough
Yes, the gang’s all back again (minus the women they added on during the two earlier movies). And this time the name of the game is revenge. One of their own (Elliot Gould, best known as Ross and Monica’s father on Friends) has been swindled out of his rightful share in an upcoming casino by Willie Bank, the wily businessman played by Al Pacino. The news of the despondent gang member spurs the remaining bunch to plot the downfall of the treacherous tycoon. A snag in operations costs makes it necessary for them to join forces with a former adversary, Terry Benedict (played by the fabulous-as-always Andy Garcia), who helps them because of his business competition with Bank. The usual well-planned mayhem ensues as George Clooney and company prove themselves the loyal, kindly crooks that they are.
The movie has its moments of fun. Matt Damon and Ellen Barkin are funny in the scenes they are together. Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. My favourite scenes are those involving Casey Affleck and his efforts on behalf of the group south of the border, where he incites rebellion in the workers in a plastic factory. There are several scenes in between which involve drilling operations and the travails of a hotel ranking employee that are also hilarious. This movie has several vague references to real life. Watch out for a referees to several starchitects (Gehry and Meier among them), which I bet wannabe architect Brad Pitt had something to do with. There is also George Clooney’s pointed advice to Brad Pitt about having a couple of kids and settling down.
This movie plays through completely smug and full of itself, like a sleek, well-fed Persian cat. The cast are tight and play well with each other, just as they did in the earlier two movies. I couldn’t see a valid explanation for their extensive tans though. Al Pacino especially looks like he had a bad tanning salon accident. Somehow, he doesn’t make as much of an impact as the primary opponent as Andy Garcia did in Ocean’s Eleven. I’m sure that’s no reflection on Pacino as much as it may be on the script. Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones skipped this movie, the reason in the movie being that this is not their fight. Given the number of characters versus run-time, I guess this was a good idea. Already there is the addition of Eddie Izzard. All in all, this movie a great sequel, definitely better than the second one, though not as exciting as the first.
My rating: 80 on a scale of 100
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