Ocean's Eleven

Let's take a little side trip back in time a ways, and talk about Ocean's Eleven.  This movie wasn't on top for a year, but did managed to top the charts for a week back in 2001.  It did however make a respectable showing back then with it's $183M granting it the #8 spot on the yearly chart.  So let us set our way back machine to December 7th and tall a roll of the dice.

An update version of the 1960 movie of the same name.  This time we take a modern "rat pack" of some top movie stars in Comedy and Drama, mixed with a few fresh faces and go on a caper tale to take the ultimate prize.

I've never seen the original, maybe I should rectify that someday, and I'd never seen this until now, so the draw was nothing to do and easy access to the movie on Amazon.  I've always enjoyed Clooney, even if I don't see the draw for the ladies, and this was no exception.  Maybe he was just the perfect actor for the part, or the part was written around him, but we get the wisecracking smart-ass we've come to expect in this era of Clooney films.  With the exceptions of getting out of jail and the lovers revenge, the character seems to melt away and we get pure Clooney.

Brad Pitt also is well suited.  A devil may care, don't give a shit suaveness that you remember from Fight Club with maybe just a bit of the psycho wiped away.  Matt Dameon seems so young in this to me, but then this is before the Bourne films and while no means a new star I don't think he'd quite had a breakout role.  Sadly I think most of the other actors fade to the background despite the caliber of some of the talent.

So in a world of fast stakes, and sleight of hand where if you blink you'll miss it action, this has a good pacing to it.  Things are easy to follow, exposition doesn't seem to drag things down, and things are laid out well in advance even if you don't know why.

Probably my one major criticism is when we finally start the heist.  We can't just have one or two things go wrong that might endanger the plan.  No, we have to have a repeated succession of, just scrape by or we're all doomed situations happen one after another.  While a few might key up the tension, too many just got to the point of wanting it to be over already.

So an enjoyable film that despite earlier recommendations I never got around to.  Something I know I would have enjoyed at release and would have looked forward to the sequels.  Maybe a future installment.

Final Score: 7/10