Ocean's Eleven

Dir: Steven Soderbergh 

2001

***

I don’t like remakes but sometimes there are exceptions. I like the 60’s Rat Pack Ocean’s 11 but more for the actors then the story. It seems robbing a Casino in 1960 was pretty easy really, so a clever updated version certainly had appeal, as long as the cast was right. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy García and Julia Roberts were top a-list actors but for me it was the other guys; Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Eddie Jemison and the great Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould. After all, as much as I loved the Rat Pack line up of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, it was the likes of Angie Dickinson, Cesar Romero, Richard Conte, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Silva, Ilka Chase, Norman Fell, Patrice Wymore and Buddy Lester who made it interesting. Not all of the cast were great however and you do have to wonder what the film could have been if Johnny Depp, Luke and Owen Wilson, Mike Myers, Bruce Willis, Ewan McGregor, Alan Arkin, Ralph Fiennes and Mark Wahlberg hadn’t all dropped out. Steven Soderbergh made it look stylish, odd that he initially fought with Warner Bros to have it made in black and white, I think it would have been a huge mistake (see The Good German) but luckily the studio got their way, but still, it had a lot of charm about it. Charm and smarm. It starts with Danny Ocean (Clooney) being released from prison. He violates his parole immediately by traveling to California to meet his partner-in-crime and friend Rusty Ryan (Pitt) to propose a heist. The two go to Las Vegas to pitch the plan to wealthy friend and former casino owner Reuben Tishkoff (Gould). The plan consists of simultaneously robbing the Bellagio, The Mirage and the MGM Grand casinos (two less than the original Ocean’s film) while there is a big boxing match taking place. Reuben's familiarity with casino security makes him very reluctant to get involved, but when he starts to think of it as a good way to get back at his rival, Terry Benedict (García), who owns all three casinos, Reuben agrees to finance the operation. Because the casinos are required by the Nevada Gaming Commission to have enough cash on hand to cover all their patrons' bets, the three predict that, on the upcoming night of a highly anticipated boxing match, the Bellagio vault will contain more than $160,000,000 (far more than the 1960 film where each of the 11 only walked away with $10,000 each). Danny and Rusty recruit eight former colleagues and criminal specialists: Linus Caldwell (Damon), a young and talented pickpocket; Frank Catton (Mac), a casino worker and con man; Virgil and Turk Malloy (Affleck and Caan), a pair of gifted mechanics; Livingston Dell (Jemison), an electronics and surveillance expert; Basher Tarr (Cheadle), an explosives expert; Saul Bloom (Reiner), an elderly con man; and "The Amazing" Yen (Shaobo Qin), an accomplished acrobat. Several of the team members carry out reconnaissance at the Bellagio to learn as much as possible about the security, the routines and behaviors of the casino staff, and the building itself. Others create a precise replica of the vault with which to practice maneuvering through its formidable security systems. During this planning phase, the team discovers that Danny's ex-wife, Tess (Roberts), is Benedict's girlfriend. Rusty urges Danny to give up on the plan, believing Danny incapable of sound judgment while Tess is involved, but Danny refuses. On the night of the fight, the plan is put into motion. Danny shows up at the Bellagio purposely to be seen by Benedict, who as predicted, locks him in a storeroom with Bruiser, a bouncer. However, Bruiser is on Danny's payroll (Ocean’s 12?), and allows him to access the vent system and join his team as they seize the vault, coincident with activities of their other team members in and around the casino. Rusty calls Benedict on a cell phone Danny dropped in Tess's coat earlier, and tells him that unless he lets them have half of the money in the vault, they will blow it up; Benedict sees video footage confirming Rusty's claim. Benedict complies, having his bodyguards take the loaded duffel bags to a waiting van driven by remote control. Benedict has his men follow the van, while he calls in a SWAT team to try to secure the vault. The SWAT team's arrival causes a shootout that sets off the explosives and incinerates the remaining cash. After affirming the premises otherwise secure, the SWAT team collects their gear and departs. As Benedict heads to examine the ruined vault himself, his men stop the van and find the bags were only loaded with flyers for prostitutes. Benedict studies the video footage and recognizes that the flooring in the vault on the video lacks the Bellagio logo, which had been added only recently to the vault. It is shown that Danny's team used their practice vault to create fake footage to fool Benedict. Furthermore, they themselves were the SWAT team, and used their gear bags to take all of the money from the vault right under Benedict's nose. Benedict goes to see that Danny has seemingly been locked up in the storeroom throughout the heist, and thus innocent of any crime. As Tess watches via security surveillance, Danny tricks Benedict into saying he would give up Tess in exchange for the money, which Tess witnesses via closed circuit television. Benedict, unsatisfied with Danny's plan to get back the money, orders his men to escort Danny off the premises and inform the police that he is violating his parole by being in Las Vegas. Tess leaves Benedict and exits the hotel just in time to see Danny arrested. When Danny is released after serving time for his parole violation, he is met by Rusty and Tess, and they drive off, closely followed by Benedict's bodyguards. There is a lovely scene at the end of the film where, immediately after the heist, the team stands together and watch the Bellagio fountain. They remain silent for a while and then go their separate ways one-by-one. This is where the film is at its best. The heist itself though I found to be predictable and full of flaws. So much is left to chance and the team’s persuasive techniques were fairly rubbish. I liked that the audience knew only half the plan but the twists weren’t enough of a pay off for me. The film received so much hype at the time of release but on retrospect it’s really nothing special. Likable but no masterpiece.