Sunday, June 10, 2007

Ocean's Adrift

I am an admirer of Steven Soderbergh. I've seen everything he's put out except for Bubble - which I own and have yet to watch - and The Good German, which is in my Netflix cue. I feel his Ocean's Eleven is one of those films I'll watch for the rest of my life if for no reason than because everyone seems to be having so much fun. I saw Ocean's Twelve once and - like many folks - found it so different in tone that it put me off. That said, I've been wanting to watch it again, precisely because this time I'll know it's going to be different.

Which, in a weird way, brings me to Ocean's Thirteen.

On the one hand, the movie feels like Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, etc. are keen to regain the feel of the first picture, setting the characters again in Vegas, focusing on another massive casino heist (of sorts). However, the joy and fun that was palpable in Ocean's Eleven is almost nowhere to be felt. At some times it feels as though everyone is trying too hard, none moreso than Ellen Barkin. As casino magnate Al Pacino's right-hand-woman, she starts off steely - firing a girl for having too high a body mass index - but quickly becomes a befuddled joke, stammering in Pacino's presence instead of standing toe-to-toe, which would have made for a much more appealing character. Also, the fact that Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are MIA don't help matters; to throw in some level of femininity for the boys, we have a running Oprah gag. Finally, the methods with which the team executes its plan strained my suspension of disbelief. While the first film had "the pinch" - a massive EMP emitter that blacks out Vegas for a few seconds - this movie employs not one but both massive drills that dug the Chunnel, a myriad of electronic devices that would do James Bond proud, and the surgical removal of part of the roof of a skyscraping casino.

Frankly, I left the theatre feeling that this sequel was totally unnecessary. What would I have preferred? Again, a sense of fun amongst the actors. I don't doubt that they enjoyed being together again; it just didn't translate to the screen this time.

1 comment:

JeremySaliba said...

interesting. i'm actually excited to see this, because of all the positive reviews i've heard, but i'm glad to know i can go in there with some reservations and not get too disappointed. i too love steven's work, and although i thought 12 was terrible, i DID love the actual "heist" scene on the train. i thought that sequence was funny as hell and artfully done.