Going back to it's roots Ocean's 13 makes the trilogy worth while

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2007)

Ocean's 11 was not the type of film to warrant a sequel but given the pure fun the original crew had it only made sense that they'd come back to do it again. But a third installment seemed almost mundane. How could they possibly make a third installment worth while?? Well they get continued points for once again bringing back the majority of the original cast minus almost all estrogen (Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta Jones, and pretty much any females at all.) But the core cast is back and after the rather disastrous mess of Ocean's 12 which took the heart of the film away by setting it outside of Vegas they manage to go back to what made the original film great...big Hollywood stars, having a good time, in Vegas, pulling the con of a life time and that makes Ocean's 13 worth while and stunningly saves the series. Steven Soderbergh returns for a third time as director and I think by now the entire cast should just know each other and how the script works. Granted Ocean's 13 isn't exactly a huge stretch from what was already Ocean's 11 and I'll still stand by the fact that I don't a trilogy was necessary but as luck would have it Ocean's 13 is actually very watchable and a lot of fun.
George Clooney returns as the head of the crew...Danny Ocean. He definitely recaptures more of that suave, smooth, and cunning Danny Ocean from the original that was completely lost with the second. Working by his side again is his crew that all have a purpose again this time around. Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, and Eddie Jemison. In the original their purpose was clear cut and exact and in Ocean's 12 there was no need for half of them and finally with Ocean's 13 most of them have a very important role even if it feels a little forced at times. Most of all they just want to be there to help avenge Reuben, played again by the terrific Elliot Gould. They even found a way to bring back Andy Garcia in a small role as Ocean's number one adversary Terry Benedict. The addition to this cast was the irreplaceable and incredible Al Pacino as Willie Bank, the tough as nails, egotistical scum bag casino owner who screws over Reuben (Gould.) Pacino just ups the ante on any cast and he fits right in with the Ocean's team. The only female to the cast is that of Ellen Barkin as Pacino's right hand gal Abigail Sponder. She is supposed to be tough and ruthless but in fact she comes across as mostly whiny and annoying and gets in the way so she doesn't really fill the shoes well of Roberts or Zeta Jones.
I give great credit to Soderbergh and the writers of Ocean's 13 because they came up with a really good and interesting and fun concept as opposed to simply 'yet another heist.' The whole unique plot to the team was what made this film different from Ocean's 11 and watchable...again. Still it was far from perfect and at this point so much of it just seemed forced and unnecessary and for the love of Ocean please stop it at a trilogy because there is nothing more that can be milked out of these characters. Danny Ocean on his own?? Perhaps but not the 11, or 12, or 13...this series has definitely played it's course. But if you're a fan of the original Clooney version than you need to definitely see Ocean's 13 because of the two sequels this one is heads and tails above Ocean's 12. 7.5/10