Ocean's 11 have forgotten more about being cool...

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2001)

...than I or 99% of the population will ever know. Steven Soderbergh's remake of the Ratpack's prior outing is a weightless exercise in cool for the new millennium. The entire cast are nearly flawless contributors to this effort, but Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and Reiner really outdo themselves. Wardrobes, locations, and the soundtrack all complement the actors and plot superbly. In the future I can only hope to dress half as well as Pitt and Clooney do in this film. The soundtrack is an outstandingly modern and refreshing blend of jazz and electronica that is used to great effect throughout the film's varied scenes.
I also admired the dialog and its delivery throughout the film. November's 'Heist' delivered excellent dialog, but at many points the delivery was forced and it became hard to believe so many people delivering so many one-liners one after the other. In 'Ocean's 11' the humor in the dialog is superbly employed to break the tension developed in certain scenes. I would imagine a great deal of this difference is the product of Mamet and Soderbergh's differing styles of writing and directing.
Those reading this may believe I am excessively exuberant about this film and they would be correct in that belief. I cannot recall a single film that put such a huge smile on my face for nearly two hours.
I do have one nitpick with the film, but it is extremely minor and probably due to my slight fatigue as I viewed the film. As others have mentioned the film can be a bit slow in spots. Modern audiences may have this feeling after being exposed to years of crowd-pleasing explosions and effects wizardry. When seeing this film it is important to remember Ocean's is a HEIST film rather than an ACTION film. In the end, I found it very satisfying to watch the well-planned and executed heist develop with a minimum of violence and no deaths!
Others may gripe regarding the 'Pinch' device, but militaries around the world have been researching these units since the '80s and are working to bring them into active service as I write. However, the packaging of the device in the movie was certainly more fanciful than the olive drab that would be used by a defense arm.
In summary, Clooney and Co. explode the mystique of the Ratpack, redefine 'cool' for the third millennium, and manage to put a huge smile on my face while doing so. Easily 11/10