Ocean's Thirteen DVD Review

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"Ocean's Thirteen" reviews

DVD

Ocean's Thirteen

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-11-02 15:50:17

Provider

DVD Review

George Clooney and his bank-busting buccaneers return for a third installment of the franchise that just can't stop.

Having scraped the barrel with Ocean's Twelve, Thirteen is a significant step back towards acceptability. George is back with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and new old head on the block Al Pacino, who replaces Garcia as their chief antagonist, Willy Bank, a notoriously unscrupulous Vegas kingpin who swindles Danny Ocean's friend Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) out of his share of their brand new hotel casino. So Ocean, Rusty Ryan (Pitt) and the rest of the gang set out to get his money back, with interest.

They enlist the help of former adversary Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), who insists they steal Bank's diamonds into the bargain, using as much high-tech gadgetry as the producers can lay on: simulated earthquakes, magnetic dice, hidden camera. Human pleasures come in the form of Carl Reiner’s Sal Bloom, posing as an inspector (Bank is obsessed with earning the prestigious Five Diamonds awards for casino complexes) being treated like royalty while the real evaluator suffers a series of mishaps that would be more at home with Laurel And Hardy. You still get the sense that the Clooney and his pals are a little too cosy, but Thirteen at least looks like it's a joke to which we're all invited.

The DVD comes with two featurettes: "Vegas: An Opulent Illusion", "Jerry Weintraub Walk and Talk".