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Partners
Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is angry. His mentor, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), has just been cheated out of all his money by a ruthless casino owner named Willy Bank (Al Pacino). Even worse, the shock has given poor old Rube a heart attack. So Danny calls together the rest of the original eleven, along with a couple of new compadres. Their mission? To hit Bank where it hurts most – his pocket and his reputation.
What we thought of it:
There’s nothing better than being in on the joke. That’s the whole reason heist movies exist - so we can hang around with the cool kids and watch them do naughty stuff. Of course the "joke" actually has to be a good one – deliciously clever and daring – which wasn’t the case with the disappointing Ocean’s 12. Have no fear though, 13 makes up for that turkey, and even comes close to topping the first film.
Of course jokes are always much more fun when they’re played on people that really deserve them. In this case we have the incomparable Al Pacino as a money-grubbing, perfectionistic egomaniac named (ha ha) Willy Bank. He makes the villain from the first two movies - Andy Garcia’s icy Terry Benedict - look like a puppy dog. Few actors could take as much relish in such an unlikeable part, but this is Pacino after all. Even so, there are moments when his eyes betray a longing to be on the other side of the cast.
And who wouldn’t? As cool kids go, you don’t get much cooler on the planet. We’re taking Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney after all, not to mention Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck and Bernie Mac. These guys are cool in 200 countries, and possibly in space, not to mention the fact that they seem to genuinely enjoy being with each other. They’ve also got a new recruit in the eager Eddie Izzard, not to mention finally letting Andy Garcia in on the joke.
Still, it’s not enough for them to just stand around being themselves. They tried that with the second movie and it fell flat. They need some cheeky banter to keep things ticking along, and the screenwriters have really come to the party this time. In fact the banter is so good that the rest of the movie sometimes seems unimportant.
Luckily the heist is a humdinger. The plan this time is to rig all Bank’s games on opening night, clean him out of $500 million, and then get all the punters out of the casino before they can spend it back. And all this without getting caught by the new "unbeatable" artificial intelligence security system. Oh, and then there are the priceless diamonds they have to steal from the impenetrable chamber at the same time. Well, it wouldn’t be fun if it were easy, now would it?
But, funnily enough, that is one of the problems with the film. For all the complicated cons and disastrous setbacks, things go just a little too smoothly. Sure, we want to see them win, but we don’t want to feel like they cheated. The outcome of any Ocean’s film is obviously a forgone conclusion, but we don’t want to feel that while we’re watching it.
It also gets a little too silly at times. Silly can be good, like the hilarious torture inflicted on an unsuspecting hotel critic (played by the wonderful David Paymer). Or the scene where Brad Pitt and George Clooney fight back tears while watching Oprah. But when Matt Damon dons a false nose and starts charming the ladies, things quickly go from silly to stupid.
But these are minor complaints in comparison to the yards and yards of classic entertainment the movie offers. How many other blockbusters can claim to be this clever, funny and good looking, all without breaking a sweat?
- Alistair Fairweather
