Ocean's Eleven Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)December 10th, 2001
OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001)
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This supposed remake of the 1960 heist has some nice moments in its buildup but loses credibility when it takes a turn for the science fictional. The script seems more contrived than clever. Lots of gloss with nice views of Las Vegas adds interest, but as a heist film it leaves a bad taste in ones mouth. Rating: 5 (0 to 10), low +1 (-4 to +4)
If I am not tremendously enamored of the new OCEAN'S ELEVEN, it is not indignity over the remake not capturing the original. I somehow was born immune to the charms of Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack buddies. The 1960 film OCEAN'S ELEVEN was a vanity piece for the Sinatra gang but only a mediocre heist film. Compared to 1955's FIVE AGAINST THE HOUSE, it pales considerably. 1955's RIFIFI is a heist film that so far surpasses the Sinatra effort that it seems foolish to even compare them. At least most of what was in the original OCEAN'S ELEVEN was plausible.
Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) has big plans when he gets out of prison. He wants to get revenge on Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) who stole his wife Tess (Julia Roberts) and who owns three casinos. By staging a huge robbery he plans to cut Benedict down to size. The film predictably falls into neat chapters: character background, assembling the team, planning the crime, executing the crime, and aftermath. The original OCEAN'S ELEVEN drew added excitement from the fact they were robbing multiple casinos at the same time, making the plan more complex and interesting. The remake pays lip service to this concept, with Danny claiming that the plan is to rob three casinos. This really is a cheat on the audience. The plan is to rob only one casino, but one which happens to be holding money for two others. Would the film have been twice as exciting if the vault held the cash for six casinos? One or six matters little to the audience as long as it is all in one vault.
I suspect for the original film Sinatra counted the number of people he wanted to be in the film and that was how they decided on a team of eleven. It really is too many for the screenplay to handle adequately. For the 2001 OCEAN'S ELEVEN it was an excuse to pack the film with box office actors, but it is too many people for the script to handle well. We mostly see Ocean, Dusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), and Linus Caldwell (Mark Damon). Other members of the team have much smaller parts.
The new version of OCEAN'S ELEVEN, directed by no less a talent than Steven Soderburgh (TRAFFIC and THE LIMEY) does not try to be believable. Instead, it at times plays its story like a James Bond mission. Included is the use of a device that would be more at home in GOLDFINGER than in a realistic heist film. While I admit I have not researched it, I strongly suspect there is no such portable device. If there is a portable version, there probably is no version of this device as powerful as the one in the film is. If there was a device so portable and powerful and if it was used, it would have more far-reaching effects than shown, and the effect seen in the film would immediately tip off the casino owners that what was happening was not mere chance. In other words Ted Griffin, the writer, moved the story to the realms of fantasy to get around a technical problem. Fantasy has its place, but a gritty heist film isn't it. The film also seems contrived for Ocean to know in advance exactly what Benedict is going to do and has an intricate plan which only works because Benedict does exactly what is planned.
There are a couple of thefts in the course of the film that neither Griffin nor Soderburgh planned on. Two veteran actors steal the show. They are Carl Reiner as a con man who posing as a European aristocrat and a deliciously over-the-top Elliot Gould. Nominal star Clooney is smooth but uninteresting. He fared much better in O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
Slick but not satisfying, OCEAN'S ELEVEN offers lots of stars, some excitement, and nice photography of Las Vegas, but is let down by script problems. Ted Griffin, who wrote OCEAN'S ELEVEN, also wrote another overrated film, RAVENOUS. This script could have used another write or two before it was ready to be shot. I rate OCEAN'S ELEVEN a 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
