Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Ocean’s 13

Ocean’s 13 is Steven Soderbergh doing cinematic color-by-numbers—this is essentially his first two installments, only with Al Pacino and without Julia Roberts. (Fair trade, I suppose.) There’s barely even any plot development, save for a five-minute scene featuring Clooney, Pitt, and Izzard, which has a very grainy, shot-in-my-kitchen-this-afternoon feel to it and is utterly terrible. But magic happens when the gang of men finally reaches the casino floor, sabotaging the new Vegas Strip eyesore of Pacino’s Willy Bank. This is pure fun—harmless, predictable, but enjoyable from start to finish, with Carl Reiner and David Paymer stealing the show; though not as good as the original, it’s much better than the sequel. (Plus, any film that brings Super Dave Osborne back into mainstream popular culture is worth something.)

by Adam Balz   on 16 Jun 2007 11:48 AM   Source: Warner Brothers 35MM Theatrical Print

Given my routine with the previous films in this series, it was fitting that I watched Soderbergh’s latest installment after having just overcome a severe bout of nausea. I still have no idea why the colour-pallet that Soderbergh applies within these films feels so soothing, but whatever the reason, it’s weirdly effective.

While I remain among the minority that didn’t mind the second film (other than that lame dance-sequence that actually made me more nauseous), I will readily admit that it wasn’t a home-run by any stretch of the imagination, mostly since the project felt so incredibly self-involved. I can appreciate Soderbergh trying to keep himself interested while making a sequel and packing it with as many reflective cinematic techniques as possible, perhaps demanding his audience participate in a slightly more active viewing-experience, but it seemed to be asking a great deal from the fans of these films, who probably expected a typical Hollywood sequel that could recreate a similar atmosphere as the first film.

Thankfully, for most viewers, the third film manages to restore most of the tone and mood from the first film, but while its familiarity provides comfort, it also predictably feels uninspired at times. Still, even if it’s undemanding, the film is amusing enough to be considered a mild-success, particularly Matt Damon’s clumsy seduction of Ellen Barkin (I’m not even going to bother referring to the actors by their character’s names considering they are essentially just channeling slightly-veiled versions of their own personas — Clooney and Pitt are seriously on cruise-control throughout this whole thing) that concludes in the inexperienced protégé, still desperate to prove his aptitude, being embarrassingly rescued from being potentially tarnished by an insatiable “cougar”. The scenes achieve their humor since we know Damon doesn’t share the same reputation as Pitt or Clooney, who we assume to have “been there” and “done that” based on their public personas. The surprising thing is that Damon’s personality in the past two films has been so dramatically different from the first film, in which he seemed entirely indifferent to the schemes of the collective. Instead, in the past two films, Damon’s desire to crawl out of the shadow cast by his father has altered his character to an enthusiastic contributor, almost too eager to sacrifice his dignity for commendation. Thus, it’s sort of fitting that he shares the most screen-time with Super Dave Osborne, while Clooney and Pitt square off against Pacino.

Of course I just enjoyed watching the scenes involving Casey Affleck and Scott Caan inspiring a mini-revolution in Mexico, which essentially served as a teaser to Soderbergh’s upcoming films involving Ernesto “Che” Guevara. If Soderbergh’s Che-biographies are anything like the sequences in Mexico filmed for his summer-blockbuster heist-flick, they are sure to be a riot.

Adam’s Thoughts

by Chiranjit Goswami   on 25 Jun 2007 4:33 PM   Source: Warner Brothers 35mm Theatrical Print