THE COOL AND THE GANG!

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2001)

I have to start this review by saying that I had never seen the original nor do I have any intention to watch it because of Frank (the egotistic) Sinatra.I did however enjoy the new film in the same spirit and fun of The Thomas Crown Affair(the one with Pierce Brosnan).
First off is the cast which is lead by Clooney and Pitt who now seem to enjoy the cool and sexy reputation that of Connery and Redford.I like their combination and it seemed to work well,also are the hilarious casting of Elliot Gould and Don Cheadle who plays a casino owner and pyrotechnician.The rest of the high profile cast which includes Roberts,Garcia and the ever enjoyable Riener lead the way to a good old fashion heist flick.
When I mean old fashion I mean the camera work that you see in the movie which will obviously draw your attension to sixties Bond movies and Bullit.I kind of liked that feeling where the camera goes out of focus\and blurs and then moves on to the next scene like a dream sequence.I also enjoyed the fact that they did not make Vegas look like some gawdy,bright red and yellow show girls everywhere you look kind of image.It is quite similar to the look of Indecent Proposal.
The film virtually centres arround Vegas where Danny Ocean and his buddy Rusty plans to steal $150 million from a Vegas casino during Boxing night.It's all pretty straight forward and you got to hand it to the Director who gives you everything strait up with no twists leaving the actors to do thier respective parts.Don't expect an 'Entrapment' or 'Thomas Crown Affair' ending to this film because that is not what they are aiming at.
My only regret in this movie was the soundtrack and I wish that it would have been handed over to pro's like Burt Bacharach or John Barry.The reason for this is that I could almost hear a really smooth pop/jazz track whenever they show the gang at work.David Holmes is a good composer but the old guys would have done it better.
Steven Soderbergh score's 10 points for this movie because he makes his actors deliver performances and does not worry too much about plot twists and that in itself came to me a big surprise.