Ocean's Thirteen is a 2007 heist film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third [1] in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name. All of the cast members reprised their roles from the previous installments except for Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin joined the cast as their new targets.
It was released on June 8, 2007 (known as World Oceans Day), in the United States,[2] although it was released in several countries in the Middle East on June 6.[3] Filming began in July 2006 in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, based on a script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien.[4]
Plot
Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), in an attempt to legitimize himself in his later years, is conned by his business partner and ruthless businessman, Willy Bank (Al Pacino) when Bank forces Tishkoff to sign over the ownership rights of the new hotel casino they were building together. Reuben suffers a heart attack from the revelation and becomes bed-ridden. Danny Ocean (George Clooney), after attempting to negotiate with Bank, gathers up his partners in crime and plan to completely ruin Bank on the night of the opening of the casino, "The Bank", as a way to get revenge for Reuben.
They decide to do so in two ways. Firstly, they plan to prevent Bank's new hotel from winning the prestigious "Five Diamond Award," awarded by the Royal Review board to top hotels. Bank already has several, and keeps them in a secure display case near the top of the hotel. They have Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner) act as one of the Royal Review board reviewers, while they they make sure that the real reviewer (David Paymer) is treated poorly at the hotel as to ruin its reputation. Secondly, the group schemes to rig many of the slot machines and gambling games to pay out, planning to have the house lose over $500 million dollars so that Bank would lose control of the hotel to the board. However, to do this, the group must overcome "The Greco", an advanced computer system that detects cheating on the gambling floor; they do this by tricking Bank to carry a cell phone with a magnetron, created by a technical expert Roman Nagel (Eddie Izzard), into the Greco's mainframe which disrupts the detection. To ensure guests leave with their payouts, the group plans to simulate an earthquake via a giant tunnel boring machine. A problem arises when the drill breaks down, and the group is forced to turn to Ocean's nemesis, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), to secure funds for a new machine. In addition to being payed, Benedict will only put up the money if the group steals Bank's Five Diamond awards. The group had considered stealing them earlier, but had determined it be near impossible. With no other options, the group agrees, planning to have Linus (Matt Damon) seduce Bank's assistant, Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin), in order to gain access to the display and switch out the diamonds with fakes.
As the team prepares to execute their plan, the group sends their deepest wishes to Reuben, and he is able to recover in time to see Danny's plan in action. The plans go momentarily awry when the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows up, tipped off on plans to rig one of the gambling table's card shuffling machines by Livingston (Eddie Jemison), one of Danny's gang. Basher (Don Cheadle) takes on the impromptu role of a stuntman to distract Bank long enough so that Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk Malloy (Scott Caan) can hack into the database and alter the pictures and names of the group. FBI agents still arrest Linus, however, but it is revealed the arresting agent is his father, Bobby Caldwell (Bob Einstein), who is in on the plan and plans to help Linus make off with the Five Diamond Awards. However, as they wait for helicopter transport, François Toulour the "Night Fox" (Vincent Cassel) arrives and takes the goods before departing, still angry at losing the previous challenge to Danny. A helicopter piloted by Basher soon arrives, and Linus, Bobby and Basher use it to extract the entire display case containing the Awards from its moorings, and Toulour quickly discovers he was duped. The remainder of the plan goes off, and as the guests flee the shaking hotel, Ocean reveals himself to Bank. Bank threatens to send people after Danny and his crew. However, Danny points out that Bank's history has made him several enemies, and it is unlikely that anyone will help him at all.
In the aftermath, the group uses the money to buy Reuben a deed to property north of the Las Vegas Strip to convert to his own casino. Danny also informs Benedict that he was aware that Benedict hired Toulour to interfere with the plans, and has thus had his share of the winnings donated to charity in his name. Finally, as the group goes their separate ways, Rusty (Brad Pitt) ensures that the real Royal Review reviewer is paid back for what they had to make him endure by allowing him to win an $11 million jackpot on a rigged slot machine at the airport.
Cast
The Thirteen
- George Clooney as Danny Ocean
- Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan
- Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell/Lenny Pepperidge
- Bernie Mac as Frank Catton
- Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff
- Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy
- Scott Caan as Turk Malloy
- Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell
- Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr/Fender Roads
- Shaobo Qin as "The Amazing" Yen/Mr. Weng
- Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom/Kensington Chubb
- Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict
- Eddie Izzard as Roman Nagel
Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones do not reprise their roles as Tess Ocean and Isabel Lahiri, their absence being explained by Danny, who repeatedly states "It's not their fight."
Others
Reception
Box office
The film did well on its first weekend, reaching the top spot at the North American box office. Despite being opened in 250 more theaters than Ocean's Twelve, it had a slightly weaker opening weekend than the former, pulling in $36 million, compared to Twelve's $39 million opening weekend.[5][6] As of December 30, 2007, Ocean's Thirteen has taken in $117.2 million in the U.S. alone. Overseas the film has made $194.2 million pushing its total worldwide gross to $311.4 million.[7]
Popular Culture
Al Pacino's role in The Godfather is referenced several times - Virgil and Turk are the first name and nickname of Don Corleones attempted assassin Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo. When Danny is talking to Willy Banks, he quotes a line, again from the movie, "What I want, what's most important to me..." Pacino delivers this line moments before killing his father's would-be-assassin.
Critics
Critical reception to the movie has generally been positive with some critics liking the movie's style while others criticized it for being overly complex. Joel Siegel, in what would turn out to be his last review for Good Morning America, stated that if it had been the first movie, there still would have been a sequel. On the movie website Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has received an overall 70% score, while on Yahoo! Movies it garnered an average B grade.[8][9] In his review for New York, David Edelstein wrote, "As the plotting gets knottier, his technique gets more fluid—the editing jazzier, the colors more luscious, the whip-pans more whizbang. It’s all anchored by Clooney, looking impudent, roguish, almost laughably handsome".[10] Manohla Dargis, in her review for the New York Times, wrote, "Playing inside the box and out, he has learned to go against the grain while also going with the flow. In Ocean’s Thirteen he proves that in spades by using color like Kandinsky and hanging a funny mustache on Mr. Clooney’s luscious mug, having become a genius of the system he so often resists".[11] However, Roger Ebert wrote, in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, "Ocean's Thirteen proceeds with insouciant dialogue, studied casualness, and a lotta stuff happening, none of which I cared much about because the movie doesn't pause to develop the characters, who are forced to make do with their movie-star personas".[12] Peter Bradshaw, in his review for The Guardian, wrote, "Sometimes we go to split-screen, and sometimes - whooaaa! - two of the split-screen frames are funkily showing the same thing. It is all quite meaningless. As if in an experimental novel by BS Johnson, the scenes could be reshuffled and shown in any order and it would amount to the same thing. There is no human motivation and no romance".[13]
References
- ^ ""Ocean's 13" Definitely The Last?". http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/061204k.php. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
- ^ "Movie Insider: Ocean's Thirteen (2007)". http://www.themovieinsider.com/m3254/oceans-thirteen/. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ "Bahrain Cinema Company homepage". http://www.bahraincinema.com. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
- ^ "Ocean's 13 to Start on July 21". http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=13812. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ ""Ocean's Thirteen" steals No. 1 spot at box office". Yahoo! Entertainment News (Online News). June 10, 2007. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070610/film_nm/boxoffice_dc_1. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
- ^ Douglas, Edward (June 10, 2007). "The Summer Box Office Gets All Wet". Box Office Mojo (Online News). http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=20925. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
- ^ Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
- ^ "Critic Reviews on Yahoo! Movies". Yahoo! Movies (News Corporation). June 10, 2007. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809699091/critic. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
- ^ "Reviews on the movie's page on Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes (News Corporation). June 10, 2007. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oceans_thirteen/. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
- ^ Edelstein, David (June 3, 2007). "What Happens in Vegas…". New York. http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/32866/. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (June 8, 2007). "They Always Come Out Ahead; Bet on It". New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/06/08/movies/08ocea.html?ref=movies. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (June 7, 2007). "Ocean's Thirteen". Chicago-Sun Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/REVIEWS/706060301. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (June 8, 2007). "Ocean's Thirteen". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,2097605,00.html. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
External links
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Ocean's Series |
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| Characters |
Danny Ocean • Rusty Ryan • Linus Caldwell • Virgil Malloy • Turk Malloy • Yen • Frank Catton • Basher Tarr • Saul Bloom • Livingston Dell • Reuben Tishkoff • Tess Ocean • Roman Nagel • Terry Benedict • Francois "The Nightfox" Toulour • Isabel Lahiri • Willy Banks • Abigail Sponder
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