Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Cast

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Bernie Mac, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Don Cheadle, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, Andy García, Eddie Izzard, Ellen Barkin, Vincent Cassel, Bob Einstein, Olga Sosnovska, David Paymer, Julian Sands, Angel Oquendo, Jerry Weintraub, Scott L. Schwartz, Oprah Winfrey, Bernie Yuman, Noureen DeWulf

Storyline

When Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) is double-crossed in a luxury hotel business with business partner Willie Bank (Al Pacino), he has a heart attack. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) plot a heist with their friends to avenge Reuben by breaking Bank's casino.

Opinion

Danny Ocean and his lads are back in this unnecessary sequel. Thankfully this time they are in a good shape, and we can finally forget about that mess Ocean's Twelve is.

Well paced, and slightly thrilling, Ocean's Thirteen will keep you entertained without making you feel stupid, even though the surprise element is almost missing.

My biggest complaint here is the plot. It is just way too complicated. I found myself catapulted into the story, but most of the time I had no clue of what was happening. The characters spend way too much time talking about hacking computers, time that is taken from the heist itself. The final also is so obvious. At least the absence of Tess/Julia Roberts and Isabel/Catherine Zeta-Jones is decent, a bit too emphasized though.

The performances are ok. George Clooney still gives a charismatic performance as Danny Ocean. Brad Pitt has less screen time and that actually turned out to be a good thing. The chemistry between Clooney and Pitt is still great. Matt Damon, the only one trying to act in the previous installment, never gets the chance to shine in here. Al Pacino is suitable as the villain. Unfortunately he hasn't enough screen time to make an effective, and great villain. Bernie Mac, Elliott Gould, Andy García, Eddie Jemison, Don Cheadle and Vincent Cassel haven't much to do, they are just pieces of the plot. Casey Affleck and Scott Caan have the best moments as the brothers.

Final thoughts on the series: the gang should have sticked at robbing casinos, not trying to steal Russian's eggs in Europe because in competition with a famous thief.