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Ocean's Thirteen

Say what you will about director Steven Soderbergh, but he’s had one strikingly abnormal career. After jump starting the mainstreaming of independent film with his smash Sundance hit “Sex Lies and Videotape,” he eventually made movies that caught on with the general public, starting with the great “Out of Sight” (which was, at first, an inexplicable flop at the box office). Since 2000 when he became the first director to be nominated twice for Best Director at the Academy Awards, and actually win (he was nominated for “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic,” and won for the latter), Soderbergh has alternated between smaller-profile projects like “Full Frontal” and “Bubble” and big-budget star vehicles like “Ocean’s Eleven” and its sequels.

After “Ocean’s Twelve,” a glossy sequel that proved profitable but still disappointed many fans, members of the “Ocean’s” ensemble vowed “Ocean’s Thirteen” is the true follow-up to “Ocean’s Eleven.” But while this chapter is less sprawling and a little lighter on its feet than its immediate predecessor, it’s sure no “Ocean’s Eleven.” Thankfully the setting is again Las Vegas, and the cast is better utilized here, but “Ocean’s Thirteen” still drags and leaves you wanting a lot more.

The major problem is the jokey, self-satisfied tone that second movies adopt to pass off as chic and cool-–a flaw epitomized by the misguided albeit risky gag involving Julia Roberts’ character passing herself off as the real Julia Roberts in “Ocean’s Twelve”-–instead of keeping the focus on the heist. “Ocean’s Eleven,” despite being a remake of a campy Rat Pack flick, was one of the more enjoyable caper movies of recent years because it used its gifted cast well and personified cool without sacrificing characterization. But where “Ocean’s Eleven” glided along and exercised its style with wit and finesse “Ocean’s Twelve” was one long slog to a fitfully involving ending. Once it got to the point, it was fun, but clearly the same care and passion present in “Ocean’s Eleven” was not there in “Ocean’s Twelve.”

It was sure pretty though, and Soderbergh’s gorgeous cinematography (he films his own movies under the pseudonym of Peter Andrews) helped it get away with a lot. But “Ocean’s Thirteen” is much closer to “Ocean’s Twelve”-–lots of in-jokes and goofing off. So much of it that it feels like a celebrity party you aren’t invited to-–even with the welcome addition of “Sea of Love” co-stars Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin. This time the gang is out to plan a revenge heist on the upstart casino/hotel of Willie Bank (Pacino), a wily businessman who cheated Reuben (Elliott Gould) out of ownership. Each of the thirteen goes to work in planning one aspect of the elaborate heist.

Also in the mix are Bank’s assistant Abigail (Barkin) and a critic (David Paymer) whose stay at the hotel is sabotaged in myriad ways by Ocean’s crew. The details of the heist are best left for you to discover, so I won’t spoil any of them. However, I will say it is as intricate and entertainingly implausible as ever. Of the non-marquee members of the ensemble Scott Caan and Casey Affleck get most of the memorable material to work with while Bernie Mac, one moderately funny scene aside, barely speaks a word the entire movie.

Pacino is, unsurprisingly, the best heavy of the trilogy. He gives one of the few performances of the film that actually feels like a performance, not like smug sleepwalking. Barkin, as the voluptuous “cougar” Matt Damon ends up trying to seduce at one point, is still a head-turner at 53 and a natural presence on screen. Apart from them and a steady stream of fitfully funny one-liners and situations “Ocean’s Thirteen” still falls into the same traps as “Ocean’s Twelve.”

In comparison to the other half-assed sequels hitting theaters and breaking records all over the place this summer “Ocean’s Thirteen” is the best of the bunch. That’s pretty faint praise, though, considering how disappointing everything else has been. Either way, there are worse ways to spend two hours.

Written by: Joe Pudas

Reviewers Rating: 6.5
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