powerful casting

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2004)

Director Steven Soderbergh follows up the successful Erin Brockovich and Traffic with the colorful and exciting adaption of the 1960 "Rat Pack" movie Ocean's Eleven. This film doesn't falter one bit.
Danny Ocean (George Clooney) has just been released from prison after serving four years for robbery to find partner Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) is teaching movie stars how to play poker. He also finds that his wife Tess has filed for divorce and is with casino tycoon Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia).
Ocean rounds up ten others including Frank Catton (Bernie Mac) Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk (Scott Caan) Malloy, Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) to steal $150 million from Benedict's three casinos on the night of a prize boxing fight.
Along the way, there are several obstacles to go through, not the least of which is acrobatic ally "The Amazing" Yen (Shaobo Qin) breaking his hand on a van door thanks to Linus. Soderbergh keeps these huge names in check and not surprisingly, this film is a real winner.
I must also say that this is the film that showed, to me at least, Brad Pitt is a great actor. He is nonchalant as Rusty. Standout performance here goes to either Bernie Mac as Frank, the crooked blackjack dealer or Matt Damon, in a precursor to the Jason Bourne films.