classicsoncall The sequel Ocean films to the original 'Eleven' each had a more complicated heist scheme, and it seemed like this one went on forever. Quite honestly, there's no way any of this could have been pulled off for real, so your best bet is to sit back and enjoy the glitz and glitter of Las Vegas and witness the impossible. The players this time around weren't in it so much for the money, but to help out fellow member Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) who got screwed out of his share of the new Bank Casino by insidious owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino). With honor among thieves, the Ocean crew set about their task with multiple complications intruding on their original plan.Not only do we have most of the original cast back, but Danny (George Clooney) and the boys find themselves in a tough financial spot, so upon the advice of Linus (Matt Damon), they have to resort to the unthinkable. They approach former target Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) for a hefty thirty six million advance, having to settle for a double payback and a wrinkle involving the theft of Bank's 'Five Star Diamond' collection. That in turn sets up the return of master thief Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassell), at which point, if you haven't seen the prior film in the series, one would be left pondering who the shady character is. I have to admit, I was kind of looking for Julia Roberts to show up in the story, even as a late entry, but that never happened. It was cool however how the script matured Matt Damon's character over the course of the three Ocean films to make him more involved in the planning of the heist. His "see you when I see you" at the finale left things ripe for yet another sequel, but topping the escapades in this story border on the impossible, so we'll probably have to leave things as they lay. Even so, it was an entertaining run, as long as you don't take things too seriously.

Nikita Wannenburgh I loved Ocean's Eleven, and while Ocean's Twelve was disappointing and flawed in many places, it wasn't bad either. But Ocean's Thirteen was probably the worst out of the trilogy. The dialogue was still pretty decent, but the plot/story was weaker, lazier, less intelligent, and not as tight as the other plots had been in the previous films. It wasn't as exciting or gripping, and the film started without proper set-up or back story; which, despite previous films, it still needed to make known. The lightning was garish, and there wasn't a single beautiful shot in the movie. Even the good-looking guys (yes, most of the cast...) looked washed-out or sweaty. The acting was still solid, and the cast is, without a doubt, as stellar as they come; at least in name. But the characters were as flat as they've ever been, with the mild exception of Casey Affleck's Virgil whom I rather fell in love with and who was given more screen time than the previous films had allotted him. I wholeheartedly appreciated that. Matt Damon's Linus was delightful comic relief, but again, not even the strong cast could save characters that had been reduced to cheapened, one-dimensional "stereotypes" (I use the word loosely). I'd even go as far as to say they were boring.The lack of female presence was solely felt. Ellen Barkin was obviously only there to give Matt Damon's character a chance at romance, and she was weak, unnecessary, and one-dimensional.My main issue with Thirteen is this: It came across too self- absorbed and self-obsessed with being as slick, smooth, and cool as the first film, that it failed to deliver quality; in terms of both character and plot. I got the impression that the writers were too self-assured of their stellar cast and the cool, smooth intelligence displayed in the other films, that they neglected true quality and substance and were now content with a threadbare plot and lazy character arcs. Does that make sense? It was as if they were so confident of people coming into their casinos, that they'd now forgotten to add money to be won.

generationofswine Come on, be honest, you wanted Pacino to win didn't you? I mean, Brad Pitt is good when he's not doing the fluff action movie thing. He can act when he really wants to. Matt Damon is the same, when he wants to act he can act and when he wants a paycheck he does a boring action film. George Clooney is cool, he does some mad roles......but, I mean, they are up against Al Pacino. It's hard to hold your own against them man.Other than that it is leagues better than the second film and still not as good as the first.The first had some real heart, the third had some great jokes, but you got the feeling that they were grasping at straws. A heist film with that much going on is hard to pull off more than once.But the effort was here and it was a good job. They did a good fight, they just couldn't pull it off a second time, let alone a third.I'll give you a hint. Don't try to justify it and make them the good guys, they are thieves, so long as they are lovable they don't have to be righteous.

Evan Wessman (CinematicInceptions) This third installment showcasing Vegas' most brilliant group of crooks may not have the same effect and quality of Eleven, but is nonetheless a good movie. It is certainly a step up from Ocean's Twelve, which I wasn't that impressed with and has more of the spirit of the first film. The only characters missing are Tess and Isabel, which some fans might not find to their liking. I feel like it might have been possible to give them both some kind of short scene. Returing faces are of course the original eleven (being Danny, Rusty, Linus, Frank, Basher, Virgil and Turk Malloy, Rueben, Saul, Livingston, and the Amazing Yen.) Also returning is our old enemy Terry Benedict, along with Rusty's hotel manager Roman, and SPOILER ALERT the Night Fox. Our new foe is the backstabbing, double-crossing Willy Bank, played by Al Pacino. He doesn't even bother trying to claim that he isn't a complete jerk. He knows that he is and it boosts his ego. He gives no excuse for backstabbing Reuben and you can tell that doing things like this is his life. We get a couple of new faces on the team in Eugene the gamer kid and a cop called Neil that sells Willy Bank's gold utensils on a black market. Both get very small parts and have next to no role in the robbery. The only other new parts worth noting are the five diamond award judge, or Very Unimportant Person, that is given a horrible experience at Bank's new hotel, and Bank's right hand (wo)man Abigail Sponder. In regards to comedy, there is a fair amount of the situational humor (especially in the hotel recon) that we get from the other two. Accompanying these are the witty remarks from the ultra-chilled protagonists. Of course the central theme of the movie is the robbery, which is performed, not for money, but for revenge on the part of Reuben. The veteran of the team suffers a heart attack after getting dissed by Bank. This becomes the motive for the robbery and we see Reuben regaining strength and will to live as he sees the team working for him. The plan in this scenario is not to get all of Bank's money, but to make him lose as much as possible on the opening night of his new hotel-casino. The plan has many parts to it with each character taking a different faction of the big plan. Danny Ocean is useless as always and does little more than negotiate with Bank. Frankly, I think that the whole series could be done without his character and not be any worse for it, but I won't bore you with all of my reasons for thinking that because I hate it when people go on rants in movie reviews. Rusty does some recon and works out the master plan with Roman and Danny. Roman is brought in as a troubleshooter and gives the team intelligence on the Greco security system. Livingston's job this time is not to hack any kind of system. He instead gets himself a job as a blackjack dealer in the casino and tries to rig the system. Frank hires a group of waitresses to work for the team in the hotel. Virgil Malloy is sent to Mexico to work in a dice factory where he loads the dice with magnetic powder. He also steps up in a crucial spot to hack a computer system in place of Livingston after Livingston gets busted for his blackjack antics. Turk basically does all of the mundane jobs for the team like in the first film, only without Virgil with him. Saul poses as a rich guest in the hotel and is visibly well attended to, while the VUP watches and is treated very poorly by the hotel staff. The Amazing Yen has a rather forced role as a high roller whale staying at the hotel for the soft opening. His "agent" and translator is a disguised Linus. His job is to distract Abigail Sponder while the rest of the plan in carried out. That only leaves Basher, whose job it is to knock down the incredible security system, The Greco. The one way to get it shut down is to create a natural disaster. Basher runs the turbine that creates an earthquake effect. During the three minutes that system is shut down, the bag of tricks cooked up by the rest of the team gets opened and the Bank is broken. At the same time, another robbery is taking place. Willy Bank's five diamond awards are the one thing that Terry Benedict is willing to get as payment for funding the team. This is a very difficult prize to pull, but as always the Ocean's gang gets it done and manages to embarrass Benedict in the process. Bank is stunned and crushed at the end as his dreams fall apart and his diamonds of the past and future are stolen from him. This scene is rather reminiscent of another '07 blockbuster, At Worlds End, when Cutler Becket has his ship torn to pieces along with his confidant facade. The execution is solid as in the first film with split screen cinematography and well written characters put into a well written script. The acting, of course, doesn't get much better with this kind of cast, and we get a more soothing guitars horns and light drums to accompany the crooks in their ever present mood of cool under pressure. To conclude, it's a good crime movie with a strong story, though not as good or as character balanced as Ocean's Eleven. If you liked Eleven, Thirteen should still be enjoyable, but not as spectacular. If you have doubts because of Twelve, throw them aside. There are splashes of comedy, but don't watch it unless you are willing to pay attention or have a friend to watch it that can keep you informed of the plot progression. Overall Rating: 8.3/10.