This weekend, I caught the movie Ocean's Thirteen, the latest in the procession of third-movie-in-a-series films to assail us this summer. Director Steven Soderbergh has gone on record basically saying this movie is an apology for the disappointing Ocean's Twelve, calling this third installment "The Film We Should Have Made Last Time."Fortunately, he's not wrong. This movie manages to recapture all the elements that worked so well in that movie, and were notably absent in the second one. The quirkiness of the characters is back in the spotlight. The "stakes" are more important. The capers are more clever. Some suspense is working again. The new roles are well-cast (not only Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, but smaller roles such as one played by Julian Sands). Even the music has stepped back up from the strange lull of Ocean's Twelve. And most of all, the sense of "fun" is back.
It's not as good a movie as the original, but it's very enjoyable. And not just in comparison to the other "third films" this summer that have been a bust. If you enjoyed Ocean's Eleven, or like watching Al Pacino chew upon a healthy quantity of scenery, you're going to like this movie. I give it a B+.
3 comments:
Saw the movie this weekend with my girlfriend, and we thought the exact same thing: not as good as the original (...well, the remake), but a lot better than Twelve.
JL
Haven't seen 12 yet.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen 1 through 10 either!!
FKL
I liked Twelve at the time, but I bet I wouldn't a second time around. Soderbergh was slipping too much into his auteur side. The stuff about Julia Roberts toward the end was a little "fourth wall."
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