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Danny Ocean and the
crew are at it again in the third and
hopefully final installation of the
series that started with a clever remake
of Ocean's Eleven. This time
around, the gang takes it personal when
Willy Bank (Al Pacino), double crosses
Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), the
group's sponsor and mentor, leaving him
in critical condition. The crew
comes up with an elaborate and confusing
plan to ruin Bank on the opening night
of his new casino by cheating the system
to make sure everyone leaves a
winner. On top of that, they must
ensure that he loses the
prestigious Five Diamond Award that
would make him the only hotel mogul to
win for every one of his hotels.
As if that weren't enough, they plan to
steal the actual diamonds
that Bank keeps in commemoration of his
awards.
In a word,
lackluster...at best. The script
was bad, the editing was worse, and the
direction sealed the deal. The
premise was really silly but that's to
be expected. Two main points that
ruined this movie were numerous poorly
developed subplots, and lifeless
characters.
Ocean's crew
definitely had a lot on their plate, but
it would have fit together nicely if
enough attention had been given to "the
plan". The few scenes dedicated to
set up, and filling the audience in on
what's happening, where hurried and
boring. Ironically, many of the
"comical" scenes were really long and
drawn out at the expense of the humor
and the viewer's patience.
All the
funky stylization, like split screens
and gambler's winnings in neon colors
floating around, just made me wonder why
they didn't put that type of effort into
bringing the characters to life.
It amazes me how Soderbergh manages to
direct a film with this many
accomplished actors have them do little
more than stand around and look pretty.
Danny and Rusty (George Clooney, Brad
Pitt) are effortlessly sharp, cool
and debonair. We get it. That's
not an excuse for the dull and boring
way they go about everything. None
of the characters seemed to be working
together, in fact it seems like you're
watching several different movies at
once.
After the first scene,
(which, by the way, was irritating in
its uselessness) the story goes back 4
weeks, then forward 6 months, so just
when you're bracing yourself for a
Pulpfictionesque sequencing, the
director gives up and takes a more
chronological approach.
Unfortunately, he's the only one that
can follow the time frame because it
seems like the whole rest of the movie
takes place on the same day, but of
course it doesn't...
Ellen Barkin joins the
cast as Abigail Sponder, Bank's personal
assistant, to add some much needed
feminine energy to the cast, but I
would've preferred the testosterone fest
if it meant that I didn't have to sit
through the ridiculous "love scene"
between Abigail and Linus (Matt Damon).
Her pink dress(es?) confuse the time
sequencing even more. Don Cheadle
should have been credited for Ocean's
Eleven and opted out of this
one. Basher is of course necessary for
the "natural" disasters that serve as
the group's diversion, but it should
have been left at that. And why
was Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia)
in Ocean's 13? Oh right, that
ridiculous plot "twist" that we saw
coming before the movie even started.
The filmmakers should
be ashamed of themselves for brazenly
wasting so much money (again) without
regard for our entertainment.
Please don't waste your money to go see
this movie. After the hype wears down,
catch Ocean's 13 on TV for movie night
and it might be kinda fun.
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