Ocean’s Eleven

December 11, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 117 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Ocean’s Eleven is the 2001 remake of an old Frank Sinatra Rat Pack flick from 1960. The remake doesn’t feature a Rat Pack, but it is stocked with an all star cast led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Ocean's Eleven

Clooney is Danny Ocean, a thief and conman extraordinaire, who is just getting out of jail. Ocean immediately tags up with old buddy Rusty, played by Pitt. He already has a plan for one of the largest heists in history. He wants to rob the vault the houses the cash for Bellagio, The Mirage and MGM Grand in Las Vegas on a fight night when it’ll be flush with $160 million or so in cash. Problem is that casinos are tougher to rob than Fort Knox. And the owner of these properties, played by Andy Garcia, is the type of guy who will “kill you, then he’ll really go to work on you”.

To do the job, they put together a crew of very colorful characters, each with his own specialty such as explosives, electronics, driving, etc. The additional cast members include Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Bernie Mac and Julia Roberts. What follows is a good old fashioned caper flick. Think of it as kind of like what might happen if the Mission Impossible team went bad and decided to start robbing casinos.

The story for this movie is pretty predictable, and this film had every opportunity to be a mediocre effort. But the director here is Steven Soderberg of Traffic and Erin Brockovich fame. And he used the all star cast and Vegas backdrop to create a very entertaining film. There are some very funny moments in this movie, however a lot of them are subtle and may not be as funny to someone who has never been to Vegas.

There are problems with the movie. First off, with so many characters we really do not get to know any of them other than the principles. And although I won’t spoil it, I will say the ending is more than a little weak. But there are some laughs, a really strong cast and the movie is very stylish. There were just enough laughs and scenes where you think to yourself “now that was cool!” to make this film really worth seeing, and I would recommend checking it on the big screen where you can really appreciate the scenery.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt, DVD, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, PG-13, Thriller