Let's be
honest. The original Ocean's Eleven wasn't a A+ movie. But it was certainly a memorable one.
Vegas and the entire Rat Pack on screen for the first time made it an event
picture. Soderbergh's film is just as much of an event and, more importantly,
it has taken the essence of what was good about the first film and given it a
new millennium polish, with a cast who don't buckle under the weight of
expectation.
Bar a few
in-jokes for the old school fans, no prior knowledge is necessary. This is
entertainment of the effortless order. Soderbergh's pacing leaves scant room
for fidgeting, and the story spills out frame by frame so that plots can twist
just seconds faster than you can cotton on.
Clooney's
generous headlining performance gives plenty of scope to showcase the rest of
the talent, and no-one here is lacking. Few directors have made their stars
look as high-wattage. Garcia is just bad enough to want to destroy, and Roberts
elusive enough to be the natural object of affection. Watch for the scene where
she crosses the casino floor switching her allegiance from one man to another -
that's a definite movie star scene. Damon relishes his role out of the
limelight as the new kid on the block, while his same-age team-mates, Casey
Affleck and Scott Caan, go for laughs.
Don Cheadle
does a cockney accent to rival Dick Van Dyke, but somehow gets away with it,
and Elliott Gould and Carl Reiner do some grade A scene-stealing without
unbalancing the movie. Yet, special mention has to go to Brad Pitt. Loitering
in the background, generally snacking, he delivers a quiet performance that
suggests the hidden strengths beyond his pretty boy looks. This is one movie
where wearing a suit well does him no harm at all.
But if your
tastes are of a less superficial nature, there's Soderbergh's trademark cutting
technique to hitch the movie up a notch, stunt work (particularly courtesy of
grease-man Shaobo Qin) that can't be faked, and a heist that deserves the
build-up.
But what made
me love this movie was its impeccable soundtrack. I can say that the soundtrack
for Ocean’s Eleven is without a doubt my all-time favourite soundtrack. And
considering that’s coming from a guy that’s seen The Social Network, Gone Girl,
Jurassic Park, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Martian, that is
saying a lot.
This is a movie
that plays to all demographics without feeling like a by-numbers production. To
berate it for being shallow is to miss the point. This isn't the seamy Las
Vegas, where the house always wins. It's a film that's as well-constructed and
glamorously shiny as the monoliths that now dominate The Strip. The good guys
are crooks? So what! If only all crooks were this nice. No guns, no gangster
cliche swear-a-thon. This is a movie that plays to fantasies, and few do it
with such relish.
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