Monday, June 18, 2007

Its official, George Clooney is the Cary Grant of our times!

I've avoided watching most of the 3rd installments on screen recently (Spidey, Pirates, even Shrek). Was hoping Ocean's 13 would break the curse of the sequels, but... Danny Ocean and his motley crew failed to enthuse me as much as they did when they were fewer in number.

That said, Ocean's 13 is still the best 3rd installment out this season - Clooney just seems to sink deeper into the suave and debonair skin of Danny Ocean with each movie. He's clearly the biggest draw here, and his easy camaraderie with Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) has gotten even better. Loved the snatches of conversations about their respective women, offering glimpses of the regular guys beneath the cool dude veneers. Eh, regular dudes who sniffle over The Oprah Winfrey Show. Matt Damon, who was extremely likable in the Talented Mr. Ripley (I don't understand the fuss about Jude Law anyway) gets some more screen time here. He certainly doesn't need the help from the Gilroy, that guy looks hot even with that ridiculous nose!

But the real scene stealers belong to Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck - why doesn't this guy get more work?) who incites the workers into rebellion at the factory in Mexico where he's supposed to be fixing the dice. I totally loved this subplot! Almost everybody else is wasted here - Ellen Barkin, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, and last but not least - the amazing Vincent Cassel. François Toulour actually made Ocean's Twelve more watchable, but his blink-and-you'll-miss-it subplot in 13 is so disappointing.

The biggest disappointment is the lack of the trademark Ocean twist to the tale at the end of the movie. After 11 and 12, one comes to expect that Danny Ocean and his boys would have some trick up their slinky sleeves. Unfortunately for us, not this time.

1 comment:

Pumpkin said...

Awwww......good grief, this is the 3rd 'Third' movie that I've been told isn't all that great! Having loved the first 2 movies from the 'oceans' films, I was really looking forward to seeing the 3rd......ach, why don't people realise that they have to put MORE effort into a 3rd movie and not less? That said, I'll probably still watch it and enjoy it (I'm easily pleased).