Review of Ocean`s Eleven

Introduction

Back in the sixties, one of the most influential groups in America was the Rat Pack. A meeting of like minds, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and the other guy captured the public imagination. Popular entertainers in their own right, together they epitomised style, flair and cool. Rumoured underworld connections, combined with partying with JFK only served to titillate public interest. With such a group of stars, it wasn`t long before the movies came, and more often than not, they were an extension of the club. Set yourself a test and try to name any of the movies. I could only come up with two titles, and before the release of Ocean`s Eleven last year that list would have had one name on it, Robin and the Seven Hoods if you are wondering. The Rat Pack movies are definitely products of their time, and I really haven`t considered them splendid examples of cinema. However they did boast all-star casts and they did look as if they were fun to make. When Ocean`s Eleven was remade boasting another all-star cast updated for the 21st Century, it wasn`t a case of living up to the original, but rather improving on it. But does Ocean`s Eleven still have style?

Danny Ocean has just completed a prison sentence for theft and as he walks out of prison, he has a plan. With the aid of his right hand man, Rusty Ryan he aims to put together a crew to pull off an audacious heist, the likes of which has never been accomplished. Danny Ocean aims to steal $150 million simultaneously from three Las Vegas casinos owned by Terry Benedict. He gathers a motley collection of criminal talent to help him pull off the heist including a Cockney explosives expert, a Chinese acrobat, a rookie pickpocket and a retired thief. No plan is perfect as they find when they get to Las Vegas, and it seems that Danny may have another agenda that could see the group betrayed. Terry Benedict currently is dating one Tess Ocean, Danny`s ex-wife and Danny could be fatally distracted.

Video

The case had me scratching my head for a minute, as I looked at the running time of 181 minutes and a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It isn`t a curious Director`s cut but rather a typo. Ocean`s Eleven still lasts 118 minutes and the aspect ratio is the original 2.35:1, here presented in an anamorphic transfer. As you would expect from a film this recent, the transfer is immaculate. The picture is sharp and well defined and the colours are strong. Several elements combine in this film to make it spectacular. The film`s design, costume and cinematography come together under Steve Soderbergh`s excellent direction to make this film an instant visual classic. Soderbergh uses every trick in the book to make this film eye-catching and striking. One of my favourite scenes is the demolition of a casino behind him as Don Cheadle watches it on TV. The film is intentionally dark and everything is moodily lit. Arresting use of light paints a picture of Las Vegas at its finest and most glamorous. This is Las Vegas as you would imagine it, the gambling capital of the world, as it would exist in dreams. The whole movie has a sort of smoky room atmosphere to it, which gives it a singular style and makes it hard to tear your attention away.

Audio

The sound comes in DD 5.1 English, French and Spanish as well as a DD 2.0 English track. This is really a dialogue heavy film and all the speech is clear, with the exception of Don Cheadle`s `cockney` accent, for which I was grateful for subtitles at times. There is not a lot of crash, bang or wallop to this film but the surround is effective when it needs to be as in the nightclub where Rusty is teaching movie stars how to play poker. David Holmes soundtrack is inspired and does as much as the performances and the direction to give it style. His tunes suit the movie well and I loved the little touch of period music when the movie flashed back to previous heist attempts.

Features

The extras are a bit of a mixed bag. The DVD ROM content amounts to a game that lets you recreate the heist on your PC. This amounts to about an hour of point and click distraction. There is a cast list and three trailers and there are two featurettes. Behind the Scenes is just that, 15 minutes of clips and interviews. There are a sight too many clips and not enough interview, but what is there is informative enough. The Look of the Con, while shorter at 10 minutes is more interesting, looking at how costume design relates to the characters.

However the cream on the disc comes in the form of not one, but two commentaries. The first commentary is with Steven Soderbergh and Screenwriter, Ted Griffin. The commentary looks at the making of the film and your typical director`s commentary, informative and occasionally insightful. The second commentary is a cast commentary from Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia. This is an entertaining recollection of the film from their points of view. While the Brad Pitt contribution sounds as if it was recorded separately from Damon and Garcia, this is never obtrusive and jarring. Brad Pitt is quite funny as he makes his comments often picking on George Clooney. Andy Garcia is fairly serious as he makes some more technical contributions to the track and Matt Damon is somewhere between the two. What clearly comes through is the fun these people had making the film. The light banter evident in their commentary is easily evidence of that.

Conclusion

From the moment that Danny Ocean enters his parole hearing, till the moment Davis Holmes` 69 Police heralds the end credits, this movie is enthralling. I can`t recall having watched the original film, but this film stands alone as a carefully crafted and brilliantly scripted tour de force. Eschewing the copious violence and monosyllabic dialogue of many of Hollywood`s films, Ocean`s Eleven harks back to an earlier era in the best possible way. The script is tight and the dialogue is witty. The film has a rhythm that is fast and snappy, and the twists and turns of the story make this the rarest of animals, an intelligent Hollywood movie.

The cast is superb, and you can see here what an all-star cast can do when they truly form an ensemble piece. It is another way in which this film resembles its illustrious forebears of the fifties and sixties. Hopefully this heralds a new era where we can see Hollywood`s top talent collaborating in films like this. George Clooney is excellent as Danny Ocean, playing it very straight and a little understated. Brad Pitt works well with him and the two actors really spark off each other. Matt Damon is good as the rookie, Linus but it falls to Elliot Gould and Carl Reiner to bring some old school class to the film. Andy Garcia as Benedict is ruthless and just a little slimy, which makes for an interesting character, although it is hard to see how Julia Roberts` Tess could have fallen for him (I suppose the multimillion dollar fortune was a help) Julia Roberts` character is the weakest in this film, but that is because her role felt underwritten. I didn`t feel the film went into enough detail about Tess and Danny`s background and their relationship was the only thing that didn`t really work in the film. And then there is Don Cheadle`s cockney accent. It really was all over the place, drifting from Russia to Japan via France and maybe Mars. Dick van Dyke can rest easy, now there is a new benchmark. But I didn`t think the accent was so bad as to lose Don Cheadle off the credits. I looked repeatedly but I couldn`t find his name anywhere.

Ocean`s Eleven has a bit of everything, an amazing cast and a well-written story, some old school class in the script and the performances, some excellent direction and a contemporary feel that altogether gel into an instant classic. Genuinely funny, I was gripped all the way through, and writing about it now, I feel like watching it again. You need to watch this movie.