Ocean's Eleven [M]

Having just been released from prison, con man Danny Ocean is keen to pull another job. His target, three Las Vegas casinos owned by Terry Benedict, coincidentally the man who is dating his ex-wife Tess. The vaults of these casinos are armed to the roof with endless streams of guards, restricted access barriers, identification checkpoints, motion detectors, and everything in between. But with clever planning, cunning disguises, and a crack team of ten other professionals, Danny might just be able to bag the intended 150 million dollars…and maybe win Tess back in the process. 

A fantastically sophisticated action/comedy armed with a wonderfully witty script and a cast that features a familiar face at every turn of the camera, Ocean’s Eleven is a great movie. I’ve never seen the original with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, but I imagine that it would have set the sophistication bar rather high and this remake, I think, really did well in modernising the con movie for the audiences of today, making a clean jump over that bar. I really enjoyed this flick. 

Having just been released from prison, con man Danny Ocean is keen to pull another job. His target, three Las Vegas casinos owned by Terry Benedict, coincidentally the man who is dating his ex-wife Tess. The vaults of these casinos are armed to the roof with endless streams of guards, restricted access barriers, identification checkpoints, motion detectors, and everything in between. But with clever planning, cunning disguises, and a crack team of ten other professionals, Danny might just be able to bag the intended 150 million dollars…and maybe win Tess back in the process. 

The story, originally written by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell has been revamped brilliantly and brought to new con movie heights by Ted Griffin. The entire thing is wonderfully sophisticated like a Bond movie or Mission Impossible and the script is absolutely fantastic albeit slightly confusing as its mostly made up of gambling and con lingo, jargon, and codes. But, like A Clockwork Orange the script’s intricate and confusing web of jargon made it all the more interesting and sophisticated. 

The other thing that really makes this movie special is the star-studded cast. Quite literally every face you see is a familiar one from either other movies or TV series. And it’s always fun to see a face and then exclaim “hey that’s so-and-so from whatsit!” 

Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson, Don Cheadle, Holly Marie Combs, Shane West, and Barry Watson, Ocean’s Eleven is a wonderfully sophisticated con movie packed with suspense, action, drama, romance, comedy, and camaraderie. I really enjoyed it.