Title: Ocean's 13
Starring: George Clooney, Ellen Barkin, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia
Directed By: Steven Soderbergh
Produced By: Susan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Frederic W. Brost
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crime/Gangster and Sequel
Release Date: June 8^th, 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief sensuality.
Distributors: Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution

In Ocean's 13, Reuben (Eliot Gould) is a partner of Willie Bank (Al Pacino) in building a new casino. Bank screws Reuben out of his share and has a heart attack as a result. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and crew are taking revenge upon Bank and his casino. When things don't go as planned they call on Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the victim from Ocean's 11, for help. The rest you can probably guess.

The main reason I wanted to see Ocean's 13 is to see that great ensemble cast interacting together once again. Sadly, Oceans 13 can't even deliver that (as well as other things). Gone is the charisma and great comedic moments from the first and second installment. Yes, I know, Ocean's 12 wasn't the best either but at least you could sit back and watch the camaraderie. The concept of finding new and ingenious ways for these guys to rip people off is starting to wear thin which is proved by the fact that they use a giant drill that is made for making tunnels to simulate an earthquake. What pushes this plot point into the land of ridiculousness is that there are only two of these drills in the world. Ocean has one and it breaks, so they buy the second one. Now, wouldn't you think that purchasing a machine like that for less than legal use would raise some alarms somewhere? I mean the company selling this now one of a kind tool would be wary about selling this item to a private citizen, right? But I digress.

This is yet another film that doesn't need much mention of the cast. You have a lot of big names that seemed to have a lot of fun in the first two films and seem to be going for the paycheck this time around. Even Pacino is relegated to “The Villain”. Hell, his scenes were finished shooting in three weeks! The best bit of acting goes to Ellen Barkin when Linus (Matt Damon) uses some pheromone sticker called “The Gilroy” to drive her insane with lust. She is all over him and what makes it so funny is that for the “character” that Linus is playing, he is wearing a rather large prosthetic nose that just looks goofy. OK, a long way to to say that I give Barkin kudos for being able to pull off that scene without cracking up.

Anyways, with a lacking story, no surprise twists, lack of any stand out scenes of everyone together, the only reason to see Ocean's 13 is for the cameos/small parts for Julian Sands, Oprah, Bob Einstein (better known as “Super” Dave Osborne), and the returning Eddie Izzard. Otherwise, wait for it on DVD.

Visit the films website at http://oceans13.warnerbros.com/

If this keeps up, watch out for Ocean's 300: The Revenge Of Sparta.

Keep reading,

Mitch E.
mitch@comicbookbin.com