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Ocean's Eleven
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia
Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Scott Caan,
Casey Affleck, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Eddie
Jemison, Shaobo Qin |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Warner Bros. |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Not too young. |
| Date Movie: |
Bring her along. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Nah. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Nah. |
| Action: |
Suspense more than
action. |
| Laughs: |
Some good one
liners. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
How they got away. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Not really. |
| Directed By: |
Steven Soderbergh |
| Produced By: |
Jerry Weintraub |
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Ocean's Eleven
A Movie Review |
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You can’t help but need to compare the 2001 "Ocean’s
Eleven" to the original. My simple analysis is this: The 1960’s
"Ocean’s Eleven" was, and came across as, a group of friends making a
movie. It was fun, it was entertaining, and will always be a classic.
The 2001 version, in comparison, came across as a group of actors
making a movie. It was fun, it was entertaining, and may not be a
classic, but as a movie, it was a better movie than the original.
For this one we’ve got George Clooney as Danny Ocean. Fresh out of
prison and Danny’s got a plan – break his parole, head to Vegas, and
complete the biggest and most complicated heist in history. At least
that’s his cover, because there’s also a woman involved, Tess (Julia
Roberts), now involved with Vegas mogul Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia).
Steal some cash and get the girl from the dude who’s cash you stole.
That really seems to be the motive.
Well, Danny needs to enlist some help, and enlist some help he
does. To name a few there’s Rusty (Brad Pitt), Linus (Matt Damon),
Basher (Don Cheadle), Turk and Vigil (Scott Caan and Casey Affleck
respectively), Reuben (Elliot Gould), Frank (Bernie Mac), Saul (Carl
Reiner), Livingston (Eddie Jemison), and Yen (Shaobo Qin). Each of
them have their own specialty. Rusty is great at impersonating just
about any occupation; Linus is a pick-pocketer extraordinaire; Basher
is a technical marvel; Turk and Vigil, well, they’re just goofballs
who get the job done; Reuben fronts the initial capitol, Frank and
Livingston, well, help out but keep on being funny; Yen is the
acrobatic type, and Saul plays a great, older, can play a foreigner to
the hilt. All of them are needed, and all for their respective
abilities.
As the movie goes, basically, Danny cooks up a scheme to rob three
casinos at one time, namely because they all keep their money in the
same vault. Yes, they’re the casinos run by Benedict, and yes, Danny
wants Tess back. The problem is that this is probably the most heavily
guarded, technologically advanced, how the hell are you going to break
into and get out with the money vaults in the world. But Danny cooks
up a plan, and it’s a good plan, and everyone is needed in every one
of their roles. Even Tess.
I won’t give away too much or else I’ll ruin too many of the
surprises, but as a movie, "Ocean’s Eleven" has some pretty good
twists and turns, and in the end is a really good movie, I think,
mostly because of the older dudes in the movie – they look a little
bit more like they’re having fun, and also have the funnest (yea I
know it’s not a word, but I don’t care, I like "funnest") roles.
Comparing it to the original almost isn’t fair because it really does
come off as a different movie. Sure they update things to make it the
2000’s, but like I said, the biggest difference in the comparison is
simply that the new version really does play like actors making a
movie, while the earlier comes off as a bunch of friends. That’s not a
bad thing, and in the end I give the 2001 "Ocean’s Eleven" 4 stars out
of 5, but Clooney isn’t Sinatra, nor should he try to be. It almost
would have been more fun to see this group of 12 make a different
movie than a sort-of remake.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
