The first steps of a saga

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2009)

The first film of the Ocean saga, trilogy, so far, The first one is the prototype and prototype it is. One simple situation. A casino in Las Vegas. A complicated security set up but nothing impregnable because impregnable is not in Hollywood's dictionary. A whole set of gangsters led by Brad, Matt and George, and enjoying themselves very much. Of course they succeed with a little bit of high tech. And they stage the whole thing for the casino entrepreneur who falls in the trap of what he sees on his video cameras and on his surveillance screens and then he finds out he has been tricked and that the bill of the trick is something around 163 million dollars, maybe less, maybe more, who knows, but sure more than the trick his female, or male, employees are selling to the hotel and casino customers. It is apparently easy to lure this business gangster or this gangster businessman: flatter his vain and arrogant ego by flattering his security because he believes he has the best security in the world, and then you can go through. Apart from that tricky complicated situation, the film is very simple, if not ordinary. But after all it is only a matrix: it has to remain simple to breed good sequels, and this one bred two sequels. Good entertainment, for the actors too I guess.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID