Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers (WGA):

Brian Koppelman (written by) &
David Levien (written by) ...

Release Date:

8 June 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

What are the odds of getting even? 13 to one.

Plot:

Danny Ocean rounds up the boys for a third heist, after casino owner Willy Bank double-crosses one of the original eleven, Reuben Tishkoff.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Heart Attack | Heist | Revenge | Caper Comedy

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Brad Pitt	...	Rusty Ryan
George Clooney	...	Danny Ocean
Matt Damon	...	Linus Caldwell
Michael Mantell	...	Dr. Stan
Elliott Gould	...	Reuben Tishkoff
Ray Xifo	...	Reuben's Butler
Al Pacino	...	Willy Bank
Adam Lazarre-White	...	Bank's Junior Executive
Eddie Jemison	...	Livingston Dell
Don Cheadle	...	Basher Tarr
Shaobo Qin	...	Yen / Mr. Weng
Casey Affleck	...	Virgil Malloy
Scott Caan	...	Turk Malloy
Bernie Mac	...	Frank Catton
Carl Reiner	...	Saul Bloom

Also Known As:

13 (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
Ocean's 13 (USA) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief sensuality.

Runtime:

122 min | Croatia:114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Ireland:PG | Finland:K-7 | UK:PG | Germany:o.Al. | Norway:A | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43446) | Netherlands:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Italy:T | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/12 | France:U | South Korea:12 | Denmark:A | Sweden:Btl | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malaysia:U | Brazil:10 | New Zealand:PG | India:UA

Filming Locations:

Bellagio Casino & Hotel - 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The fake nose Matt Damon wears is an in-joke reference to The Brothers Grimm (2005), in which director Terry Gilliam wanted the actor to wear a fake nose but the studio vetoed it.

Goofs:

Continuity: Livingston Dell gets picked up by the FBI. Bank tells his guys to run Dell's prints and get info on his associates. When the image's are sent up to Bank's office, Virgil has the images altered and names changed while Bank is distracted. One of the faces altered is Livingston's, despite the fact that Bank already has his name and has seen his face.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rusty Ryan: [answering phone] Yeah. Shit. Where is he? Gotta go.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Monster (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

Soul Town

Sexual Editing

Is this the most valuable franchise in film? Will it last for a decade?

I like Soderbergh. I even like him when he has no goal in the world but making money through simple entertaining.

I like him because he actually thinks about film. About the bullets the towels. The phrases and melodies.

Superficially, this has two overt components. One is the well established con form. The strict version is that we don't fully understand what is going on and "see" it only at the end. Then it all makes sense. This is a weaker version where we see some of the plotting and problems. This is where the jokes are.

The second overt component is simply coolness. Its the sort of coolness that Apple-inspired ad editing has given us, in opposition to the heavy rap-gangster intimidation-coolness of the last great sales cycle. This is referenced within the movie with a bit about an all American black jumper (with a Jewelled flag on his teeth). Its colorful, fast. The pace is translucent with the music. Vegas Cellophane. The actors are cool. Even Matt Damon, who knows cool, plays uncool with coolness.

But its the technique here that impresses. Shots have shape and how those shapes are modulated (as they usually are not) and then assembled with those shapes forming new ones, is a matter of unique style with this filmmaker. Look at how fertile soft ends are punctured by sharp beginnings so that the very passage of time in the eye here is a matter of conceptual copulation.

Look at how many shots end on one of those colored artificial flavors and create a romantic movie at the atomic level as if a John Coltrane was compressing a thousand easy ballads into a few moments. This takes knowledge and the filmmaker has to actually operate the camera to pull this off. It was in his "Limey" and not in the other Ocean's.

And it takes an editor who knows. The best editor was found fresh off "Babel" which among other variations, had the three segments vary on shotshape assembly. This matters. This is a five diamond film, yes?

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.