What Happens in Vegas...

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 2008)

Ocean's Eleven is a fun heist movie blessed with an A-list cast who defines cool in our current generation of actors, a funny, intricate (kinda convoluted) script and a director who knew what he was doing and was having a blast doing it. This is a remake of the pretty dull 1960s Las Vegas heist movie of the same title starring Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack. I've seen both films and I must say that this is one of those rare exceptions where the remake improves on the original. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is an ex-con newly released from prison who immediately jumps back into the shady life. He already has a larcenous scheme in mind and enlists his old right-hand man Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) to help him recruit a thieving crew. Oh and what a crew: Matt Damon as the rookie, quick-fingered and well versed in pickpocketing; Bernie Mac as the inside man; Don Cheadle, the explosives expert, comes armed with a great Cockney accent and that weird Cockney way of rhyming ("We're in Barney"; Clooney makes a nonplussed gesture; "Barney Rubble - Trouble!"); old-school Carl Reiner plays the old con-man out for a last con; Casey Affleck is the nerdy computer/surveillance technoman; etc. Ocean and company target the super-protected vault underneath the Bellagio casino. This vault stores money for three casinos: the Bellagio itself, as well as the MGM Grand and the Mirage. Apparently, on weekend nights of big boxing events, the vault by law has to house at least $150 million to cover all bets. The man who owns the Bellagio is Terry Benedict (played with smooth, reptilian menace by Andy Garcia), who is also the current love of Ocean's ex Tess (a radiant Julia Roberts). Hmmm, you start to think. Ocean's motivations are not the only thing that'll keep the viewer guessing in this funny, fast-paced, twisty film. The director Steven Soderbergh skillfully plays fast and loose with flashbacks, dizzying, continuing pan shots and sleight-of-hand camera-work. There is plenty of false jeopardy played out in the course of this movie, numerous plot reversals. Don't take anything for granted until the end credits come up. Steven Soderbergh directs this remake with such a light touch that it seems as if all he's done is throw all these high-profiled mega-stars in the same room and direct them, with perhaps a nonchalant wave of a hand, to simply wing it. The performers deliver their lines convincingly and with panache. They are, after all, all damn good actors (check out the DVD actor commentary with Damon, Pitt and Garcia, who have a chuckle over the talented serious actor Don Cheadle, who delivers his lines while covered in poo). I had a sense that everyone involved genuinely liked each other and had a great time bouncing off each other in their scenes. Clooney and Pitt, in particular, seem to have great buddy rapport together, whilst romantically, Clooney and Roberts sizzle. Andy Garcia is a great villain, suave yet intense, worthy of going up against eleven crafty adversaries. Soderbergh does a masterful juggling act in this one: ensuring that everyone in the film gets his/her day to shine, managing to stage every scene so that every shot is interesting and keeping the topsy-turvy plot on point. Kudos, too, to the music, which works to great effect and greatly influences the mood of every stage of the film (I thought actually purchased the soundtrack). Great job by everyone involved.